2016 NASCAR Driver Spotlight Review: Brad Keselowski

Brad Keselowski 2016 Review

By Richard Tix

2016 Season Preview

Season Grade: B

Season Preview: "Just like after 2013, I see another big come back season for BK in 2016. Since 2011 he has 16 wins in 180 races, which is a win every 11.25 races. That's not a bad mark to have in your last 5 seasons (he has only raced 6 full time years). I do see another 3-4 wins, 10-13 top 10's, and 20-22 top 10's in 2016 and also for BK to be a legit contender at the end of the season. The key will be making the final four, which I think BK will do."

Season Review: Well, BK finished with four wins, 16 top 5's, and 22 top 10's which means my statistical prediction wasn't far off. Right now Keselowski is on the every other year plan when it comes to producing big statistical numbers. 2012, 2014, and now 2016 have by far been his best statistical season's thus far in his career, he must really love even numbers.

However, all of those numbers didn't equate to a good finish on the season in 2016. He and Martin Truex Jr were the two drivers who deserved to go further (based on season success and speed), but didn't get it done when they most needed to (which is what you have to do in this format). BK had finishes of 7th, 38th, and 38th in the second round of the Chase which knocked him out of contention.

Without such a poor round, he and Truex were arguable two of the guys to beat for the Championship. That's the plus side, but the fact remains that is not how it played out for either driver and both will have to move on and look for more in 2017.

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2016 NASCAR Driver Spotlight Review: Martin Truex

Martin Truex Jr 2016 Review

By Richard Tix

2016 Season Preview

Season Grade: B

Season Preview: "Martin Truex Jr has raised the bar with Furniture Row and will continue to see pressure to perform in 2016. Not only that, but the team switched from Chevy to Toyota and are now in alliance with JGR. I think some bumps in the road are to be expected, but I think he will run well enough to once again make the Chase. However, I am not sure if he will win again in 2016. 0 wins, 5-6 top 5's, and 19-20 top 10's are what I see possible for him this year."

Season Review: No wins? Zero wins? What was I thinking? The switch to JGR helped him and the bumps in the road were at a minimum in 2016. Martin ended the season with four total wins which far exceeded my expectations. 

Three of those four came from Darlington on (so three in the last twelve). I wasn't completely off with the rest of his prediction's, but I did not see him becoming one of the best cars on the season. 

In the end he and Brad Keselowski were the two car's left out looking in that were the most deserving to be in at the end of the season. But, both ran into trouble during the Chase and both should understand that is how it works in this era right now. Overall Martin had a fantastic season and will look to advance further next season.

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2016 NASCAR Driver Spotlight Review: Chase Elliott

Chase Elliott 2016 Review

By Richard Tix

2016 Preview Article

Season Grade: A

Season Preview: "Anything less than a Rookie of the Year Award will be considered a disappointment for Elliott considering how much pressure might be on him. He is with a top tier team, he fills in for Jeff Gordon's retirement, and he will go head to head in a quality ROY class. I think he could surprise and be the first 2016 rookie to get a win this year (most likely the only one). 1 win, 4-5 top 5's, and 6-9 top 10's are all low numbers that he should be easily attainable (except maybe the trip to VL)."

Season Review: Chase Elliott didn't make his way to victory lane in his rookie season, but he did just about everything else he could. He finished his Rookie of the Year season off with ease after ten top 5's and 17 top 10's, which are all impressive numbers for a rookie driver in the top series.

To put Chases accomplishments in perspective, let's take a peak at the rookie season's of Jeff Gordon and Kyle Larson, both of which are pretty close to Elliott's numbers.

Driver	Races	Win	T5	T10	P	Avg Fn
Chase Elliott	36	0	10	17	2	14.6
Jeff Gordon	30	0	7	11	1	17.7
Kyle Larson	36	0	8	17	1	14.2

To put it short, Chase Elliott had a pretty darn good rookie season. Not listed in stats are the countless tough luck breaks the team seemed to have and all the moments where Chase was too hard on himself. It's refreshing to see a driver take responsibility, but Elliott seemed to take the blame on himself too often for a rookie just getting settled into his Cup career.

Some past rookies at the premier series level have won more races and finished in the top 5 more often, but they do not always show the consistency week to week like Chase did. It was impressive to see him stay the course and stay consistent as such a young driver.

Chase showed in 2016 that he should be the cornerstone of Hendrick Motorsports, which is important since no one knows how long Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr will be around and that alone gives him a good grade on his inagural season.

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2016 NASCAR Driver Spotlight Review: Kyle Larson

Kyle Larson 2016 Review

By Richard Tix

2016 Preview Article

Season Grade: B+

Season Preview: "Last year I went with multiple wins which was bold considering how bad it crashed an burned. This year I am going with Larson once again going win-less. Many are picking him to bounce back and finally get a win in 2016. While I do think he will bounce back, I also think he has a real shot at once again coming up short in the W column. I do think he will creep back into the Chase picture with solid outings even despite a win. 7-9 top 5's and 16-18 top 10's are realistically where I see him ending back up (something close to his rookie season)."

Season Review: Well, I can't say I was right on almost anything above from my season preview article on Kyle Larson, you can't win'em all folks. In 2016 he finally notched his first NASCAR Cup Series win (which I prediced would come true each of his first two years and I was wrong so of course I would be wrong when I predicted he wouldn't win this year..). The win came at Michigan in the Pure Michigan 400, which was extra sweet for me because I was there live in person. 

The win put him in the 2016 Chase where he faltered a bunch early (three of his first five races were 18th or worse). He finished the season strong with finishes of third at Phoenix and second at Homestead which is something we have seen before from Kyle before (see rookie season).

The season ended with Larson notching his best win total (one), best top 5 total (10), and second best top 10 total (15) while finishing a career best 9th in points. All those numbers are one's in which most fans expect him to surpass eventually but it was a nice stepping stone season for one of NASCAR's rising stars.

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2016 NASCAR Driver Spotlight Preview: Danica Patrick

Danica Patrick 2016 Preview

By Richard Tix

Danica Patrick Career Paint Schemes

After 2014 it looked like Danica Patrick was really starting to make strides in her Cup career. She posted high's in top 10's, average starting position, and average finish position. So, in 2015 I really thought she would continue to make those strides.

It isn't like 2015 was a bad year, but she just held pace with 2014. She finished 2015 with 13 top 20 finishes which was one less then 2014 (14). And here starting and finish averages were just about the same.

So, 2016 will be a big year for Danica. GoDaddy has officially left the sport, but she continues to pick up new sponsors to the NASCAR world along the way to replace them. On the track, 2016 will be a important to see if she will improve, or if these numbers just are what she is (kind of like Paul Menard). 

Bold Predictions/2016 Season Expectations:

• I do think Danica has some room to improve before truly hitting her peak. She is never going to be a consistent top 15 driver in my mind, but I do think she can get into the top 20 at some point, if not multiple times, in her career (so far she has finished seasons 27th, 28th, 24th). He numbers overall may not have been better, but she was more consistent in 2015 which lead to a top 25 finish in points (24th). Another win-less season might be expected, but I think she might finally get her first top 5 along with 2-4 top 10's, and another 12-14 top 15's. 

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