2009's top stories: Economy checks up in NASCAR

The three-week look back at the top-10 stories of the 2009 NASCAR season continues.

NO. 6 WHAT HAPPENED TO?

In 2009, this was a loaded question, in part because it applied to so many surprisingly poor performances.

Of course the largest number of eyes were on NASCAR's most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr.

While his three teammates at Hendrick Motorsports - Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon - finished first, second and third, respectively, in the series standings, he ended up 25^th in points.

Earnhardt not only struggled but underwent a very public crew chief change in the middle of the season.

So, while HMS celebrated another championship it still needs to get NASCAR's most popular driver back on track.

Matt Kenseth won the first two races of the 2009 season and then was virtually never heard from again.

That's still better than his Roush Fenway Racing teammate Carl Edwards, who won nine races in 2008, and went winless this season.

And the two drivers considered the most promising entering 2009 - Jamie McMurray and David Ragan - finished 22^nd and 27^th, respectively, in points.

NO. 5 STEWART HAAS RACING SURPRISES

There weren't many in NASCAR who thought Tony Stewart's first venture into ownership in the Cup series would reap big benefits.

But as he has often done in his career, Stewart proved most people wrong.

Not only did he and teammate Ryan Newman both make the Chase for the Sprint Cup, but Stewart added four more Cup wins to his career total.

Yes, SHR used Hendrick engines and equipment, but Stewart and company still did a masterful job putting together the right people to make the organization jell from the get-go.

"Just by getting two cars in the Chase and winning the races we've won this year exceeded more than what any of you guys could have anticipated, and we could have anticipated," Stewart said.

"We knew on paper that it was possible, but the reality of it was competing against great race teams every week."

NO. 4 NATIONAL RECESSION HITS NASCAR

As the 2009 season got under way there was a lot of talk about how the national recession would impact NASCAR, and it was certainly warranted.

General Motors and Chrysler both cut their spending on NASCAR after they filed for bankruptcy, which affected many teams and several tracks.

Sponsorship dollars, which fuel NASCAR teams, began to dry up.

Some sponsors left the sport altogether or reduced their spending. There was also a noticeable drop in attendance at several tracks.

While there was a lot of bad news, NASCAR still remained one of the most popular spectator sports in America.

And while Johnson wrapped up his fourth consecutive Cup championship, the season still featured many good races and three first-time winners in David Reutimann, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano.

"Clearly the sponsorship market is tougher than it's ever been in my memory," said NASCAR Chairman Brian France. "I don't anticipate that getting remarkably better - although I will tell you we are starting to see the inquiries through our New York group and the teams who do the selling of our sport.

"I'm starting to feel the ice thaw on that."