A final look back at the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season
Kenny Bruce
Kenny Bruce is a three-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association's George Cunningham Writer of the Year Award. He joined Street & Smith's Sports Group in 2001.
Some things I noticed when looking back on the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season:
• Jimmie Johnson won seven races, obviously, but he led the most laps in four other races he didn’t win. All told, Johnson was the lap leader in nine races this past season.
• Denny Hamlin may not have made a lot of noise until the season was winding down, but the Joe Gibbs Racing driver was the lap leader on six occasions, followed by Kyle Busch with five, Mark Martin with three and three drivers – Greg Biffle, Tony Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya – leading the most laps in two events each. Six others were the lap leaders in one race apiece.
• The pole winner won the race just eight times in 2009, lending more credence to the belief that where a driver qualifies isn’t crucial to success. Almost as many races (seven) were won by drivers who qualified 20th or worse.
• Two races were won by drivers leading only the final lap: Brad Keselowski at Talladega and Mark Martin at Michigan.
• What relevant items during the year were nearly forgotten by season’s end? How about the fact that both Mark Martin and Ryan Newman were nearly outside the top 35 in owner points heading into the season’s fifth race? Martin was 34th and Newman 32nd. Both wound up making the Chase For The Sprint Cup, and Martin had title hopes on the line all the way to the season’s final event. On the other hand, five drivers in the top 12 prior to week No. 5 couldn’t hold their positions and were following rather than “Chasing” after Week No. 26.
• There were 14 different winners in 2009, and three first-time winners. Who’s the next “best bet” to wind up in victory lane? Judging from this past year’s results, the favorites heading into 2010 would seem to be Marcos Ambrose and AJ Allmendinger. Ambrose and the JTG Daugherty team continued to show improvement throughout the season and wound up 18th in the final point standings. Allmendinger, meanwhile, had an up-and-down season with Richard Petty Motorsports, but his 22nd-place points finish was about five to seven spots higher than most folks probably expected.
