Was 2015 a good year? For me, the answer to that question begins with a question, how many of the year's biggest stories were related to what happened on the track? In other words, were we talking about the racing or other stuff?
Let's start with the racing itself. Frankly, I didn't think it was that good. But, there were the live tests at Kentucky and Darlington that led to the 2016 aero package; and that has gotten folks excited.
The retirement of Jeff Gordon got attention all year, but once he won at Martinsville and locked-in a spot at Homestead, it became an on-track story.
Kyle Busch's year started off as a safety story and turned into a great on-track story, first winning his way into the Chase and then, the title.
Then, there's the Kenseth/Logano story. That was all about racing, and determining where the line is between hard racing and outright thuggery. It's not an ideal topic, but, at least, it was about on-track activity.
So, bottom line, I give 2015 a C. Ten years from now, we'll remember the year for the Busch, Gordon and Kenseth/Logano storylines rather than great racing. But, at least, all those have on-track elements.