Posted on by Zack Albert

Driver set to begin new chapter of career at Joe Gibbs Racing

RELATED: Complete schedule for driver previews

Team: Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota

Rank in final 2014 standings: 9th

Wins: 2 (Bristol Motor Speedway in March, Sonoma Raceway)

Year in photos: Recap Edwards’s 2014 highlights

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MORE: Edwards discusses new team, Daytona with 120Sports.com

Strides: Edwards placed his name among the first drivers to clinch a berth in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs, winning the fourth race of the season on a rainy day — and night — at Bristol Motor Speedway in March. It marked his first victory in the Tennessee track’s springtime race and his first on the .533-mile oval since 2008.

But Edwards also filled a void on his Sprint Cup resume at Sonoma Raceway in June with his first road course win in NASCAR’s premier series. The triumph came even as rumors began to circulate about his impending departure from Roush Fenway Racing, speculation that was confirmed just a month later.

Even with lame-duck status at the Jack Roush-owned team, Edwards pressed on, making it to the Eliminator 8 round of the Chase before watching the team’s championship hopes expire at Phoenix International Raceway in the final cut before the season finale.

"The highlights of the season were definitely Bristol and Sonoma — Sonoma, in particular," Edwards said. "It was a great win, was really proud of it, and then our performance in the Chase, I thought we did a great job there."

Setbacks: Despite of the pair of wins and the solid run into the new-look Chase’s latter stages, Edwards’ No. 99 suffered from a lack of oomph at tracks that used to be the team’s sweet spot. The team endured erratic performances at intermediate-sized tracks, and the best Edwards and Co. could muster at Michigan International Speedway — formerly a stronghold for car owner Jack Roush — was an uncharacteristic pair of 23rd-place efforts.

Though Edwards was able to survive two eliminations by avoiding major mistakes in the postseason, he registered just one top-five finish in the Chase — a fifth-place in the Contender Round opener at Kansas Speedway.

"The last few weeks were really tough, to be honest with you," Edwards said. "They’re tough for a couple of reasons, but competitively we didn’t have the speed that we needed and so for us to just keep digging down and making something out of those races, that was an amazing performance. My pit crew was basically flawless, (crew chief) Jimmy Fennig made perfect calls, I felt like I did a really good job, and at the end we just weren’t fast enough. We weren’t fast enough at Phoenix and that’s the way it goes."

Quoteworthy: "I’m very excited about what’s coming, but I’m very proud of what we’ve done. In some ways, I feel like I’m stepping off of a ledge and I don’t know what’s down there. We haven’t done anything yet in 2015. I know we have a lot of expectations and a lot of hopes, and now we’ve just got to do it."

What’s next: The biggest bombshell in the "silly season" of driver shifts came in August with Edwards’ introduction as a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver for the 2015 season, changing gears after a 12-year association with Roush and Ford. When asked whether Gibbs’ expansion with a start-from-scratch fourth team might dilute his performance, Edwards was quick to point out that the start-up nature of Stewart-Haas Racing‘s No. 4 team didn’t seem to hamper Kevin Harvick‘s march to his first Sprint Cup championship.

Edwards learned in December that he’ll work with veteran crew chief Darian Grubb next year as part of a sweeping overhaul of JGR’s competition personnel. He’ll also have new teammates in Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth, the latter of which was a former stablemate of his with Roush Fenway.

Shortly after NASCAR Champion’s Week in Las Vegas, Edwards took the opportunity to participate in a Goodyear tire test at Charlotte Motor Speedway in an effort to become more familiar with his new team and manufacturer in light of NASCAR’s ban on testing in 2015. Though he’s short on experience with the Gibbs operation, Edwards said the alignment of new factors in the offseason has him setting lofty aspirations — a Sprint Cup championship or else.

"There is no other goal," Edwards said. "I know that personally, I’ve never been a better driver, I feel like the people I have around me couldn’t be better, and I feel like we should go win the championship. That’s our goal. That’s what we plan on doing."

Posted on by Nascar

Groundbreaking system will change landscape of sport

MORE: Go inside the new pit road technology | Data rules, but human element still key

CONCORD, N.C. — NASCAR officials will no longer be standing alongside crewmen to police pit stops in 2015, but that doesn’t mean the sanctioning body won’t be watching what takes place.

A new, technologically driven system that incorporates the use of 45 cameras will feed video of every stop made by every team to a central location, where eight officials will log pertinent information and report any violations.

"This is a great new innovation," Shawn Rogers, Managing Director of Business Operations for NASCAR, said as he previewed the system for members of the media.

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"I think it will probably change our sport, put us finally at the tip of the spear with technology.

"Paramount to us, we always want to increase our safety when possible, increase our accuracy … be consistent and above all these days, be transparent."

How will it work?

Each of the cameras will display two specific pit stalls. Once a car is on pit road, the individual cameras will record its progress as it moves through each area. The use of tracking software and pit road scoring loops identifies and verifies each car.

That same system software tracking its movement will indicate any infractions, such as too many men over the wall or driving through too many pit boxes when entering or exiting the pits based on information ingested before the event.

If there are no infractions logged by the system, one of the eight officials will still monitor the stop, noting the number of tires taken, whether fuel was added and whether any changes (chassis adjustments or repair to a damaged area, for example) to the car were made.

Infractions fall into three groups — vehicle (such as pitting outside pit box), equipment (leaving pit box with gas can still attached, etc.) and personnel/crew (too many men over the wall; over the wall too soon, etc.).

When the software picks up an infraction, it will be displayed on the monitor where an official will quickly view the stop and either confirm the issue (and subsequently notify the tower) or clear it if it can be determined that no infraction took place.

As an example, Rogers provided video of a driver that stopped just beyond his pit box last year when pitting, and the system flagged the infraction. However, crewmen quickly pushed the car back into its box before beginning to service it. Therefore, there was no penalty, and under the new system, an official has the ability to remove and clear the infraction notation.

Although it was in place during the final portion of the ’14 season, the system was tested, but not used for official purposes.

"We ran the system, full parallel testing, the final 11 races," Rogers said. "Our focus was to test out our hardware and software … train our officials and give them lots of reps with the system … and train our (operations) group."

The expectation is for each pit stop to be viewed and cleared in no more than eight seconds and stops are prioritized — those that are flagged as infractions are moved to the top of the list for immediate attention. The eight officials work through each stop until all have been cleared, reported when necessary and logged.

Teams will be notified of any penalties that occur once a stop has been completed.

"We’re not going to tell anyone of any violations until they leave pit road," Rodgers said. "That’s how we do speeding violations now. So we don’t get into this person found out a little bit sooner than that person.

That could be different depending on circumstances, he said. "If 35 cars pit at once on the third lap of the Daytona 500, some … could be told sooner than others."

The use of the technology will change the number of officials along pit road. Instead of the approximately two dozen that policed pit stops last year, only 10 will be in the pits this year. And Rogers said they would be stationed behind pit wall where they can respond to any team inquiries and monitor actions from that side of the car when necessary.

The officiating system will not be used at stand-alone events for the NASCAR XFINITY and Camping World Truck Series, according to Rogers.

Posted on by Fraser Nye

Veteran broadcaster named to Voting Panel as he battles cancer

RELATED: NASCAR Hall of Fame induction, Jan. 30; Fan Appreciation Day, Jan. 31

"Heroes? Are there any real heroes in the world?"

When Dale Earnhardt asked that question nearly a quarter of a century ago, there wasn’t a NASCAR Hall of Fame, which has become the sport’s home for heroes like Earnhardt, a member of the inaugural class.

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Back then, the seven-time premier series champion was just fishing a pond on his farm. He was talking about life with a reporter from Maryland who came to racing after working on a Washington Redskins pregame show and anchoring a sports report in Charleston, South Carolina.

A call from a friend in Charlotte to work on a new NASCAR magazine show changed his career and life.

In 1985, Steve Byrnes joined future NASCAR Hall of Famer Ned Jarrett on TNN’s "Inside Winston Cup Racing." In 1995, Byrnes appeared alongside another NASCAR Hall of Famer on TNN’s "Darrell Waltrip’s Racers." Their relationship continues today as the two men begin the 15th year of NASCAR on FOX coverage this February during Daytona Speedweeks.

But Byrnes had a special connection with "The Intimidator," spending time on his farm, on Lake Norman and at the track, as chronicled in the 2007 CMT/NASCAR Productions documentary, "Dale."

During their chat by the pond that day, Earnhardt said, "It’s hard to have a friendship in racing and be consistent friends."

About that time, however, Byrnes found out what a friend he had in Earnhardt.

"I was out at his farm in 1989 or ’90 on a shoot, and he had a ragged out S-10 pickup truck," Byrnes said.

"I said, ‘Hey, let me buy this truck off of you. I like to do landscaping. Let me buy this truck.’

"He said, ‘Byrnes, you don’t want this truck. I ragged it out.’

"Six months later, I get a call in the office. ‘This is Dale Earnhardt Chevrolet. Your truck is up here. Come get it.’ I definitely got a generous friends and family discount. He didn’t make anything off of that transaction.

"It was completely out of my frame of mind. It didn’t even occur to me that six months later, a guy from his Chevrolet dealership would be calling me to say, ‘Come get your pickup truck.’

"It was pretty humbling to be honest with you, but that’s the way he was."

Fighting his second bout with cancer, a humbled Byrnes got a visit this week from the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Winston Kelley, executive director of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, and Brett Jewkes, senior vice president and chief communications officer of NASCAR, went to Byrnes’ home on Tuesday afternoon to welcome the motorsports media veteran of 30-plus years onto the NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Panel.

RELATED: Complete list of additions to the NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Panel

(Left to right) NASCAR Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer Brett Jewkes, Bryson Byrnes, Steve Byrnes and NASCAR Hall of Fame Executive Director Winston Kelley on Tuesday, Jan. 13, at the Byrnes’ home.

"It’s an emotional thing for me," Byrnes said Tuesday. "My whole adult life has been immersed in NASCAR, and it means the world to me.

"I was thinking about it the other day, just listening to the radio. I covered my first Daytona 500 in 1985 and haven’t missed one since. My early influences were Barney Hall and Ken Squier, two big names in the hall of fame, and I hosted a show with Ned Jarrett, who is one of the enshrinees. And the fact that the hall is right here in Charlotte, it’s quite an honor."

Battling Stage 4 head-and-neck cancer, Byrnes has become a hero to his family and others in the industry, whether they are waging war with the disease or supporting those engaged in the fight.

His 12-year-old son, Bryson, looks up to his dad as a hero, and when asked how he’ll do on the Voting Panel, he said, "I think he’ll do awesome."

Byrnes talked about the importance of the hall of fame to his son and younger fans who visit the shrine.

"I’ve taken Bryson to the NASCAR Hall of Fame with my nephews, and they’re more interested in the early part of the sport," Byrnes said. "They know Jimmie Johnson, but to see Junior Johnson, what he wore and what his race car was like, it makes a huge impact."

Like his friend Earnhardt, Byrnes won’t call himself a hero, but his perseverance has been heroic.

And on Voting Day, May 20, he will help select the next class of NASCAR Hall of Famers who will join Earnhardt, Jarrett, Waltrip and the heroes already enshrined in Charlotte.

Editor’s note: Watch below as Steve Byrnes learns he has been named to the NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Panel.

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Record-setting crowd gathers for annual pre-season preparation

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 13, 2015) — What began more than a decade ago in early January as a small gathering of medical, safety, security and track services personnel to share best practices and prepare for the coming NASCAR season has ballooned into one of the most vital and unique preseason conventions in all of motorsports.

The annual NASCAR Summit will conclude its three-day agenda today at the Concord (North Carolina) Convention Center, where a record number of over 800 attendees in those aforementioned fields representing the facilities that host NASCAR’s national, touring and weekly and IMSA series events converged to ideate and address numerous key topics in their areas of expertise prior to the start of the 2015 NASCAR and IMSA racing seasons.

"This event is one of the most important elements of each new season," said NASCAR Senior Vice President of Racing Operations Jim Cassidy. "The success of our events and the safety, comfort and enjoyment of our fans is heavily reliant on the cohesive work of these dedicated professionals — including an enormous amount of advance preparation."

The Summit is organized each year by NASCAR’s Racing Operations group, led by its Medical Liaison, Security and Track Services teams. General sessions featuring top keynote speakers, breakout sessions, round tables, workshops specific to top-line subjects in their respective disciplines and at-track demonstrations at Charlotte Motor Speedway make up the always-evolving agenda. This year’s keynote speaker was 5.11 Tactical Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Tom Davin, whose company is the Official Tactical Apparel and Gear Supplier of NASCAR and producer of NASCAR officials’ at-track uniforms. Attendees utilize the Summit as a baseline for the coming year while planning for their individual events which continue to include update meetings before, during and after each race weekend.

Awards are also presented by NASCAR to individuals who excelled during the previous season in their various fields. Those honored for their work in 2014 were:

Medical


Security


Track Services

  • Jim Bockoven Track Services Lifetime Achievement Award — Ken Burdine (Miller Industries)

Excellence in Track Services Award — Donald "Doc" Jernigan, Richmond International Raceway


The 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regular season will kick off with the 57th running of the DAYTONA 500® on Sunday, Feb. 22 at Daytona International Speedway®. The Great American Race® will be broadcast live on FOX, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, with additional coverage on NASCAR.com.

 

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Posted on by Staff Report

Find out where your favorite Sprint Cup Series star will be

As we get closer to the Daytona 500 on Feb. 22 (1 p.m. ET, FOX), the stars of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will be hitting the road to promote the season’s opening points race with the Road to the Daytona 500 Tour.

The cross-country media blitz will feature 11 cities and feature nearly 20 drivers. Each city on the tour will host a driver for a day of special events and media availabilities, all to promote the 57th running of "The Great American Race."

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"We’re excited to work with the drivers as we build the excitement throughou the country about the Daytona 500 and the start of the new NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season," Daytona International Speedway President Joie Chitwood III said in a release. "The Road to the Daytona 500 is a critical element in promoting ‘The Great American Race.’ "

The events actually kicked off on Jan. 2 in Jacksonville with 2014 Daytona 500 champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. meeting with the media along the side Harley J. Earl Daytona 500 Trophy at the TaxSlayer Bowl, while also participating in a Twitter takeover of the track’s Twitter handle and flipping the coin prior to the college football game between Tennessee and Iowa.

The other cities and drivers on the tour include:
— Washington D.C. (Jeff Gordon)
— Phoenix (Danica Patrick)
— Atlanta (Kyle Busch)
— Boston (Kevin Harvick)
— Chicago (Carl Edwards)
— Tampa (Brad Keselowski, Tony Stewart and Kyle Larson)
— Los Angeles (Jimmie Johnson)
— Miami (Joey Logano)
— New York (Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Denny Hamlin)
— Orlando (Matt Kenseth)
— Daytona Beach (Clint Bowyer, AJ Allmendinger and Ryan Newman)

Also, on the tour, Austin Dillon and his grandfather, Richard Childress Racing team owner Richard Childress will participate in an Escalator Duel to officially activate the new vertical transportation as part of the $400 million Daytona Rising project.

During Budweiser Speedweeks, Aric Almirola and Kasey Kahne are expected to take flight with the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, who will provide the flyover for the 2015 Daytona 500.

Posted on by Staff Report

Love’s Travel Stops to serve as primary sponsor for 18 races

Front Row Motorsports announced Tuesday that David Gilliland will return to the team’s No. 38 Ford in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2015.

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The re-signing means the 38-year-old driver will mark his ninth full season in NASCAR’s top division and his sixth with team owner Bob Jenkins. The team also announced that Love’s Travel Stops will be the team’s primary sponsor in 18 races, up from its 15-race sponsorship in 2014.

Gilliland struggled last year with just two top-20 finishes in 36 races, but he did post a milestone at the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway in July with the team’s first Coors Light Pole Award. He also helped the Statesville, North Carolina-based team achieve its first win in NASCAR’s premier series at Talladega Superspeedway in the spring of 2013, providing an aerodynamic push to teammate David Ragan in the final lap.

This season will mark the third consecutive year of Front Row’s relationship with Love’s. The team indicated through its news release that the travel center corporation, based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, will be the primary sponsor at the season-opening Daytona 500 on Feb. 22 (1 p.m. ET, FOX). Among the other races for the Love’s team colors: both annual events at Texas Motor Speedway and the series’ two road courses, Sonoma Raceway and Watkins Glen International.

"I am beyond excited about Love’s commitment to our program and to growing it each year," Gilliland said. "What I’m most proud of is the simple fact that it’s working. Our program does exactly what a NASCAR partnership is supposed to do. It’s been hugely successful, for us and for them. I can’t wait to see what we can do as a team this year."

Gilliland has one career victory in NASCAR national series competition. His 2006 triumph in an underfunded entry at Kentucky Speedway in what is now the XFINITY Series was not only one of the sport’s biggest upsets, but also paved the way for his big break into stock-car racing’s major leagues.

See the paint scheme for the No. 38 Ford below.

Posted on by Staff Report

Reddick to wheel No. 19 truck full-time; Theriault added to No. 29 team lineup

Brad Keselowski Racing made its driver lineup complete for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2015, announcing the return of Tyler Reddick and the addition of Austin Theriault.

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BKR will continue to field two Ford entries for the full 23-race schedule. Reddick, who drove for the team in 16 races last year, will wheel the No. 19 on a full-time basis in 2015. Driving duties for the team’s No. 29 Ford will be divided between driver/owner Keselowski; his Sprint Cup Series teammate, Joey Logano; Ryan Blaney, last year’s series runner-up; and truck series newcomer Theriault, who is scheduled for a 13-race slate next year.

The organization also announced that Doug Randolph (No. 19) and Chad Kendrick (No. 29) would return as the team’s crew chief. Broken Bow Records and Cequent Performance will share primary sponsorship of the No. 19 Ford, and Cooper Standard will return as primary backer of the No. 29 team.

Reddick, who turned 19 years old Sunday, netted two pole positions and three top-five finishes in his partial schedule for BKR last season. Both poles and two of the top-fives came in the final five races of 2014.

"The way we closed out the 2014 season was quite a statement for us as a team," Reddick said in a release provided by the team. "We were able to do some really good things toward the end of the year. It was a great way to end the season and keep the momentum rolling into 2015 as we compete for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship. It’s great to work with everyone at Cequent and Broken Bow Records again this coming season. I can’t wait to get started."

Theriault, 20, made his NASCAR national series debut last year, running three races for JR Motorsports in what is now the XFINITY Series. The Maine native spent 2012 and 2013 with the Keselowski team’s driver development program in Super Late Model competition.

"One of the things I wanted to do at BKR is give talented young drivers an opportunity," Keselowski said. "Both Tyler and Austin are perfect examples of what I’m trying to accomplish. We saw a lot of improvement with Tyler in 2014. He really stepped up his game during the second half of the season and I certainly think he can compete for wins and challenge for a championship in 2015. Austin was part of our driver development program so for him to have an opportunity to drive for us in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is pretty special."

Team owner Keselowski won his first career Camping World Truck Series race last season at Bristol. It was his first win in the series in 62 starts.

Posted on by Staff Report

TaxACT to serve as co-primary in Sprint Unlimited, primary at Martinsville

RELATED: See the 2015 paint schemes for SHR

Danica Patrick is off to a busy 2015. Last week, her crew chief was revealed for the season.

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On Tuesday, she got a new co-primary sponsor for the Sprint Unlimited on Valentine’s Day at Daytona International Speedway and a primary sponsor for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on March 29 at Martinsville Speedway.

TaxACT, a tax preparation solutions company, will partner with Stewart-Haas Racing on Patrick’s No. 10 Chevrolet SS. The company will share the car with GoDaddy at the season-opening race on Feb. 14 at the World Center of Racing. It will also appear on the C-Post for the 57th running of the Daytona 500 on Feb. 22. For the March 27-29 race weekend at Martinsville, TaxACT will be the sole primary sponsor of the car.

"TaxACT’s sponsorship of our race team will span the height of tax season for most people," Patrick said. "It’s a great way to promote a terrific product.

"I always give credit to my team on the racetrack, but in this case it was off the track where my team shined. Stewart-Haas Racing approached TaxACT after cross-referencing the company and its culture with NASCAR fans. It was an ideal fit."

Fans can also participate by entering the TaxACT Fast Cars, Fast Refunds Sweepstakes, which will end Feb. 8, for a behind-the-scenes, VIP experience with Patrick at the Daytona 500.

"The speed, passion and determination that embodies NASCAR aligns with our approach to business, and when Stewart-Haas Racing brought the opportunity for TaxACT to partner with Danica Patrick, we jumped at it," JoAnn Kintzel, TaxACT president said.

Last week, Patrick’s interim crew chief at the end of 2014, Daniel Knost, was named her full-time pit boss for 2015.

Here’s a look at the TaxACT paint schemes:

Posted on by Nascar

After four wins in 2014, can Junior do even more with new crew chief?

RELATED: Complete schedule for driver previews

Team: Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet

Rank in final 2014 standings: Eighth

Wins: 4 (Daytona International Speedway in February; Pocono Raceway in June and August; Martinsville Speedway in October)

Year in photos: Recap Earnhardt Jr.’s 2014 season

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Strides: Earnhardt’s eighth-place points finish was his third top-10 result in the past four seasons and his four wins was the most since 2004. He won for the first time in his career at Pocono, where he swept both events, and at Martinsville. The two Pocono victories marked his first sweep at a track since Talladega in ’02. The Martinsville win upped his career win total to 23 and was especially gratifying.

"This is so special," Earnhardt Jr. said of the Martinsville win. "I try not to get too caught up in the emotion of it because it’s a team deal, but this is very personal and very special to me to be able to win here."

Earnhardt Jr. qualified for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup for the seventh time.

In addition to the breakthrough wins at Pocono and Martinsville, he managed personal bests at Darlington where he was runner-up, and Sonoma where a third-place run was his first career top-10 on the California road course. He equaled his best finish at Las Vegas (second) for the third time in his career.

Setbacks: Earnhardt Jr.’s struggles in the Contender Round saw his title hopes end early as he had finishes of 20th or worse at Kansas, Charlotte and Talladega. Needing a victory to keep his championship hopes alive in the Contender Round finale at Talladega, where he has five career wins, Earnhardt Jr. was involved in a late-race accident that relegated him to a 31st-place finish.

The 2014 season was also the first since 2009 that Earnhardt Jr. failed to win at least one Coors Light Pole Award.

Quoteworthy: "I expect the cars to have more speed eventually; it may take us a couple of races or a couple of months to get there but I think our cars will be faster and give us an opportunity to run better (in 2015)."

What’s next: Besides a few changes among those going over the wall on race day, Earnhardt Jr. will have a new crew chief in Greg Ives and a new car chief in Travis Mack.

Ives, who guided Chase Elliott to the 2014 XFINITY (formerly Nationwide) Series title, steps in for Steve Letarte while Mack (Elliott’s car chief) replaces Jason Burdett.

The return of engineer Kevin Meendering to the No. 88 team is expected to help smooth the transitions.

"That’s going to help a ton," Earnhardt Jr. said, "because Kevin has all this information on what’s worked with me. All drivers like things a little different. So Kevin’s going to be real influential in getting Greg up to speed."

While he won’t rule out the possibility of a few rough spots as the team comes together, Earnhardt Jr. said he isn’t worried.

"I don’t know that we will struggle," he said. "I expect us to come out and be competitive. By midseason I expect us to be a better race team than we were last year.

"I think Greg is a talented crew chief. He has many advantages that will make us a better team. Steve was the strategist, one of the best guys on the box when it came to strategies, fuel mileage and stuff like that. It’s too soon to tell exactly where we are there. Greg’s been running in the Nationwide Series for a couple of years and their strategies are kind of mapped out already because of the tire rule and so forth. You can’t really pull a lot of little levers and get things done, get crazy. …

"But I know the engineering side is getting stronger because of Greg’s history as an engineer."

Posted on by Nascar

How will Sadler fare with new crew chief Phil Gould?

RELATED: Complete schedule for driver previews

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Team: Roush Fenway Racing No. 1 Ford

Rank in final 2014 standings: Third

Wins: 1 (Talladega in May)

Strides: Once again Sadler was a contender for the title, and while he eventually finished third (trailing the 1-2 tandem of JR Motorsports drivers Chase Elliott and Regan Smith), it was the fourth consecutive top-five points finish for the Emporia, Virginia racer.

In wrapping up a two-year stint with Joe Gibbs Racing before moving to Roush Fenway Racing for the ’15 season, Sadler added career victory No. 10 at Talladega, his first on the huge, 2.66-mile layout. His runner-up finish at Darlington and fifth at Auto Club equaled previous bests at those two tracks, while his 25 top-10 finishes in 33 starts were a first.

Setbacks: Although his results were far from bad, Sadler was a consistent top-10 performer in need of top-fives down the stretch. After working his way to the top of the points standings with a 10th-place finish at Kentucky at mid-season, he promptly gave it back the following week with a 21st-place finish at Daytona. That began a stretch that saw him finish 10th or worse in five of the next eight races, including 29th at Bristol.

Quoteworthy: "Edsel Ford would come up to me every single race when he was there and we would shake hands and he would ask me how I was doing. It didn’t matter what … manufacturer I was driving (for). No other head of a manufacturer has ever done that. That’s always been special. He came up to me in Phoenix, gave me a hug and told me ‘welcome back’ after we made the announcement. That meant the world to me."

What’s next: Sadler returns to the Ford family for ’15, joining Chris Buescher, Ryan Reed and Darrell Wallace to make up the Roush Fenway Racing XFINITY Series lineup. He last drove for the automaker in 2010 (with Richard Petty Motorsports in the Sprint Cup Series.)

Phil Gould, former crew chief for Brian Scott at Richard Childress Racing, made the move to RFR as well and will oversee the No. 1 Ford entry. One Main Financial will provide sponsorship.

"My relationship with Phil is awesome," Sadler said. "We have the same beliefs in racing and a really strong friendship, which to me in this sport means a lot. I feel very confident."

In spite of the move, Sadler isn’t expecting a slow start, or a sub-par effort.

"The last (few) years … we’ve always been in the top three or four in the points, been on poles, won races," he said. "Going back to Ford with Roush Fenway, with (engine builder) Doug Yates especially, we’ve got high hopes.

"Those cars ran very well at the end of the year and I think we can bring some knowledge over there that can help the program. I feel very good about getting back with those guys."

Sadler is a 14-time winner in NASCAR and is one of 24 drivers to have won at least one race in the Sprint Cup, XFINITY and Camping World Truck Series.