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Richard Childress Racing
Ryan Newman
- 2015 – 0 wins, 5 top-five’s and 15 top-10’s. Finished 11th in the standings.
- 2014 – 0 wins, 5 top-five’s and 16 top-10’s. Finished 2nd in the standings.
2014 was the blueprint for Ryan Newman to find success in the new Chase format without needing to win a bunch of races. In 2015 Newman was only one top-10 away from mirroring his 2014 stats unfortunately the end result was not the same. Newman did not make it back to the final-four in 2015, in fact he didn’t even make it out of the second round of the Chase. 2014 might have been a season where the No. 31 team over-achieved but that’s no excuse for not finding the same success again.
Final Grade: C
Austin Dillon
- 2015 – 0 wins, 1 top-five’s and 5 top-10’s. Finished 21st in the standings.
- 2014 – 0 wins, 1 top-five’s and 4 top-10’s. Finished 20th in the standings.
2015 was a path for Austin Dillon that was very much like his teammate Newman, nothing much changed. Dillon was one top-10 finish better in 2015 than he was in 2014 and the result was him finishing one spot worse in the final standings. Dillon is a tremendously talented driver that has yet to figure out how to put it all together in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The fact that Dillon will most be remembered for his Daytona wreck in 2015 is an issue.
Final Grade: C+
Paul Menard
- 2015 – 0 wins, 2 top-five’s and 5 top-10’s. Finished 14th in the standings.
- 2014 – 0 wins, 5 top-five’s and 13 top-10’s. Finished 21st in the standings.
Paul Menard is an interesting case when it comes to grading him on his 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series performance. By the numbers Menard had a horrible 2015 season as compared to 2014 where his top-five’s and top-10’s were twice as high. However, in 2015 Menard made the Chase and wound up finishing seven spots higher in the final standings. The numbers also don’t reflect how the majority of Menard’s finishes were between 11th and 17th in 2015. Consistency, improvement and making the Chase in 2015 earns Menard the highest grade on his team.
Final Grade: B
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