By Farrah Kaye
Staff Writer, NNSracing.com

(EDITOR'S NOTE : NNSracing.com takes a look at the five drivers who are competing for the NASCAR Nationwide Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award. Today's driver: Blake Koch.)

Driver: Blake Koch

Date of birth: Aug. 7, 1985

Team: MacDonald Motorsports

Crew chief: David Ingram

Past racing accomplishments: Finished eighth overall and second in the rookie standings in the K&N Pro Series West Series in 2009.

Outlook for season: Koch is new to racing, only having been in the sport going on four years. He's had a handful of starts in K&N East, ARCA, Camping World Truck and Nationwide Series. He had the most success in the K&N Series, but nothing remarkable. However, with Truex out of the car, he earned Rookie of the Race honors at Texas Motor Speedway with a 25th-place finish. Koch needs more track time before he contends for top-10 finishes. And while his team has a main sponsor (daystar.com), they don't appear to be 100 percent fully-funded and already have missed one race.

Tomorrow: Charles Lewandoski

Current Nationwide Series Rookie of the Year standings

NNSracing scouts the Nationwide Series rookies: 2011

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