Ryan Newman's worst finish in the last five races was at Watkins Glen, where he finished 16th. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Ryan Newman

Ryan Newman won a thrilling race at Phoenix in April, outrunning Gordon on the final restart. But it was an uphill struggle from there.

Newman had just two more top-five finishes the rest of the season and missed the Chase after making it in 2009.

Newman was in position to make the Chase after 14 races, but stumbled in the summer to just miss the top 12. He hit a hot streak in August and September, but stumbled down the stretch to finish 15th in the final standings.

Juan Pablo Montoya

No one had worse luck than Juan Pablo Montoya, who made the Chase in 2009. He finished 26th or worse in five of the first eight races to find himself buried in the points standings and never recovered.

Though he scored his second career Sprint Cup victory at Watkins Glen in August, sparking a five-week hot streak, it was short-lived. His bad luck continued, leading to eight DNFs.

The Earnhardt Ganassi Racing driver had just one top-10 finish in his final 10 races and wound up 17th in points.

Martin Truex Jr.

Martin Truex Jr. was expected to win and be a Chase contender after moving to Michael Waltrip Racing for the 2010 season. Jeff Gordon even predicted Truex Jr. would make the Chase.

Boy, was he off base.

Truex Jr. scored just one top-five – a fifth at Martinsville in April – and seven top-10 finishes to finish 22nd in the final standings.

Every time Truex got to the front, it seemed something would go wrong, leading to nine finishes of 25th or worse. His best race of the season was the last one, when he led 62 laps at Homestead. But even that would end in disappointment with an 11th-place finish.

Brad Keselowski, driver of the #22 Discount Tire Dodge, won the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship. His Sprint Cup season was not as successful. (Photo: Getty Images)

Brad Keselowski

Brad Keselowski was supposed to take the Sprint Cup Series by storm. Instead, he just created a storm – a firestorm of controversy.

Highly publicized feuds with Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch kept Keselowski in the center of controversy and led to a frightening, airborne crash at Atlanta.

When he wasn’t running into other drivers, or getting run into, his performance on the track was pretty uneventful.

Though he won the Nationwide Series title, Keselowski had just two top-10 finishes (10th twice) and 14 finishes of 25th or worse to finish 25th in points in his first full season in the Cup series.

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