We've always known that Larson had some major potential and we got to see glimpses of it in 2016. He grabbed his first-career victory with a thrilling win at Michigan in the late summer. Larson also posted a career-best 10 Top-5 finishes to go along with his first-ever Chase for the Cup berth. Yes, the Chip Ganassi Racing youngster really turned some heads after starting last season a bit slowly. The area where Larson needs to improve would be his consistency from week to week. Last season it seemed he could finish runner-up and contend for the win one week, and the very next he'd struggle to finish in the Top 20. We believe this to be more on the team and less on Larson if we had to guess. The Chip Ganassi No. 42 team needs to step it up to give this young driver better cars on a week-to-week basis, but it's clear they're heading in the right direction.

Sophomore seasons are always tough on Sprint Cup Series youngsters. Larson certainly had his ups-and-downs last year. His 10 top-10 finishes and 19th-place finish in the final driver standings fell short of expectations. The good news is that Larson can only go up from here, and he's a great buy-low fantasy racing candidate in 2016. Chad Johnston has been hired to crew chief the No. 42 team and get things headed back in the right direction in this racing camp. It is a good move considering that the last quarter of last season was nothing to write home about for Larson and the team. We've been waiting a long time for him to break through to his first-career victory and it could happen in 2016. Needless to say, we expect a Chase berth and a middle teen's top-10 performance for Larson this season.

The EGR development driver signed a deal to race the full Nationwide Series season with Turner Motorsports in their strong No. 32 team. Larson is the reigning K&N Pro Series East champion and he should challenge for Rookie of the Year in 2013.