The 2020 NASCAR Drive for Diversity class is set with an announcement made on Wednesday (Nov. 20). Just a handful of changes were made to the 2019 roster as the team looks to build on its success from this year.
Returnees Chase Cabre, Nick Sanchez and Gracie Trotter will join newcomers Rajah Caruth, Isabella Robusto and Perry Patino. Caruth and Robusto raced for NASCAR’s development team, Rev Racing, at the youth level. That means Patino is the lone new full-time driver to the program.
The six drivers were chosen from a pool who took part in a two-day combine in October. The event tested their skills on the track, provided fitness assessments and judged both marketing and media skills.
“We were extremely impressed with the confidence, competitive drive and raw talent of the drivers that competed at this year’s combine,” Jusan Hamilton, NASCAR director of racing operations and event management, said in a press release. “To see familiar faces in this class that have grown and advanced through the youth ranks of the program bolsters our belief that we will see some of these same drivers at the top levels of NASCAR in the future.”
Caruth, Patino, Robusto and Trotter will all race late models for Rev Racing. Cabre and Sanchez will compete in the newly formed ARCA Menards Series East and the ARCA Showdown Series.
Cabre picked up two wins, four poles, seven top fives and 10 top 10s in 12 K&N Pro Series East events in 2019, finishing second in the standings. Sanchez also moves up to race alongside him following impressive Late Model victories at both Myrtle Beach Speedway (South Carolina) and Langley Speedway out in Virginia.
Ernie Francis Jr., NASCAR Peak Mexico Series champion Ruben Garcia Jr. and Brooke Storer will not return to the program in 2020.