2015 Reviews: Front Row Motorsports
Drivers (standings in parenthesis): David Ragan (27th), Cole Whitt (31st), David Gilliland (32nd), Brett Moffitt (34th), Chris Buescher (N/A)
Highlights: Ragan gets to be mentioned in the reviews for three teams as he drove for Front Row, Joe Gibbs Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing in 2015. He ran one race for Front Row in 2015. Moffitt finished 31st in Jeff Gordon’s last race. Jeff Gordon finished 31st in Richard Petty’s last race. Clearly, Brett Moffitt is the next NASCAR superstar. Whitt finished 13th at Talladega in the spring and Gilliland was 11th in the Daytona 500. Buescher finished 20th in his debut with the team at Auto Club Speedway.
And yes, we included the picture on the right for comedic reasons. But it’s also one of the few that includes both the 34 and the 38.
Lowlights: Whitt and Gilliland, the two drivers that ran the full season for Front Row, had no top-10 finishes and combined to lead 12 laps. Buescher didn’t finish any higher than 20th in his five other races with the team. Moffitt’s performance at Atlanta with Michael Waltrip Racing was an outlier; he wasn’t near the front of the field with Front Row at all the rest of the season.
Overview: Much like 2014, 2015 was always going to be a bit of a letdown for Front Row after Ragan’s Talladega win in 2013. But given the news for the future, there’s reason to be optimistic about the team. At least to run a little more competitively, anyway. Buescher will drive for the team full-time in 2016 and FRM will have an alliance with Roush Fenway Racing.
We emphasize the “little more competitively” part because the Roush cars were not fast in 2015. There were times when the Front Row cars were running right with the Roush cars. Given the teams’ budgets and history, that’s not supposed to happen.
Buescher will likely have a teammate(s) but the driver is yet to be determined. Gilliland has made it known on Twitter that he’s likely not returning to Front Row in 2016. Does that mean Whitt is back? He has sponsorship. Or will the team find a place for Moffitt?
– – – – – – –
Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
