2015 Driver Spotlight Preview: Ricky Stenhouse Jr

Ricky Stenhouse Jr 2015 Preview

By Richard Tix

Ricky Stenhouse Jr is in a prime spot to succeed at the Cup level. He will be now entering his third year with Roush Fenway Racing (3rd year at the Cup Level as well) which is now slouch of a NASCAR Cup team. 

2014 seemed like it was a down season for RFR and it showed in Stenhouse's performance, but sometimes not everything can be put on the team. On that same team Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle also had slow (or down) season's, but both made the Chase. In fact, Edwards still managed two wins on the season.

So, I still expected more of a second year step for Ricky. However, he still improved in top 10's from 3 to 5 total. He also notched a top 5 early in the season at Bristol. But in the big picture he wasn't near as consistent as he was in his first season (2013). His average finish dipped from a respectable 18.9 in his rookie year to 22.4 in 2014. 

I personally see year three in most young NASCAR drivers careers a big year. I think the first three years can say a lot about a driver and where his career will go. It's not that a driver even has to "break out" in those three years, but its more important to see some steady improvement. 

Bold Predictions/2015 Season Expectations:

• As I said before, 2015 will come down to "does Ricky Stenhouse Jr improve." Will he improve enough that we can see him becoming an every year top 15 driver? Or will he just end up hanging out most season's in the 15-20 range? I don't think it is too bold to say he will improve a bit on his stats from 2014, but I don't think he jumps too much. I think his top 10 finishes will be around 5-8 in 2015. The bolder prediction is that I think he doesn't make a big jump in a season where I think RFR finds a bit more speed. I expect another slow season at RFR win-wise with Edwards leaving. 

List of Previous Driver Spotlights