NASCAR Drivers Who Will Be on the Hot Seat in 2015

NASCAR can boast that it has one of the longest seasons out of all professional sports that are governed by a unifying body.

Horse racing is year-round, but has no “league” and thus never ends. NASCAR comes pretty close, and though the season just ended and Kevin Harvick’s Budweiser residue is still sticky on Homestead’s Victory Lane, the 2015 season deserves some attention.

Before all trucks converge on Daytona, it’s time to ask who is on the hot seat heading into the 2015 season. Which drivers are in need of a breakout season? Which drivers need to bounce back? And who is Joe “The Hummer” Tanto?

The spiky blue shell of death is hot on the heels of some drivers come 2015. Read on to see who is on the hot seat in 2015.

Danica Patrick

J Pat Carter/Associated Press

Danica Patrick may or may not be unfairly treated on the NASCAR circuit.

She enters her third full season in NASCAR, and if it were all about restrictor-plate races, she may be a favorite to win the Chase. Fortunately for her that means she’s a viable threat to win the Kentucky Derby of NASCAR: the Daytona 500.

That also means she’s a threat to win the watered-down, lower-calorie Coke Zero 400, also at Daytona.

Patrick isn’t terrible or great. As Bleacher Report’s Bob Margolis wrote, “Patrick has her best runs on restrictor-plate tracks, although this past season, finishes on the 1.5-mile tracks at Kansas (seventh) and Atlanta (sixth) have shown great promise on those all-important speedways. She'll be a favorite for the 2015 Daytona 500 pole again.”

Her star power is undeniable. It’s time her driving backs it up.

Matt Kenseth

Ralph Freso/Associated Press

The new Chase format, I think we can all agree, was a big win for NASCAR. It put an emphasis on winning. It also put a spotlight on those drivers who didn’t—or couldn’t—win.

Enter Matt Kenseth (and Ryan Newman).

Yes, Kenseth finished seventh overall in the Chase, which was amazing considering he could never reach Victory Lane. He led all drivers with seven wins in 2013 and watched as teammate Denny Hamlin ground his way into the Championship Four.

Kenseth is too good at this game to go winless, and with such a precipitous fall from 2013 to 2014 (in terms of wins), he needs to prove he can run with Team Penske and Hendrick Motorsports.

Kenseth said on Motor Racing Network, “From my side of it, I feel like we haven't necessarily performed at a championship level. I think my team has in the pit stops and the strategy and the car prep and the morale, all that has been there, but we haven't had the speed in our race cars.”

The No. 20 car will be competitive and in the thick of every race, but when a driver is as talented as Kenseth, he needs to win, not just point his way in.

Carl Edwards

Patrick Smith/Getty Images

Any time a free agent signs with a new team, that athlete is immediately thrust onto the requisite hot seat. Carl Edwards sits on the hottest of Joe Gibbs Racing's hot seat as its newest member.

In his 360 career starts for the gutted Roush Fenway Racing team, Edwards won 23 races, earned 13 poles and finished with 106 top fives.

“This is one of the biggest days in Joe Gibbs Racing's history," said Joe Gibbs on FoxSports.com. "To be able to bring a driver the caliber of Carl Edwards on board to launch our fourth team is just a thrill.” 

Now Edwards joins Hamlin, Kenseth and Kyle Busch, making JGR the strongest-looking team on paper, second only to Hendrick Motorsports.

Kyle Busch

Trust me when I saw I’m not picking on Joe Gibbs Racing. It’s the simple matter of high talent, high expectations and relatively poor performance.

What JGR needs out of Kyle Busch isn’t the occasional burst of flame, as exciting as that can be—hashtag slow rollover—but the steady driving and predictability of a Kenseth or Denny Hamlin.

Busch won just once in 2014 and finished far back in the pack too many times for a driver of his ability.

Even this happened at Bristol: “I need a whole new right front suspension, a whole new right front suspension,’’ Busch radioed [crew chief] Dave Rogers. “I will be behind the wall in about two (expletive) laps.” 

Rogers responded: “Park it behind the truck and take your whiny little ass to the bus.’’

Oh, boy.

Now with the addition of Edwards to the garage, perhaps that puts pressure on Busch to perform. If Gibbs must excise a driver, it’s not going to be Hamlin or Kenseth and definitely not the new guy.

Jimmie Johnson

Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

Can a six-time champ truly be on a hot seat? A little yes and a little no.

When someone is as dominant on the track as Johnson is, not winning the Sprint Cup is akin to the Yankees not winning the World Series. For some garages, not winning the prized tuna is a loss.

Pete Pistone of Motor Racing Network wrote: "Johnson struggled mightily through the summer stretch of the season and had three races in the next six with finishes of 42nd, 42nd and 39th. But because he had demonstrated the same pattern in previous years, the poor performances at the end of the regular season did not worry Johnson heading into the Chase."

That killed Johnson. The momentum he earned heading into the summer blew out like a right front tire.

There were sparks between crew chief Chad Knaus and Johnson during the year. Much of that comes from such a high standard of winning. When things stagnated, tempers boiled over.

“I want to see it go as long as it can,” Johnson said on MRN. “We're honest with each other and know each other well enough to work through the bad times. It might not be pretty, and I'm sure you guys have heard things on the radio that got your attention.” 

He won four races in 2014—a great season by almost any standard—but that’s the curse of the No. 48: Failing to win championships dwarfs the small victories.

Kasey Kahne

LM Otero/Associated Press

While Kasey Kahne signed a delicious contract extension for a sum of dollars that will, no doubt, buy him a plethora of burritos, he must now live up to the deal.

He’s kind of the Scrappy-Doo of Hendrick Motorsports. He doesn’t have the 10 combined championships that Jeff Gordon and Johnson have. He doesn’t have the lineage and curb appeal of Dale Earnhardt Jr. He’s just there.

Dustin Long of Motor Racing Network wrote:

"

So a season filled with hope ended with one victory, three top-five finishes and 11 top-10s.

It marked his fewest top-five finishes since 2007 when he had only one driving for Ray Evernham. Kahne recorded his fewest top-10 finishes since 2010 when he drove for George Gillett Jr., before finishing the season with Red Bull Racing. Kahne’s 15th-place finish in the points this year was his worst finish since the 2010 season.

"

Kahne didn’t exactly peel the paint of the walls in 2014, but a new contract can do one of two things: It can validate your efforts or put a lot of pressure on you to perform.

He has the benefit of a new crew chief and being in the shadow of his three teammates. It could put him in a surprising position to strike. He’ll have to in 2015.

Greg Biffle

Paul J. Bergstrom/Associated Press

This is stupid, so bear with me, but it’s too bad Greg Biffle can’t get by selling ringtones of him speaking his surname. Biffle. Biffle. Biffle. Sign me up.

He may have to after losing 3M as a major sponsor (to Hendrick! Argh!), the brilliant company that makes sweet wall hooks and reliably sticky adhesive tapes. He also lost his best teammate in Edwards to Joe Gibbs.

The weight of Roush Fenway Racing rests on Biffle’s Atlas-ian deltoids. He suits up with teammates Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Trevor Bayne.

Biffle told Pete Pistone of Motor Racing Network:

"

I look forward to kind of carrying the flag and leading this organization. There were some interesting seats open and opportunities. I just felt like we can get this thing turned around, so I made the decision to stay and be the anchor for Roush Fenway, and do another three-year contract, regardless of sponsorship at that point.

"

Stenhouse had just five top 10s, while Bayne had zero.

Biffle, though coming off a winless 2014, must prove he can lead this team going forward.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Throughout the 2014 season I laughed every time I saw Dale Earnhardt Jr. doing doughnuts in what I can only hope is a safely delineated wetland. Look at 0:19. It's the ore of gold within this little gem.

Earnhardt has long been NASCAR’s most popular driver. He doesn’t get into fights. He doesn’t start them by pushing someone from behind and then scurrying away. He rarely loses his cool.

He won four races in 2014, his best since 2004, and finished eighth overall.

“I would definitely put it down as a successful year, even though the Chase was very disappointing," he said on Motor Racing Network.

That’s just it. A driver of his stature needs to win championships, and that's why he's on the hot seat. He has the talent. He has the resources. Now Junior needs to put it all together. It's a challenge when you look over your shoulder and see Nos. 24 and 48 in the garage.

Now Earnhardt gets Greg Ives as his crew chief since Steve Letarte bowed out. Ives helped Chase Elliott bag the Nationwide Series crown.

Earnhardt failed to reach the Eliminator Round of the Chase but did win at Martinsville.

“It feels good not to sit there and watch everybody just finish the year off," Earnhardt said on Motor Racing Network. "I’m glad we were able to get a win—to remind ourselves that if we keep working, keep trying, we’ll win a championship like we want to."