Will Underperforming Drivers Improve This Season?

Let's start with Martin Truex Jr. Granted, he finished 15th in the point standings, but he only had 3 top 5's and 11 top 10's with no wins.

With the merger of DEI and Ganassi, it brings in other development and money for all teams involved, including Juan Montoya and Aric Almirola.

Montoya finished 25th and ran every race with 2 top 5's and 3 top 10's, whereas Aric Almirola, who only ran 12 races sharing with Mark Martin, had 1 top 10.

I expect him to have a much better year, with a top 5 in the Daytona 500. And with all three teams having full sponsorship for the season, they can only do better.

Mark Martin was with Roush Fenway Racing for 19 years, and then went to DEI for two seasons part time. Now that he's gotten his so-called rest, he's signed a one-year deal with Hendrick Motorsports to drive the No. 5 car.

With four-time champion Jeff Gordon, three-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson, and fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr, I expect all four teams to make the Chase and contend for the championship.

Bobby Labonte, who was thought to drive a fourth car for EGR, suddenly changed to drive the No. 96 Ford for Hall of Fame/Yates Racing with full sponsorship for the season. Along with Labonte, Paul Menard went over to Yates racing. With those Roush/Yates engines, they’ll both have better seasons this year.

Richard Childress is expanding to four teams by moving Clint Bowyer to the No. 33 and bringing in Casey Mears to drive the No. 07. Bowyer is starting this year with a completely new team and might struggle a little bit, but also has Kevin Harvick, and Jeff Burton to help develop that team.

As far as Casey Mears, he’s going to have the best season of his Sprint Cup Series this year.

Tony Stewart, with 1 win, 10 top 5's and 16 top 10's has his work cut out for him this year being an owner/driver. However, Stewart/Hass Racing are corporate teammates with Hendrick Motorsports by getting engines for Hendrick. I expect Smoke to contend not only for wins but the championship.

There's one driver I think that will struggle for at least the first half of the season and that's young Joey Logano. We've all heard of his success in the lower series, but when he ran those races in the Nationwide Series, he got three poles, along with a win in only his second start.

With five top 5's and 14 top 10's, I don't believe he's ready to run in the Sprint Cup with the three starts he had last year. He couldn't even compete for a top 10 basically in a JGR car.

One driver who doesn’t have a ride for the 2009 season thus far is Regan Smith. Now EGR is going to run a fourth car in the Daytona 500 but are unsure of what is going to happen after that. They also don’t know who that driver is going to be.

I believe after what happened in the Talladega fall race that he can contend for a win. Given a chance, Smith will do great.