(Driver's listed in alphabetical order)
Christopher Bell
Age: 22Hometown: Norman, OK
2015 Ride(s): Part-Time Camping World Truck Series for Kyle Busch Motorsports; Part-Time K&N Pro Series West for Bill McAnally.
Let's face it, nobody knew anything about Christopher Bell or who he was going into 2015. In April he made his K&N debut and finished 15th out of 27 cars, but in his 2nd start in May at Iowa Speedway, Bell made an impressive run to finish 2nd in the East/West combination event. His driving capabilities caught the eye of Kyle Busch and then many others when he made his Truck Series debut at Iowa in June. Bell was solid the whole race and placed his Tundra in the Top 5. A month later, he showed the world who he was in an epic battle against unknown Bobby Pierce at Eldora to win the Mudsummer Classic. Eldora was supposed to be his last Truck race of the year, but when JBL signed on to sponsor him, he was put back in the truck to run 4 of the last 6 races and grabbed another top 10 at Texas. Christopher will be driving full-time for KBM in the Truck Series in 2016.
Ryan Blaney
Age: 22Hometown: High Point, NC
2015 Ride(s): Part-Time Sprint Cup for the Wood Brothers; Part-Time Xfinity Series for Penske Racing; Part-Time Camping World Truck Series for Brad Keselowski Racing.
Ryan returns to this list after another solid year. His 2014 efforts landed him the part-time gig for the Wood Brothers, where in 16 starts he had 1 Top 5 and 2 Top 10's (4th at Talladega and 7th and Kansas). While his Cup season didn't amount to much, he was a force to be reckoned with in both the Xfinity and Truck series'. He grabbed 2 wins, 9 Top 5's, and 10 Top 10's in his 13 Xfinity starts and a win, 4 Top 5's, and 5 Top 10's in his 5 Truck starts. The Wood Brothers are returning to full-time Cup racing in 2016 with support from Team Penske. Look for Ryan to have a breakout year.
Chris Buescher
Age: 23Hometown: Prosper, TX
2015 Ride(s): Full-Time Xfinity Series for Roush Fenway Racing; Part-Time Sprint Cup Series for Front Row Motorsports.
Chris landed on this list last year after a surprising win at Mid-Ohio in 2014. While he was clearly talented, the overall struggles of the Roush Fenway organization over the past season held a cloud of doubt over Buescher's head going into 2015. His strong runs early in the year were enough to land him a ride with Front Row Motorsports in the Cup Series, taking over for David Ragan who was subbing for injured Kyle Busch. His debut race at Auto Club Speedway in California was his best finish, 20th, in his 6 Cup starts. When he won the Xfinity race at Iowa in May there was still doubt as it was a stand alone event for the series and no Cup drivers were there, even though it grabbed him the points lead. 2 weeks later at Dover, however, he beat out Matt Kenseth and Kasey Kahne to nab his 3rd career win in the series. He didn't relinquish it for the rest of the season and finished the year 2 wins, 11 Top 5's, 20 Top 10's and the Xfinity Series title. Buescher will make the jump to the Cup Series full-time in 2016 driving for Front Row with support from Roush Fenway Racing.
William Byron
Age: 18Hometown: Charlotte, NC
2015 Ride(s): Full-Time K&N Pro Series East for HScott Motorsports w/ Justin Marks; Part-Time Camping World Truck Series for Kyle Busch Motorsports.
William was relatively unknown entering the 2015 season, but everyone knew he was in a good car. The team was coming off a championship season with Ben Rhodes and a lot of eyes were on Byron to see if he could match he predecessor's success. He did. After finishing 7th in his maiden race at New Smyrna, he backed it up by winning in just his 2nd career start at Greenville. He grabbed 5 poles, won 2 more times, and finished the 14 race season with 5 top 5's and 11 Top 10's, becoming the 4 consecutive rookie to win the K&N East Series championship. His success also landed him a start with Kyle Busch Motorsports at Phoenix. While he qualified 5th, a crash 6 laps in took him out of the race. That seemed enough to impress Busch, though. He will join Christopher Bell in driving full-time for KBM in 2016.
Cole Custer
Age: 17 (Turns 18 on January 23rd)Hometown: Ladera Ranch, CA
2015 Ride(s): Part-Time Camping World Truck Series for JR Motorsports; Part-Time K&N Pro Series (East & West) for Bill McAnally; Part-Time ARCA Series for JR Motorsports.
Cole is another driver returning from last year's list. After becoming the youngest winner in Truck Series history in 2014, Dale Earnhardt Jr. decided to expand his team to the Truck Series specifically for Cole. Since Cole was under 18 and only eligible to drive at road courses and tracks 1 mile in length or less, he was not able to run the full season. That didn't stop him from making an impression, though. He won at Gateway in just his 3rd start of the year and in only 10 starts he had 2 Top 5's and 4 Top 10's. He is accident prone, crashing in 4 races, which is something he will have to work on. He ran 2 K&N races, finishing 9th at Sonoma and 5th at Watkins Glen and got some superspeedway experience by running both Pocono races in the ARCA series (who have different age rules than Nascar), winning the 2nd of the 2. With Custer turning 18 before the start of the new season he will now be able to run full-time in the Truck Series in 2016, which he'll do for JR Motorsports.
Chase Elliott
Age: 20Hometown: Dawsonville, GA
2015 Ride(s): Full-Time Xfinity Series for JR Motorsports; Part-Time Sprint Cup Series for Hendrick Motorsports.
The 2014 Xfinity Series champ went into 2015 with high hopes of winning it all again. While he was extremely consistent, he never really got close to the championship lead. It took him 25 races before he finally won at Richmond, but with 11 Top 5's and 27 Top 10's (the most of any driver in the series) he finished 2nd in points to Buescher. There was a lot of pressure on Chase in 2015 as he was announced as the successor to, retiring, Jeff Gordon before the season even began. He finished 38th in his Cup debut at Martinsville and never finished better than 16th in his 5 Cup starts. He will compete with Blaney and Buescher for the Cup Series Rookie of the Year in 2016, driving the famed 24 for Hendrick Motorsports.
Noah Gragson
Age: 17Hometown: Las Vegas, NV
2015 Ride(s): Full-Time K&N Pro Series West for Jefferson Pitts Racing; Part-Time ARCA Series for Mason Mitchell.
Noah was another "unknown" coming into the 2015 season, but he caught people's eye by finishing 3rd in the West Series opener in Bakersfield. He drove to victory lane at Tucson in just his 3rd start and established himself as a championship contender. After winning a 2nd race at Meridian in September, former ARCA champ, Mason Mitchell, brought Gragson on board to race his car at Kentucky (his first race at a speedway over 1 mile), in which Noah finished 14th. Gragson entered the K&N West finale trailing point leader Chris Eggleston by 4 points and caught a lot of flack for a shady maneuver on the final lap of the race. Eggleston and Gragson were 11th and 12th entering turn when Noah drove into Chris's left rear quarter panel. At this point Gragson was 5 points behind for the championship, so the intention was clear that he was trying to wreck Eggleston in order to win the title. His plan backfired as Eggleston saved his car and Gragson ended up wrecking. No word yet on the 2016 plans for Gragson. Presumably he will return to the K&N Series where he will definitely need to mend some fences.
Erik Jones
Age: 19Hometown: Byron, MI
2015 Ride(s): Full-Time Camping World Truck Series for Kyle Busch Motorsports; Part-Time Xfinity Series for Joe Gibbs Racing; Part-Time Sprint Cup Series for Joe Gibbs Racing.
What a whirlwind of a year it was for Erik Jones. The kid who burst onto the scenes in 2014 with KBM was just expecting to run for the championship in the Truck Series and compete in a handful of Xfinity races. Little did anyone expect for him to become one of the sport's next superstars. After Kyle Busch was injured at Daytona, Erik was called upon to fill in for him in the Xfinity Series races that he wasn't already scheduled to run in the 20 car. This paid off as he grabbed his first career victory at Texas Motor Speedway in the 6th race of the year. A month later he made his Cup Series debut at Kansas. He had a strong performance and was running 5th with 70 laps to go when he was caught up in an accident. Despite having the success in the higher series', Jones was frustrated by the fact that he hadn't yet won in the Truck series. After 2 finishes outside the Top 10 at Texas and Gateway, Erik finally broke through, winning from the pole at Iowa. He won his 2nd race of the year at Canadian Tire Motorsport park where he took over the point lead and never looked back. He ended up winning another Xfinity race at Chicago and finished the year with 4 consecutive Top 5's. He ran 2 more Cup races, filling in for suspended Matt Kenseth, where he picked up a career best 12th place at Texas. And finished the Truck year with 3 wins, 11 Top 5's, 20 Top 10's and the championship. He will move to the Xfinity Series full-time in 2016, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing.
John Hunter Nemechek
Age: 18Hometown: Mooresville, NC
2015 Ride(s): Part-Time Camping World Truck Series for NEMCO Motorsports.
John Hunter, the son of former Busch Grand National (now Xfinity Series) champion and Sprint Cup veteran Joe Nemechek, didn't turn 18 until June, causing him to sit out 5 of the first 7 races of the season. After he turned 18, though, Joe turned the truck over to him part-time. Driving for a family owned team with limited resources and very little sponsorship, John Hunter impressed in his first race as a full-time driver, picking up a career best finish of 4th at Gateway. He consistently ran in the Top 10 and got a new career high when he finished 3rd at Bristol. On September 19th, John Hunter piloted an all black, unsponsored, Chevy Silverado at Chicagoland Speedway, and when race leader Kyle Larson ran out of gas with 2 laps to go, it was Nemechek who capitalized, picking up his first career victory. Despite finishing the next 2 races in the Top 5, sponsorship was still not coming in. He finished 2nd at Martinsville with sponsorship from a small Suzuki dealer, but had no sponsorship the following week at Texas. Finally they got a big sponsorship deal for the penultimate race at Phoenix from Anderson Maple Syrup. John Hunter finished 2nd for the 2nd time in 3 races. Yet again they were sponsorless for the final race at Homestead, but it didn't seem to matter to John Hunter, as he finished 2nd for the 3rd time in the final 4 races. His success in 2015 led him to win the Most Popular Driver award for the Truck Series. As for now Nemechek is planning on running full-time for NEMCO in 2016 and they continue to search for sponsorship. That being said, Joe has communicated that if a better opportunity arises for John Hunter, he will take it.
Tyler Reddick
Age: 19Hometown: Corning, CA
2015 Ride(s): Full-Time Camping World Truck Series for Brad Keselowski Racing.
Tyler burst onto the scene in 2015 by winning the season opener at Daytona for his first career victory. Of course with Daytona often being considered a "wild card" race where anyone can win. Nobody really knew if he was the real deal or not. He proved he was by finishing 5th in the next 2 races. Despite losing the point lead at Martinsville, the 3rd race of the year, he hung tough, winning again at Dover and reclaimed the point lead after a 3rd place finish at Pocono, the 12th race of the year. He held onto the point lead for 3 more races, but would remain a contender through the season finale. Tyler wrapped up the season with 5 consecutive Top 5 finishes, 14 overall (the most of any driver in the series) and finished 2nd in points to Erik Jones. He will continue to run full-time for BKR in 2016.
Honorable Metions: Daniel Suarez, Brandon Jones, and Scott Heckert.
2016 definitely looks to be an exciting year and there will certainly be more young talent ready to burst onto the scene. The future is definitely in good hands. I'll be back in a few weeks with the 2016 season preview. Until then, Happy Racin'!
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