NASCAR: Five Drivers Looking Forward To 2016

Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

Honorable Mention

A few drivers just missed the top-five as can be seen below.

• Matt Kenseth – Kenseth won five races in 2015 after not winning at all in 2014. If not for his incident with Joey Logano, Kenseth might have had a much different end to his 2015 campaign. Kenseth will be happy to see 2016 because he is going to want to get back into the No. 20 machine and continue the success that he found last season.
• Jeff Gordon – His NASCAR career might be over on the track but off of the track it will just be beginning in 2016. Gordon will transition from the racecar to the booth in 2016, a move that he has said numerous times that he is excited about. Gordon Nation might be sad to see him go but their favorite driver seems to be at peace with the next chapter of his career.
• Kyle Larson – Larson was stuck in the proverbial Sophomore slump in 2015. In a season where many predicted Larson to win a race (if not more than one) and make the Chase, Larson struggled with consistency. The end of 2015 will hopefully mark the end of the Sophomore slump for Larson and the No. 42 team.
• Roush Fenway Racing – Portions of 2014 were difficult for RFR but the end result was one of their drivers winning two races and two of their drivers making the Chase. 2015 might have been rock-bottom for the organization. Getting all three of their drivers to make it out of the first round of qualifying and finish inside of the top-30 was a struggle most weeks. Over the 12 races of the season it seemed as though RFR was beginning to make strides, hopefully those strides will be evident in 2016. Greg Biffle, Trevor Bayne and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. have to be hoping that 2016 doesn’t find a way to be worse than 2015.

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