Expect these five Sprint Cup drivers to bounce back in 2010

Nine of NASCAR’s biggest names either failed to win a race last season or missed the Chase For The Sprint Cup.
 
Collectively, Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, Ryan Newman, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton, Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. have won 129 Cup races, four Daytona 500s and one championship.
 
Yet they are all coming off somewhat disappointing seasons. Biffle, Newman and Edwards made the Chase, but didn’t win. The others missed the playoffs entirely.
 
Some of them will bounce back in a big way this season. 
 
Here’s a look at the top five comeback candidates:
 
1.  Carl Edwards
 
Edwards made the Chase, but that’s about all he’s got to show for a disappointing 2009.
 
After finishing second in points in 2008, Edwards entered last season as the overwhelming favorite to unseat champion Jimmie Johnson.
 
Instead, he broke his foot and survived a horrifying flight into the catch fence at Talladega. He also failed to win a race after winning nine times in 2008.
 
All of Roush Fenway Racing struggled last year, and Edwards was its biggest victim, stumbling to 11th in the final standings.
 
Team owner Jack Roush has promised a renewed focus this season, and Edwards, who has 16 wins in five seasons, should be the biggest benefactor.
 
Roush and Edwards believe NASCAR’s switch from a rear wing to a spoiler also will favor Edwards’ wide-open driving style.
 
“I want to go out and have the kind of year I thought we were going to have last year,” Edwards says. “We struggled, but I learned a lot about myself and the team and what we need.”
 
2.  Kyle Busch
 
A year after winning eight races and becoming NASCAR’s most controversial star in 2008, Busch was humbled a bit in 2009.
 
Though he won his first NASCAR title by making a shambles out of the Nationwide Series, he slumped to just four Cup wins and missed the Chase.

He wasn’t happy about it, either, thus the departure of crew chief Steve Addington, who has been replaced by Dave Rogers, who worked with Busch in the Nationwide Series in 2008.
 
Busch, who just signed a contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing, must temper his win-at-all-costs style and adopt a bit of teammate Denny Hamlin’s more conservative approach. Getting him to back off the throttle at times will be Rogers’ biggest challenge.
 
But Busch, 24, showed more patience and intelligence in winning the Nationwide title. Those lessons, and watching Hamlin’s success in the Chase, should pay off.
 
“I see the organization is strong. Our stuff is there,” he says. “It's all about having the right people in the right place. Hopefully, [crew chief] Dave [Rogers] is that guy, and he and I can really develop a great relationship like Denny and [crew chief] Mike Ford have."
 
3. Matt Kenseth
 
How much did Roush Fenway Racing struggle last year?
 
Kenseth, the 2003 champion, missed the Chase for the first time in his career. And that came after winning the first two races of the season.
 
Kenseth clearly missed long-time crew chief Robbie Reiser, who became Roush’s general manager last year. He and new crew chief Drew Blickensderfer never developed the same kind of chemistry.
 
Another year together should help.
 
“I think he knows a lot more about what I like and don’t like, probably more about what I don’t like,” Kenseth says of his crew chief.
 
The team has made some minor changes, including adding former crew chief Cully Barraclough as car chief. Kenseth is also happy that veteran crew chief Jimmy Fennig, who heads up the group’s research and development program, is now helping all four teams.
 
But what Kenseth needs most are faster cars.
 
“I felt pretty good about my personnel, we’ve just got to get better cars,” he said.
 
“We’ve got to have better results and get our team back into championship form.”
 
4. Jeff Burton
 
Burton admits he was nervous heading into last season.
 
“Without testing over the winter, I just didn’t know where we were,” he said.

Where he and his Richard Childress Racing team were was way off. After finishing sixth in points in 2008, Burton plummeted to 17th and missed the Chase for the first time in three years.
 
But he has reason for optimism in 2010. RCR began building better cars in the second half of last season and Burton finished strong with top-10 finishes in each of his final four races, including back-to-back runnerups at Phoenix and Homestead.
 
Burton has tested extensively the past few months – including a couple of Goodyear tire tests – and sees a big difference in his cars.
 
 “Every time I’ve been in the car for the last three months, my cars have driven really, really well,” he says. “The testing we have been able to do has been very, very productive.”
 
With better cars and new crew chief Todd Berrier, who has eight wins with Kevin Harvick, Burton should be back in Chase contention.
 
“We are in such a different place as far as being prepared,” he says.
 
5. Clint Bowyer
 
RCR’s struggles also dashed Bowyer’s championship hopes. After finishing third and fifth in the Chase the two previous seasons, he missed the Chase and wound up 15th.
 
Part of Bowyer’s struggles can be attributed to adjusting to a new crew chief and new crew after switching teams with Casey Mears prior to the 2009 season.

But like Burton, Bowyer finished strong, scoring four top-10 finishes in his final six races.
 
With Burton in the twilight of his career and Harvick possibly leaving after this season, Bowyer is the future of RCR. He is determined to step up.
 
“The first thing is, no more excuses,” he says. “You can't use a new team or anything like that. … Everybody just struggled. It was part of running bad, and everybody getting to chasing what they think is right, and you get to chasing your tail as a group.
 
“But I'm done looking behind. I think everybody has got a positive vibe at the shop, and I think everybody is set on go.”