Brian Scott

Scott gets the big promotion from the Xfinity Series to the Sprint Cup Series in 2016. He'll take over the No. 9 Ford of Richard Petty Motorsports as Sam Hornish Jr. exits stage right. This team has struggled to find much continuity or performance since Marcos Ambrose departed a couple seasons ago for a return to his home in Australia. Scott will race for Rookie of the Year honors under the guidance of crew chief Chris Heroy. This journeyman driver showed some real promise in NASCAR's lower division over the last six seasons, but hasn't impressed much in just 17 scattered starts at NASCAR's top level. He'll finally get the chance to show what he can do in a decent ride with a full slate of 36 races to sink his teeth into. While Scott's chances for ROTY honors is very slim given the competition this season, he'll have a chance to prove his skill. Two or three top-10 finishes during the campaign are not out of the question.

Scott had a reasonably successful season in the Joe Gibbs No. 11 Toyota last year, but not a good enough performance to keep his job. The 24-year-old was held winless for his third straight season of Nationwide Series competition, but Scott did manage a career-best 11 Top 10’s en route to a ninth-place finish in the driver standings. He makes the move to Richard Childress Racing’s strong No. 2 team in the new season. This is the same group that carried Elliott Sadler to runner-up in the standings and four victories. Expecting similar results from Scott would be overly ambitious, but he should be a fringe Top 10 drive none-the-less. He could even find victory lane for the first time in his career in 2013.