NASCAR Chase Standings 2013: Drivers Who Will Improve Upon This Season's Finish

After winning his sixth Sprint Cup Championship on Sunday in Miami, Jimmie Johnson will not be on the following list. 

The No. 48 may very well defend his title next season to tie Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt as the all-time leaders with seven championships; however, not even Johnson can improve upon finishing first. 

For that matter, Matt Kenseth turned in a fantastic season in his first year with Joe Gibbs Racing, and I expect him to challenge for the title again next season. Still, with only one spot for him to improve, he will not be on this list, either. 

Let's take a look at the final Chase standing for the season, and then I'll highlight three drivers headed for better finishes next year: 

Pos.	Driver	Points	Deficit
1	Jimmie Johnson	2419	-
2	Matt Kenseth	2400	-19
3	Kevin Harvick	2385	-34
4	Kyle Busch	2364	-55
5	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	2363	-56
6	Jeff Gordon	2337	-82
7	Clint Bowyer	2336	-83
8	Joey Logano	2323	-96
9	Greg Biffle	2321	-98
10	Kurt Busch	2309	-110
11	Ryan Newman	2286	-133
12	Kasey Kahne	2283	-136
13	Carl Edwards	2282	-137

Kyle Busch

With a fourth-place finish in the Sprint Cup, Kyle Busch set a new career high. However, that won't stop him from improving on that finish next year. 

A lack of talent has never been Busch's problem. The guy can drive, and he has the wins to back that up. Busch has won at least one Sprint race in each season excluding his rookie year of 2006, when he made just six starts. 

He's also won at least three races in each of the last six seasons. 

It's not a lack of wins that have been the problem. Busch is so competitive that he can make bad decisions on the track. This has led to destructive finishes, which are not conducive to season success. 

This season, Busch showed far more poise and patience. He had just one Chase finish outside of the top 15 this year. Busch is finally learning how to succeed over the course of a season and not just a race. This will push him into the top three next season. 

Kasey Kahne 

Kasey Kahne's Chase was over early this year. He finished 37th in the second Chase race and only had one finish inside the top 11 in the first seven races of the Chase. 

He went onto finish fifth, second and 13th over the last three races. 

This was good enough to boost him out of the cellar of Chase drivers and into 12th place. That is the third-highest season finish of his career. However, it was a big step back from his fourth-place finish in the previous season. 

The reality is that Kahne ran very similar to how he did last season. He just had a bit more bad luck and not the same level of consistency. However, he picked up the same number of wins as last season (two) and had just one fewer top-five finish at 11. 

Kahne and his Hendricks Motorsports team will iron out some of those consistency issues for next season, and Kahne will work himself into championship contention. 

Brad Keselowski

Brad Keselowski didn't even qualify for the Chase in his bid to defend his championship. This made him just the second driver to miss out on the Chase entirely while trying to defend his club. 

The often outspoken Keselowski began this season with big ambitions, but may have bitten off a bit more than he could chew. 

As USA Today's Jeff Gluck passed along, BK acknowledged there were more demands on his time than he anticipated this season. 

Also, there was a lot more attention paid to his comments. As Gluck also points out, Keselowski was vocal about changes needed in the sport in the past offseason and early this season. Those comments dwindled as the season wore on. 

The 29-year-old, via Gluck, offered up this response: 

"

There's a lot of requests, it's just those people don't have to pay the fines. I do. There's a lot of things I'd like to say or do. Even though it might not seem like it, I do filter some of the things I say.

"

This season was a learning process for Keselowski. He will come back determined and focused next year and make a big improvement on his end-of-the-season standing.