9 Sprint Cup Drivers Most Likely to Bounce Back in 2016
The 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup season officially ends with Friday’s annual awards banquet in Las Vegas.
But for many drivers who had a less-than-stellar 2015 season, they’re likely all looking forward to a rebound season in 2016.
Some finished so low in the standings this past season that several of their teams began working on 2016 before 2015 was even totally in the books.
They did so hoping to get a head start on the technology and new rules that will come into play, particularly the low-downforce aerodynamic package that will be implemented for the entire 36-race season.
Several drivers will likely have elevated hopes for 2016 because of that season’s significance—which we’ll explain in their individual slides. Among those are Tony Stewart, Kyle Larson, Greg Biffle and Clint Bowyer.
Let’s take a look at what the nine drivers who most need good comeback seasons face in the season to come (in no particular order):
Trevor Bayne
1 of 9
There was a great deal of anticipation and excitement when Trevor Bayne was promoted to the Sprint Cup Series on a full-time basis in 2015.
He replaced Carl Edwards, who left Roush Fenway Racing at the end of the 2014 season to move to Joe Gibbs Racing.
But Bayne, who won the 2011 Daytona 500, had a terrible year, failing to win a race, having zero top fives, just two top 10s and failing to finish three other races.
With Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Bayne the future of RFR once Greg Biffle eventually retires (perhaps as early as after the 2017 season), Bayne needs to have a significantly better performance in 2016.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
2 of 9
On one hand, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. improved slightly in 2015, ending up 25th in the final standings after finishing 27th in 2014.
But he managed just one top-five and three top-10 finishes, the same number he had in his rookie season in 2013.
Frankly, Stenhouse has done little improvement in his three full-time seasons in Sprint Cup racing. It almost seems as if he’s stuck in neutral—both his career and the transmission and power under the hood of his Ford Fusion.
Stenhouse needs a breakout season in 2016, lest there may not be a Sprint Cup season for him in 2017 if team owner Jack Roush has anything to say about it.
Casey Mears
3 of 9
In a sense, Casey Mears had a comeback year of sorts in 2015, finishing 23rd in the Sprint Cup standings. It was his highest showing in the circuit since he finished 21st in 2009.
But it’s hard to call a season that featured just one top-10 finish in 36 starts a comeback season.
I’ve had high hopes for the nephew of four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Rick Mears for several years. But as each season goes by, Mears winds up with yet another mediocre finish year after year.
Can he finally break out of the funk he’s been in the last several seasons and, at the very least, crack the top 20 for the first time since he was 20th in 2008 and 15th in 2007?
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AJ Allmendinger
4 of 9
AJ Allmendinger was 2014’s Cinderella driver. Not only did he win his first career Sprint Cup race, but he also did it on one of the circuit's most difficult tracks.
Who can forget the fender-banging battle he had with Marcos Ambrose in the closing laps at Watkins Glen, and then Allmendinger's emotional response to earning his first Cup-level checkered flag?
In addition, he wound up making the Chase for the Sprint Cup for the first time—and the first time for his team—JTG Daugherty Racing.
But instead of building upon the momentum from 2014, Allmendinger flat-spotted in 2015, missing the Chase, failing to win again and ending up a very mediocre 22nd in the standings.
Look at it this way, he can only go back up in 2016, right?
Kasey Kahne
5 of 9
After barely qualifying for the Chase for the Sprint Cup in 2014, Kasey Kahne had one of his worst seasons ever in 2015.
He failed to win a race in a season for the first time since 2010. He managed just three top-five finishes and 10 top-10 showings.
And one of the worst stats of all: He managed to lead just 66 laps in the entire 36-race season—the lowest of his career.
Although Kahne has job security for two more seasons (he signed a new three-year deal prior to the 2015 campaign), his performance definitely has to improve in 2016.
Kyle Larson
6 of 9
With all the talent he possesses, it’s getting a bit tiring saying Kyle Larson is a win-waiting-to-happen.
As he prepares to enter his third full-time season in the Sprint Cup circuit, Larson still has yet to take a checkered flag in NASCAR’s premier series.
Part of his downturn in 2015 may be traced to NASCAR’s notorious sophomore jinx.
For after eight top fives and 17 top 10s in 2014, Larson managed just two top-five finishes and only 10 top-10 showings in 2015.
Larson needs to shake the sophomore jinx and replace it with a junior jubilee in 2016. The question is, can he?
Greg Biffle
7 of 9
Greg Biffle, who is the oldest active full-time driver on the Cup circuit (he turns 46 on Dec. 23), doesn’t need just a rebound in 2016; he needs a career-changing year.
Biffle assumed the role of No. 1 driver at Roush Fenway Racing in 2015 with former teammate Carl Edwards' departure to Joe Gibbs Racing. You would think Biffle would have had a great season as RFR's top dog.
On the contrary, he wound up with a season that was for the dogs—the worst single season of his Cup career.
He failed to win a race for the second straight season, he had just three top-five finishes and he had only four top 10s—his worst-showing ever.
Biffle needs a huge turnaround in 2016. But given how bad RFR has been overall for much of the last three seasons, it’s not unlikely that it could be more of the same for The Biff and RFR as a whole in 2016.
Clint Bowyer
8 of 9
And then there’s Clint Bowyer, who will spend a single season with HScott Motorsports before moving to replace Tony Stewart at Stewart-Haas Racing in 2017.
Bowyer has had an extremely rough go of it the last two seasons. In 2014, he failed to make the Chase and finished a career-worst 19th in the final standings.
Things really got even worse in 2015. He extended a winless streak that dates back to 2012. He had a career low in top fives (just two) and second-worst in top-10 finishes (12).
Wait, there’s more.
He led a grand total of just 11 laps in the entire season, and he had an average finish of 18.8 (second-worst single-season performance of his career).
And to top it all off, his race team—Michael Waltrip Racing—folded at the end of the year.
But there’s cause for optimism going forward. Bowyer will have lots of help from Stewart-Haas Racing in 2016 while toiling for HScott Motorsports, and then he replaces Stewart the following season.
Frankly, the only place Bowyer can go is up.
Tony Stewart
9 of 9
First Jeff Gordon, now Tony Stewart.
Gordon retired at the end of 2015; Stewart will hang up his firesuit for the final time at the end of 2016.
It’s been very hard watching Stewart struggle the last few seasons. In 2013, he suffered a severely broken leg in a sprint car race, causing him to miss the final 15 races of the season.
In 2014, not only did Stewart struggle on the race track, but he also was involved in the Kevin Ward Jr. tragedy.
He came into 2015 with optimism of turning things around, especially given the fact he hadn’t won a race since early 2013.
Unfortunately, it was not to be.
Even worse, Stewart experienced the worst season of his Sprint Cup career and most likely the worst season ever in his overall nearly three decades of racing everything from sprint cars to Indy cars to Sprint Cup cars.
In 36 starts, Stewart failed to record a win or even a top five, and he managed just three top 10s. In addition, his average per-race finish was a terrible 24.8—unquestionably the worst of his career.
Can Smoke reach back for some of the old magic that carried him to three Sprint Cup championships and 48 career Cup wins in 2016?
He’s likely asking himself the same question.
Follow me on Twitter @JerryBonkowski
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