CupScene.com

(By Greg Engle)

Posted: Wednesday,November 25th, 2009

(By Bill Marx, Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service)

It’s all over but our wrap-up of the 2009 season. So let’s get to it. Here’s a breakdown of the top 12 in the Sprint Cup Series points standings after Sunday’s season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

1. Jimmie Johnson, 6,652 points. Four championships in a row is old news. That happened Sunday. Now the question is: Can Johnson win five straight? We have run out of superlatives to describe Johnson and the 48 team. I’m just glad I was able to witness history. I was too young to appreciate or understand Petty’s dominance of the ’60s.

Jimmie Johnson lights and tours the Empire State Building to celebrate his fourth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Championship.

2. Mark Martin, 6,511. What a phenomenal year for Martin. Five wins and a series-high seven poles in his first full season since 2006. To call Martin hard luck doesn’t do him justice. Call him what he deserves to be called: a great driver.

3. Jeff Gordon, 6,473. Is it possible to finish third in points and feel as though you underachieved? Sadly, yes. But that comes with the territory for Gordon, who won only once in 2009. The bar on Gordon is set that high. The 24 team needs to find that extra little oomph in 2010 that either brings a fifth championship or makes Gordon a real challenger for it.

4. Kurt Busch, 6,446. Busch put together his best season since winning the first Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup in 2004. He also was very competitive in the Chase, although he went through it with a lame-duck crew chief. Not only will Busch have a new crew chief but also a new teammate (Brad Keselowski) in 2010. That’s a lot of new “chemistry” for one season.

5. Denny Hamlin, 6,335. Hamlin’s stock soared during the Chase with his two wins and six top fives. It was his three DNFs that did him in. Joe Gibbs Racing needs to address the two engine failures—they kept Hamlin from challenging Johnson. Hamlin is on the short list of drivers given a strong chance to dethrone Johnson in 2010.

6. Tony Stewart, 6,309. Stewart put together a terrific year, his first as an owner-driver. He won four races, his teammate, Ryan Newman, also made the Chase, and then Smoke ended the year by tangling with Juan Pablo Montoya at Homestead. A little bit of something for everyone.

7. Greg Biffle, 6,292. Biffle went from winning the first two Chase races in 2008 to going winless in 2009. He flirted with wins all season, but something always came up. In the end, he led 551 laps, which put him ninth all time among drivers who completed a season without a win.

8. Juan Paul Montoya, 6,252. Was Martin, Stewart-Haas Racing, Brian Vickers or Montoya the surprise of the season? Like Biffle, Montoya was winless and had brushes with winning. But Montoya still earned a tremendous amount of respect with his seven top fives, 18 top 10s and appearance in the Chase. Much more will be expected from Montoya in 2010—and 2009 was no fluke.

9. Ryan Newman, 6,175. Although the second half of Newman’s season did not match his first and he had to scramble to make the Chase—he didmake the playoff for the first time since 2005. Better to be scrambling to make the Chase than be nowhere near the cutoff. Newman needs to find victory lane again. He was winless for the third time in four years and has one win in his past 153 races.

10. Kasey Kahne, 6,128. Kahne made the Chase for the second time in his career, won his first road-course race and returned Richard Petty to victory lane for the first time since Pontiacs roamed the asphalt. You’d think that would make for a good year. But there was (and is) too much turmoil at Richard Petty Motorsports for Kahne’s comfort, and he already is looking past the 2010 season when his contract expires.

11. Carl Edwards, 6,118. First the good news. Edwards and his wife learned during the season they would be having their first child in 2010. So perhaps years from now, that will be the first thing Edwards remembers about 2009 rather than the fact he went winless after winning a season-high nine races in 2008. I can’t imagine Edwards going winless again in 2010. Shoot, it’s still hard to imagine it happened this year.

12. Brian Vickers, 5,929. Vickers, like Montoya, had a breakthrough season. Even though Vickers became the first Chase driver not to score a top 10 in the final 10 races, his season will be remembered for his team’s superlative performance in the 10-race Race to the Chase when the No. 83 team put together seven top 10s, including a victory, and only one finish worse than 12th. Vickers also won six poles in 2009. It will be interesting to see what the No. 83 team does for an encore.