2014 Team Spotlight Review: Hendrick Motorsports

Hendrick Motorsports 2014 Review

By Richard Tix

Season Preview

2014 Season Stats

Wins: 13

Top 5: 40

Top 10: 74

Poles: 4

HMS had another kind of season you would expect out of the top Cup team. 13 total wins and 40 top 5's is nothing to look down on. Actually HMS ended up getting great bounce back season's from Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr and it all started off with a Daytona 500 win to start the season.

However, at the end of the season HMS came up short of winning another Sprint Cup title. In fact, not a single driver from HMS made the Finale at Homestead even though they went in as favorites besides Team Penske (and Harvick). 

All in all the team has a lot of good things to look back at in 2014 but will be looking for its first Championship in the New Chase Era.

Jeff Gordon

• Its been said by many (and heck, on this blog a ton) that Jeff Gordon entered 2014 with a ton of rumors, some about retirement. Yet, he came back as strong as ever this past season and put all of that to rest. He was a title favorite that came up short in 2014. He ended the year with 4 wins, 14 top 10's, 23 top 10's, 3 poles, and finishing 6th in points

Dale Earnhardt Jr

• Starting off 2014 by winning his second career Daytona 500 was a dream start to 2014. After the announcement of Steve Letarte leaving at the end of the season the momentum started to roll that maybe this could be a special season for the pair. In the end they came up short on the storybook ending to Steve's CC career with Jr. Jr still ended with 4 wins, 12 top 5's, 20 top 10's, and finishing 8th in points.

Jimmie Johnson

• 2014 was a down year for JJ in JJ terms, for most drivers it was still a quality year. The most surprising fact was that he finished 11th in the standings and wasn't really a huge threat during the Chase which is what we as fans have come to expect. He still finished the year with a more than respectable 4 wins, 11 top 5's, 20 top 10's, and 1 pole. 

Kasey Kahne

• 2014 wasn't Kahnes year, that is for sure when it comes to racing. All in all he just wasn't consistent, yet in the end he made the Chase which is the big picture. The bigger picture going forward will be making the final in Homestead and Kasey will get every chance to do that with his new extension with HMS. He finished 2014 with 1 win, 3 top 5's, and 11 top 10's while finishing 15th in points.

Previous Team Spotlight: Team Penske

2014 Team Spotlight Review: Richard Childress Racing

Richard Childress Racing 2014 Review

By Richard Tix

Season Preview

2014 Season Stats

Wins: 0

Top 5: 11

Top 10: 33

Pole: 1

2014 was a big transition season for Richard Childress Racing. Jeff Burton was retiring from full time driving, which left the door open in the #31 car. Kevin Harvick took off to Stewart-Haas racing after a long career with RCR. The moves that RCR made to counter those was to bring in Ryan Newman to replace Burton and young gun Austin Dillon in the #3 to take Harvicks spot.

Obviously, when you lose a veteran like Burton and Harvick it will almost always look like a downgrade, but RCR ended up handling it better than I expected.

Newman came in and brought a ton of consistency to a team that seemed to lack it in 2014. That consistency lead him into the Chase and then into the Finale at Homestead-Miami. On paper his stats don't jump out, but most drivers would have taken the shot to win a Championship in the last race over winning 5 races and being left out.

Past Newman's season, (heck including Newman) RCR had a lot of mediocrity in 2014. They weren't terrible but they weren't great either. Let take a fast look at each driver in 2014.

Ryan Newman

• The crazy thing about Newman's first season with RCR is that most categories he was a bit down. He had zero wins (2009 was the last time that happened), he had 5 top 5's (a low since 2012 when he had 4), and 16 top 10's (low since 2012). Yet, his average finish of 12.7 was the best of his 13 year career (full time season's only). That is how he made the Chase and that is how he made the Finale at Miami.

Paul Menard

• Statistically Menard had one of his better seasons in his 11 year career. He finished with 0 wins, 5 top 5's, and 13 top 10's. However, for the first time since 2010 he finished outside the top 20 in points (21st). Things could have been worse, but missing the Chase once again has to be eating at him.

Austin Dillon

• Dillons 2014 rookie season will be the stepping stone for his career. It was a quality first season but now its all what he does from here. He ended the year with zero wins, one top 5, four top 10's, and one pole while finishing 20th in points.

Previous Team Spotlight: Roush Fenway Racing

2014 Team Spotlight Review: Roush Fenway Racing

Roush Fenway Racing 2014 Review

By Richard Tix

Season Preview

2014 Team Stats

Wins: 2

Top 5: 11

Top 10: 30

Pole: 0

In 2013 RFR had to watch former RFR driver Matt Kenseth dominate most of the year racking up 7 wins. In 2014 they had to think all season long about who was coming back in 2015. Was that a factor in why the team didn't quite perform up to expectations? We may never truly know, but in 2014 Roush Fenway just didn't have the speed that other teams did have (including another Ford team, Penske). 

In the end it may have also helped lose another one of RFR top drivers for the 2015 season, Carl Edwards. But lets stick to the season in review, 2014.

In 2014 all the major stats were down from 2013. All together RFR only had two wins (both Carl Edwards), 11 top 5's, and 30 top 10's. Most concerning is not one of the three drivers found a pole award in 2014, which is explained because of there lack of power. 

Still, in a disappointing season RFR manage to get two drivers into the 2014 Sprint Cup Chase (Edwards and Biffle). 

Carl Edwards

• 2014 marked Carl's last season with RFR, but lets focus on the season itself. Not many times during the season did I think to myself that Carl was one of the fastest cars on the track. Actually, it seemed like most of the year he hung out from 8-15th each race. Yet, he was still the best RFR driver in 2014 (statistically speaking). Carl ended up with his third straight season of 13+ average finish position (15.1). He had 2 wins, 7 top 5's, and 14 top 10's while finishing 9th in points (which was actually his highest finish since 2011).  

Greg Biffle

• 2014 was Biffle's worst season since his down year in 2011 when he also came up win-less. Even at tracks he normally runs well at he seemed to lack the speed he needed to run up front. He finished the 2014 season with 0 wins, 3 top 5's, and 11 top 10's while finishing the season 14th in points. However, he did make the Chase since it was expanded this season to 16 drivers.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr

• Was it the lack of RFR speed? Or was it a huge driver regression? Not sure what happened but the promise of Ricky's Rookie 2013 run is all but forgotten after 2014. He again didn't have a win, he had the same amount of top 5's (1), and 5 top 10's (up from 3), yet his average finish ended up being 22.4 (down from 18.9). 2015 will be a big season for Ricky and RFR.

Previous Team Spotlight Review: Michael Waltrip Racing

2014 Team Spotlight Review: Michael Waltrip Racing

Michael Waltrip Racing 2014 Review

By Richard Tix

Season Preview

2014 Team Stats

Wins: 0

Top 5: 8

Top 10: 24

Pole: 1

Just as recently as 2012 I thought this MWR team was on the verge of being a big player when it came to NASCAR teams. They entered 2013 and had a great season until it fell apart at Richmond before the 2013 Chase when "spin gate" became a term.

Enter 2014. Not much has changed since that incident at Richmond. The team and sport has moved on (for the most part), yet MWR still is in that same funk how they left the 2013 season. In 2014 MWR moved back to only two drivers because spin gate cost them NAPA Auto Parts as a sponsor. Martin Truex Jr lost his spot on MWR due to that sponsorship loss and no new sponsors for a third car were brought in.

Clint Bowyer came back in the #15 and Brian Vickers was cleared to race and took over the #55 full time. Nothing was smooth sailing in 2014 for either driver as neither found a win or made the Chase. 

Clint Bowyer

• Before Richmond in 2013 (spin gate) Clint seemed to be making a push to be a rising star. He had just finished 2nd in 2012 and he was helping MWR try and reach a new level. A lot of things seemed to have crashed down after the incident at Richmond and he hasn't quite found his step yet. Some of this maybe due to the lack of speed some Toyota's experienced in 2014 compared to 2013, but maybe spin gate has something to do with it. He finished 2014 with 0 wins, 5 top 5's, and 15 top 10's while having an average finish of 17.1. All of those stats were lower than 2013 and most of them were close to career low's.

Brian Vickers

• Expectations were not as high for Vickers entering 2014. 2014 was the first time he ran a full time schedule since 2009, which in itself is a win for the #55 team and his health. Bad news struck this offseason that he will have to have heart surgery again and will miss the start of 2015. With lower expectations Vickers did about what most thought he would when he posted stats of 0 wins, 3 top 5's, 9 top 10's, 1 pole, while finishing the season 22nd in points.

Previous Team Spotlight Review: Ganassi Racing

2014 Team Spotlight Review: Chip Ganassi Racing

Ganassi Racing 2014 Review

By Richard Tix

Season Preview

2014 Season Stats

Wins: 0

Top 5: 15

Top 10: 30

Pole: 3

In 2013 Ganassi parted ways with Juan Pablo Montoya and turned to rising young gun Kyle Larson. Larson didn't have much NASCAR top tier experience but was trusted to take over for the #42 team. That left Jamie McMurray as the lone veteran coming back to Ganassi in 2014. I thought going into the season Kyle would be up and down as most knew he had talent, but he was also raw. So, my thought's were about the same for the Ganassi team in 2014.

I wasn't sure what to expect as J Mac has bounced around most of his career and Kyle is a rising young gun. By the end of the season Larson was trying to lock in one of the last spots in the Chase and Jamie wasn't too far behind. However, neither one found the win they needed to assure there spot which left both drivers just short (17th and 18th in points). 

All in all 2014 was a success at Chip Ganassi Racing in my opinion. Kyle Larson had an exciting season which accumulated in the Rookie of the Year Awards and Jamie McMurray was competitive week to week. It's hard to look back between this season and last because the driver stable changed so much, but for a rebuilding team (something you don't hear used much in NASCAR) they took strides in the right direction.

Jamie McMurray

• McMurray had 7 career wins in his 12 seasons as a full time Cup driver, but in 2014 when it would have locked him into the Chase he couldn't get it done. That's the bad news, the good news is he had more top 10 finishes then he has had since his 2004 (13). He finished the seaosn with 0 wins, 7 top 5's, 13 top 10's, and 2 poles while finished 18th in points. 

Kyle Larson

• Larson's rookie season ended up with him finishing one spot shy of the Chase field (17th). Not a bad rookie campaign. His 2014 season will be a big stepping stone for him going forward. The next step for him will be locking in a Chase spot in 2015 and also getting his first Cup win. In 2014 he ended the season with 0 wins, 8 top 5's, 17 top 10's, and 1 pole. All of these stats lead the Ganassi team in 2014 except for poles. 

Previous Team Review: Richard Petty Motorsports

2014 Team Spotlight Review: Richard Petty Motorsports

Richard Petty Motorsports 2014 Review

By Richard Tix

Season Preview

2014 Team Stats

Wins: 1

Top 5: 5

Top 10: 14

Pole: 0

Coming into 2014 I thought this new Chase opened the door for guys at RPM to make the Chase. Like most people, that chance looked like it would be Marcus Ambrose's at a road course where he specializes. Well, Ambrose was shut out at both road courses missing his shot at the Chase. However, my statement was still someone correct before the season because the door did open for a RPM car to make the Chase. That car was the #43 of Aric Almirola after he won a rain shortened Daytona race. 

In the end RPM took a step forward in 2014. The win at Daytona was nice. It was Almirola's first Cup win but also broke a long win less streak for the famed #43. But, the increased consistency was also a plus on the season. RPM ended the season with 4 more top 5's then 2013 and two more top 10's. It was a step in the right direction for RPM that they will try and carry over into 2015.

Aric Almirola

• Aric made his first Chase appearance of his career after his first career win which came at Daytona. He didn't do much with the appearance but the experience and confidence it brought the whole team could help going forward. He had 1 win, 2 top 5's (1 more than 2013), and 7 top 10's (1 more than 2013). He also finished a career high 16th in the points (previous high 18th in 2013).

Marcus Ambrose

• 2014 marked Ambrose's last full time season in Cup. Unfortunately he left it on a sour note when he didn't notch a win at either road course. One thing is for sure, Marcus was one of the most entertaining road course racer's of any NASCAR Era. I am hopefully that someone will give him a decent ride in 2015 for NASCAR's two road course stops, but I maybe dreaming. He finished 2014 with 0 wins, 3 top 5's, and 7 top 10's. He finished his final season in Cup 23rd in points.