From Kyle Busch crashing in the Xfinity race and missing the first 11 Cup races to Jeff Gordon retiring to Kyle Busch winning the championship, it was quiet the year for NASCAR in 2015. We have already seen some changes in the aftermath of the Cup championship race. Drivers and crew chiefs alike are making moves. Let’s go through some of them, shall we?
9 car – Sam Hornish, Jr. will not be back for RPM in 2016. While there are several drivers that could fill that seat, sponsorship will be as big of a driver in the decision than anything else. Petty is not in position to run a car with no sponsor. There is no Haas Automation hanging around to fill their empty hood. They might be able to run a part time schedule with current sponsors, but until they line up a driver and a strong sponsor partner.
10 car – Danica gets a new crew chief in Billy Scott, replacing Daniel Knost. She has a new sponsor for 2016 in Nature’s Bakery. This team needs to really step it up in 2016. Sure, she finished 4 spots up from last year, but that isn’t what sponsors are spending millions on. She needs to make a serious run at a top 20 finish in 2016.
11 car – Denny Hamlin gets a new crew chief in Mike Wheeler while Dave Rogers moves to the 19 car.
14 car – Smoke gets a new crew chief in his final year. They had to do something to right that ship. Mike Bugarewicz replaces Chad Johnston who went to the 42 car. Smoke would really like a final year like Gordon had, we’ll see if he can pull it off. Will he go out as Smoke or a wisp of smoke? Expect Clint Bowyer in this ride in 2017.
15 car – Bowyer is moving on now that MWR has closed up.
16 car – Greg Biffle has underachieved again and Brian Pattie is supposed to become the new crew chief. Ortho is also not returning to the 16 as a sponsor. RFR needs a big boost in performance in 2016 and Biffle needs to lead the way.
19 car – Dave Rogers moves from the 11 car to take over here. No word on what will happen to Darian Grubb. Edwards had another up and down year. He was good or he was middle of the pack. 2016 may tell us if that was just growing pains or not.
24 car – Chase Elliott takes over for Jeff Gordon and talk about some big shoes to fill. Not since Harvick replaced the late Dale Earnhardt has this big of an icon left a hole to fill. Alan Gustafson is expected to still crew chief the 24 car.
26 car – No JJ Yeley? BKRacing needs to still fill this ride.
32 car – Jeffrey Earnhardt is expected to be a ROTY candidate but he may share this ride with Bobby Labonte on the restrictor plate tracks. Clint Cram is slotted as crew chief for Earnhardt.
33 car – Expect a split of drivers running in this car. Perhaps Brian Scott and Ty Dillon, but I don’t expect Dillon to ruin his ROTY status for 2017. Todd Parrott is the crew chief.
34, 35, 38 cars – Front Row Motorsports will move to a 2 care team leaving things up in the air. That leaves Cole Whitt, Gilliland and a few others wondering which car will be cut and which driver and team will make it for 2016. Sponsorship may have a lot to do with that.
42 car – Chad Johnston takes over as crew chief for Kyle Larson. Chris Heroy is gone and no word on where he will land at this time.
47 car – Randall Burnett will replace Brian Burns as crew chief for Allmendinger.
51/15 car – Clint Bowyer will run a single season replacing Justin Allgaier who heads to the Xfinity series for JRM.
55 car – David Ragan is without a ride now that MWR has shuttered. While he was OK, he didn’t shine enough to make himself stand out from the pack of drivers looking for a ride.
78 car – Martin Truex, Jr. and team all return but the team will move to Toyota.
99 car – It is possible that Xfinity champ Chris Buescher will move up into this car, but that is still undetermined.
And inside NASCAR, Robin Pemberton has stepped down as competition chief. The owner of “have at it, boys” has been in the sport since 1979 and leaves Scott Miller in charge of herding the cats at NASCAR.
That’s it for now, I hope you enjoy the Cup champions banquet.
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