2015 Pit Road Week 36: Homestead

Weekly NASCAR Review and Power Rankings

Ford EcoBoost 400

By Richard Tix

That's it folks, 2015 is in the books. For the fifth straight season NASCAR has crowned a different Champion (Tony Stewart, Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, and Kyle Busch with three of them being first time Champions (BK, Harvick, and Rowdy). It was fun season with plenty of ups and downs, drama, and controversy. In the end, it was entertaining and fun to experience it with all the fans.

From opening season story lines of how dominate Kyle Larson will be in his second season, to can Kyle Busch come back from his leg injuries. Right into Jeff Gordon retiring full time and the #24 being taken over by rookie Chase Elliott. Capping it off with the Joey Logano and Matt Kenseth feud, Junior coming withing feet of advancing, Harvick triggering a wreck and advancing, and Kyle "Rowdy" Busch finally winning his long sought after Championship (Yes, I predicted him winning in 2013 and 2014. After being wrong I chose different in 2015 and he finally won one!).

As we have every year, we had some good hard racing and also some races finished by fuel mileage. We had deserving winners and lucky ones. We had racing incidents and also purposeful wrecks. All in all we had everything that makes up racing, good or bad, during a 36 race season.

Lucky for NASCAR fans the offseason is only 90 days long. However, it still isn't easy for many fans so NBTW will stick around and review the season, plus start preview next year. 

Last up for 2015 before driver reviews, the final season power rankings. These were lumped together as a season long rankings and not just the last few races, so think of it as a power rankings in review.

Pit Road Power Rankings Week 36 (Week 35)

1. Kyle Busch (LW-2)- "He didn't race all the races. He didn't deserve it." Kyle Busch played by the rules, and still beat the other drivers out there. Since his return he was one of the best cars weekly and with his wins undoubtedly deserved a shot at the title. If he ran all year he might have ran away with it... Just think about that. Oh, and when all was said and done, three other drives had a heads up shot to beat him and they didn't. Congrats Rowdy.
2. Jeff Gordon (LW-3)- This is more like 1B in the rankings. He wasn't able to go out on top, but Gordon had one heck of a career. He has been a great ambassador for the sport and helped take it to where it is today. Almost everyone in the NASCAR community will miss him on the track. He took the Southern sport to the West Coast and made everyone think of one thing when they saw the #24, winning. Thanks for the great career Jeff Gordon.
3. Kevin Harvick (LW-1)- The #2 spot was out of respect for a great career and one last shot at the top for Gordon, in my regular rankings Harvick would be #2. What a year he had, but it was filled with a lot of what if's. He has a ton of runner up finishes, yet had a tough Chase where he had to (not proven) cause a Talladega caution to move on. The #4 was one of the best cars all year and most of NASCAR is still trying to catch him.
4. Joey Logano (LW-6)- It's pretty amazing the year JoLo had, but a run in with the wrong guy apparently left him out of the running for the Championship. No matter what you say, the kid has talent and if Penske keeps up the hot streak they will be back in it next year.
5. Brad Keselowski (LW-5)- Speaking of Penske, BK once again lost because of a late debris caution. On the next restart he wasn't as fast as the two Championship contenders so he took the high line (but no one noticed...). He had a good year, but it wasn't what he has become used to. Look for he and teammate JoLo to continue there hot streak in 2016.
6. Martin Truex Jr (LW-4)- What a year for this small team. After all the struggles Truex had last year this year was a 180. Not only did they compete weekly, finally win a race with Martin, and announce the addition of a second car in the coming years, but they had a legit shot at a Championship at Miami. It will be tough to top 2015, but next year they move to Toyota and will work with JGR. If JGR and Toyota keep up what they finished in 2015 then it could be a memorable year.
7. Jimmie Johnson (LW-9)- Another "down year" and another 5 wins. He isn't far off from the stats he put up in Championship years, but other drivers have caught up and are putting up 20+ top 5's compared to JJ's 14 (JJ has only had 20 top 5's twice in 2004 and 2007). His laps lead really went down this season, so that will be something they look to improve while trying to get back to the top.
8. Dale Earnhardt Jr (LW-7)- That is two really good seasons in a row for Junior and with two different CC's. Maybe bringing some consistency back will be what he needs? He was so close to the finale if he would have got that Dega win.
9. Matt Kenseth (LW-NR)- Kenseth gets to come back to the rankings in the end of season rankings. He didn't finish strong (almost falling apart after the Kansas incident), but he had a great season overall. Lead by a strong middle of the year (same with almost every JGR car), Kenseth finished with 5 wins, 20 top 10's, and thousands of extra fans.
10. Denny Hamlin (LW-11)- Injuries and issues got in the way of Hamlin for a few years and it seemed like we had seen the last of vintage Hamlin in just an early career. However, he bounce back this year in the shoulders of some strong JGR cars. 2 wins were the most since 2012 (5), 14 top 5's tied the most since 2012, and 20 top 10's ties a career high (2009 and 2006). 
11. Kurt Busch (LW-10)- It's been a long road back, but Kurt made it finally. 2016 he will get a fresh start with a fresh new contract, but he did some great things in just 33 races this season. His 21 top 10's tied his career high and it was his first multi win season since 2011. 
12. Carl Edwards (LW-8)- Season long, it was a rough first year at JGR. But, once JGR got going so did Edwards. I use the last rankings for the year as kind of a season long power rankings so Carl slid a bit, but he had a great Chase run where he just came up short. Next year could be the year of JGR, which will give Carl a shot at a title, finally.

Congratulations Kyle Busch! 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion