Daytona 500 2015: Ranking Top Teams Heading into Season Opener
The official start of the Sprint Cup season is just days away. When the green flag waves for the Daytona 500, the 2015 season will kick off for every team looking to take the title.
Kevin Harvick and Stewart-Haas Racing currently hold the title, but myriad teams are hoping to sit on that throne. No two seasons are alike, so what happened in 2014 won't necessarily translate over to the coming year.
For example, Matt Kenseth won seven races in 2013 but was unable to repeat that success last season. He still finished seventh in points, but it was a bit of a letdown for the previously dominant Joe Gibbs Racing team.
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Drivers have swapped rides and teams, so the outlook for each individual crew is different. Heading into the 2015 season, here is a look at the top organizations at the Sprint Cup level.
No. 1: Hendrick Motorsports
No team had more wins in 2014. No team had more drivers in the Chase. In the last two decades, no team has won as many championships as Hendrick Motorsports.
Dominance from Rick Hendrick isn't anything new, and it doesn't appear to be changing anytime soon. Sure, Hendrick's teams didn't have a chance at a title in Homestead, but that doesn't mean 2014 wasn't impressive.
How does one move on from not repeating as champion? Sweeping the front row at the Daytona 500 seems like a great way to respond. Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson took the top two spots during qualifying, something that Hendrick has done multiple times:
The 13 wins from Hendrick were spread across every single driver. Johnson and Gordon are almost expected to win on a regular basis, but it was Dale Earnhardt Jr. who surprised with his consistency.
| 2012-14 | 5 | 32 | 62 | 12 |
| 2007-11 | 1 | 26 | 54 | 17.8 |
Earnhardt won four races, exactly as many as he captured during the previous nine seasons. Along with Earnhardt, Kasey Kahne made the Chase and recently received a contract extension to stay with Hendrick.
As if things weren't going well enough for the team, Chase Elliott—the youngest driver to win an Xfinity Series title—will take over for Gordon after the season. Expect more greatness from Hendrick this season, with two drivers racing for a title in Miami.
No. 2: Joe Gibbs Racing
During the Chase last season, the two best teams appeared to be Hendrick and Team Penske. With the switch for Carl Edwards over to Joe Gibbs Racing, the Toyota team has the look of the No. 2 team in NASCAR.
Leading up to the Daytona 500, JGR and Hendrick look like the class of the entire Sprint Cup Series. Kenseth started off the week with a Sprint Unlimited victory while Hendrick swept the front row in qualifying.
Just behind both, of course, was Edwards. The former Roush Fenway driver finished third Saturday in his first time behind the wheel of a JGR machine. He followed that up Sunday by qualifying for the event purely based on his time.
That was crucial for Edwards, as Bob Pockrass of ESPN.com noted prior to Sunday:
All four drivers currently on the team made the Chase last season. Denny Hamlin made it the farthest, finishing third in points after falling to Harvick in the final race. The previous season, Kenseth fell in similar fashion, coming in second behind Johnson.
This season will be different for Gibbs. With the current depth on the roster and overall talent, the Toyota team has title hopes and the team to get it there. After what Kenseth and Harvick did with new teams in the past two seasons, it just might be Edwards sitting at the top by the end.
No. 3: Team Penske
It may not have the depth of Hendrick or Gibbs, but Team Penske certainly has the talent. Both Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano were title contenders last season, and there's no reason to believe they won't mirror that success in 2015.
Logano is entering his seventh full-time season and finally appears to be firing on all cylinders. The 24-year-old driver won five races in 2014 after collecting just three through his first six years. Sliced Bread also led a staggering 993 laps, which—you guessed it—was more than the previous seasons in total.
After going through the ups and downs with JGR, it's clear that Logano is now at a different level. Coming off Logano's breakout season, Jay Pennell of Fox Sports believes it will only strengthen his chances:
"Logano is no longer the bright-eyed youngster struggling to live up to expectations.
Through his years in the sport, Logano has stood his ground against other competitors and done his best to move past the "Sliced Bread" moniker.
One of only four drivers to race in NASCAR's inaugural winner-take-all championship race, Logano also has that experience to lean on while preparing to make another run at the title.
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Keselowski is viewed as one of the villains of the sport, and he did nothing to change that perception last season. With Logano slowly building a rivalry with Harvick, neither driver is beloved by the rest of the field.
Heading into 2015, this rogue duo will have to torch its own trail again. Dealing with a similar situation last year, the two drivers combined to win 11 races and nearly captured a championship. Given its talent and equipment, Penske will once again be the most powerful Ford team on the track.
No. 4: Stewart-Haas Racing
The talent is clearly there for Stewart-Haas Racing. After all, Harvick did win the championship last season. It's simply overcoming the off-the-track issues and finding consistency that will be key.
First, let's start with Harvick. Essentially the golden child of the team, all he did last season was start a trend, known as "Harvicking" after shoving Keselowski into an altercation with Gordon in Texas. But that was all forgiven after he hoisted the Sprint Cup trophy to close out the season.
Tony Stewart, the team's co-owner, dealt with much more than he ever could have imagined in 2014. Stewart struck and killed Kevin Ward Jr. in a sprint car race just over a year after breaking his leg in another sprint car accident.
The 43-year-old driver spoke about moving forward from the past two seasons, via Viv Bernstein of The New York Times:
"I’ve never questioned who I am and what I do. We’ve had two rough years back to back, which I don’t think I’d wish that on anybody. But deep down inside, I know who I am as a person and I know who I am as a driver, and that’s what I want to get back to. That’s what makes the start of 2015 so exciting for me, is flipping the page and getting ready to get focused again on what we love doing.
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Meanwhile, Kurt Busch is dealing with issues of his own with ex-girlfriend Patricia Driscoll. Busch was accused of domestic abuse, and a judge recently granted Driscoll a protective order from Busch. It remains to be seen whether he'll be suspended, but distractions might still cause a setback.
Danica Patrick, on the other hand, simply hasn't put up the results to this point to improve the team. With Patrick entering a contract year, 2015 will be crucial for her along with the rest of SHR.
Simply put, Harvick has a chance to repeat or at least make it back to the final four in the Chase. What the future holds for the rest of the team is a completely different question.
No. 5: Chip Ganassi Racing
It may not be the same level of talent as Penske, but Chip Ganassi Racing has a special duo. Both Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson came on strong to close out the season, which should translate over to 2015.
McMurray has never finished inside the top 10 in points, but he has the experience to make it to the Chase. After missing out last year by a narrow margin, he'll fare much better this season and pull out at least one win to make the field of 16.
On the other hand, Larson proved as a rookie that he's a rising star in the sport. Despite his baby face, the 22-year-old driver is ferocious on the track. He showed that during the Chase—earning six top-10s—and should win multiple races this year.
Nobody is saying CGR will go out and win double-digit races like Penske did last year, but it has the talent to contend for a title. That's enough to put the team at No. 5, ahead of both Roush and Richard Childress. In order to stay there, results will be crucial for both Larson and McMurray.
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