Sunoco Rookie of the Year: Cup Series midseason review

The anticipation surrounding the 2020 Sunoco Rookie of the Year class became one of the NASCAR Cup Series' major preseason talking points. Could the previous year's "Big 3" of Xfinity Series stars keep their powered-up pace in NASCAR's top division, and would the other three find ways to overachieve and edge their way into the thick of the conversation? With 18 races down and 18 to go in the Cup Series campaign, here's a midseason review of the six rookie drivers, in order of their positions in the series' points standings.

Tyler Reddick

Team: No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

Cup Series points ranking: 17th (413 points)

Best finish: 2nd, Texas-1

The scoop: The two-time Xfinity Series champ has dazzled in the first half of his rookie campaign, leading all other first-year drivers with six top-10 finishes. Reddick's arrival has given RCR a level of resurgence, and a breakthrough win for the 24-year-old talent seems more and more imminent.

Christopher Bell

Team: No. 95 Leavine Family Racing Toyota

Cup Series points ranking: 21st (325 points)

Best finish: 4th, Pocono-1

The scoop: Bell has quietly begun to steady the ship after a calamitous start with LFR, picking off five top 10s since the sport returned after the coronavirus outbreak. Making baby steps up the standings has helped pull the No. 95 team out of the 25-36 bracket in team owner points and -- with no qualifying scheduled the rest of the season -- into more favorable draws for starting position.

Cole Custer

Team: No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford

Cup Series points ranking: 22nd (322 points)

Best finish: 1st, Kentucky

The scoop: The SHR pilot converted a bold, four-wide move into one of the season's top surprises in a two-lap dash to the finish at Kentucky, becoming the first rookie Cup Series winner in nearly four years. Some inconsistency in his 2020 results have the 22-year-old mired deeper in the standings than hoped, but a first trip to Victory Lane and the virtually automatic playoff berth that comes with it make up for the uneven finishes.

John Hunter Nemechek

Team: No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford

Cup Series points ranking: 25th (307 points)

Best finish: 8th, Talladega-1

The scoop: The bright moments have been slightly more modest for the 23-year-old driver, but solid results -- ninth at Darlington and eighth at Talladega -- have helped Front Row accumulate the most top 10s in a season in team history. Nemechek is in virtual dead heat performance-wise with more experienced teammate Michael McDowell, and Nemechek's upside continues to be promising.

Brennan Poole

Team: No. 15 Premium Motorsports Chevrolet

Cup Series points ranking: 32nd (129 points)

Best finish: 16th, Daytona-1

The scoop: "The Bull" has just one lead-lap finish this year, cracking the top 20 in the season-opening Daytona 500. Performance among the higher-tiered teams was bound to be difficult for the Premium group, but five DNFs in the first half of the year have made the road a bit tougher. Second-half goals of achieving cleaner finishes would help the team with making those incremental gains.

Quin Houff

Team: No. 00 StarCom Racing Chevrolet

Cup Series points ranking: 34th (88 points)

Best finish: 23rd, Indianapolis

The scoop: For perspective, Kyle Larson has been fired for three months now but still has more points in four races than Houff has in 18. Thirty-three more points, even. The Virginia native also has four crash-related DNFs, the same amount predecessor Landon Cassill recorded during his two-year tenure with the No. 00 team. Worse still, Houff's jarring pit-entry mistake turned the Texas event -- and playoff picture -- on its head, leading to an anticipated talking-to from NASCAR officials. StarCom made a two-year pledge to Houff last November. "Nowhere to go but up" will have to suffice as a rallying cry for now.