Fans weigh in: Kasey Kahne, Danica Patrick underachieved the most in '16
We asked and you, the race fans, answered resoundingly once again.
In the latest FOXSports.com NASCAR poll, we asked which driver had underachieved the most in 2016.
Forty-nine percent responded that it was Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. He not only failed to win a race for the second year in a row, but also failed to lead a single lap for the first time in his 13-year career as a full-time wheelman in NASCAR's Premier Series.
Danica Patrick, driver of the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet (the team will switch to Fords in 2017), was next on the list of 2016 underachievers. She failed to register a single top-five or top-10 finish for the first time since becoming a full-time driver in NASCAR's top series in 2013 -- which led to her garnering 30 percent of the vote in this poll.
Next up among the underachievers was Clint Bowyer, who had a miserable one-and-done season with HScott Motorsports. He finished a career-low 27th in the points and was tabbed by 14 percent of the voters in the poll.
Apparently, the voters did not believe Richard Childress Racing gave the kind of equipment to drivers Ryan Newman and Paul Menard that they needed to compete at a higher level, because very few fans who voted said either of them were the biggest underachievers. In fact, Newman was mentioned by only 6 percent of the voting public, while Menard came in at just 1 percent.
