Title runs also among 2009's top stories

Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch and Ron Hornaday have all collected their NASCAR trophies and award money.

It was Johnson's NASCAR-record fourth consecutive Sprint Cup Series championship; Busch's first Nationwide Series title; and Hornaday's record fourth Truck series championship.

That's Racin' begins a three-week look back at the

Top 10 stories of the 2009 NASCAR season - many of which involved those three talented drivers.

NO. 10: FINALLY! IT'S A STORY!

It only seemed like Danica Patrick's courtship of NASCAR lasted all season.

After months (and months!) of speculation the IndyCar Series star finally announced Tuesday she would pursue a partial schedule in the Nationwide Series with JR Motorsports beginning in 2010.

Regardless of whether anyone believes she will be competitive in stock cars, Patrick will bring a boatload of additional media attention to NASCAR and in particular the Nationwide Series. Not to mention the fact she will be paired with NASCAR's most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., one of four owners of JR Motorsports.

Even if Patrick had not made her intentions clear, the attention her potential foray into NASCAR had generated easily made her one of the season's Top 10 stories.

NO. 9: HORNADAY WINS RECORD FOURTH TRUCK TITLE

Every champion in NASCAR's three national series seemed to have some sort of record-setting performance in 2009.

Hornaday, a 51-year-old native of Palmdale, Calif., became the first driver in NASCAR history to win four Camping World Truck Series championships. His title this season was his second with Kevin Harvick Inc.; his first two came with Dale Earnhardt Inc.

Along the way, Hornaday also set another record, at one point during the season winning five consecutive races. He ended the year with six wins and more than $670,000 in earnings.

"It's been fun and we're not done," Hornaday said. "As long as Kevin and DeLana (Harvick) will still have me, we're going to win some more."

NO. 8: THE EMERGENCE OF DENNY HAMLIN AS CONTENDER

Hamlin's 2009 season might actually be remembered more for his feud with driver Brad Keselowski, which ended with a payback in the Nationwide series finale at Homestead, Fla.

Not to be lost, however, is Hamlin's emergence as a serious Sprint Cup Series title contender. For much of the second half of the season, Hamlin's Joe Gibbs Racing team seemed one of the few able to keep up with Johnson.

Hamlin ended the season with a career-best four wins and finished fifth in the series standings. Some bad luck in the Chase knocked Hamlin from title contention.

"I mean, to me, it sucks to not have an opportunity to win the championship this year," Hamlin said. "But hopefully we're setting ourselves up to be one of the favorites next year."

NO. 7: KYLE BUSCH SETS RECORDS ON HIS WAY TO NATIONWIDE CHAMPIONSHIP

Busch has already shown great versatility in his young NASCAR career with more than 60 wins in Cup, Nationwide and Trucks competition.

This season, Busch added his first NASCAR championship, using a record-setting performance to win the Nationwide title. He finished the year with nine wins, 25 top-five and 30 top-10 finishes in 35 races.

Busch finished the season with 5,682 points - more than any other driver in series history - and a final 210-point margin over championship runner-up Carl Edwards.