NASCAR O'Reilly Series

As we leave 2015 behind, the Speedway Media staff reviews their favorite and least favorite moments of the year as we anticipate the 2016 season. Disagree? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Kentucky Speedway announced today that it will undergo its first-ever resurfacing in its 17-year history. In addition to repaving the entire 1.5-mile intermediate track, they will increase the banking in Turns 1 and 2 from 14 to 17 degrees, narrow the width of the turns from 74 to 56-feet, improve drainage and add over 3,000 feet of SAFER barrier.

As the beginning of a new year of racing approaches, it's often difficult to keep up with the off-season changes. Drivers move to different teams, crew chiefs come and go, new sponsors are announced and more. To aid your transition into the 2016 NASCAR season, I've compiled a list of the major changes.

The Northeastern Supply Company will mark its 23rd consecutive year of NASCAR XFINITY Series team sponsorship in 2016 by remaining with JR Motorsports for a fourth season as an associate sponsor of veteran Emporia, Virginia driver Elliott Sadler and the new OneMain Financial Chevrolet race team.

NASCAR’s first paved superspeedway paid homage to stock car racing’s past when it launched a “throwback” campaign for this year’s Bojangles’ Southern 500, and the move proved to be one of the most talked about, most popular events of the year. So much so that the program has earned the track the National Motorsports Press Association’s 2015 Myers Brothers Award.

NASCAR announced today that Scott Miller will take over as the Senior Vice President of Competition. He takes over the position from Robin Pemberton, who announced yesterday that he was leaving the post at the end of the 2015 calendar year.

NASCAR announced today that Scott Miller has joined the organization as Senior Vice President of Competition, responsible for managing all competition efforts related to technology, inspection, rule development and officiating across NASCAR’s wide portfolio of racing.

NASCAR announced today that Senior Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton will leave the organization at the end of 2015.

Kyle Larson took out a season of frustration on the NASCAR XFINITY Series field Saturday in the season finale, tracking down Austin Dillon in the closing laps to win the Ford EcoBoost 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway by slightly less than a second.

Chris Buescher ran to an 11th-place finish in Saturday’s season finale to bring home the 2015 NASCAR XFINITY Series Championship. Buescher led the championship point standings for the final 24 races of the season. The championship marked the fifth time a Roush Fenway Racing driver has hoisted the XFINITY Series trophy and the third time in the past five seasons. It also marked Jack Roush’s eighth NASCAR title.