Taillights fade: Looking back on Petty Motorsports' 2009

We've wrapped the season, and so it's time to wrap up our look back. In a feature shamelessly ripped from Puck Daddy's Death Watch and Big League Stew's Walk Toward The Light, we're looking back on all the drivers. In the interest of making sure that this feature doesn't last until April, we're stepping up the pace and covering teams. And yes, I know there aren't taillights on Sprint cars. It's a metaphor. Roll with it.

Team: Richard Petty Motorsports

Record: Two wins, zero poles, nine top-5s, 26 top-10s

Season summary: It was a strange hybrid of a season for RPM, which was born out of a merger earlier this year with Petty Enterprises and Gillett Evernham Motorsports. The result was a kind of Brady Bunch-style children-of-multiple-marriages combo, with nobody quote knowing where they fit in or who should go where. The result ended with Reed Sorenson, of all people, driving the No. 43 car -- no offense to Reed, but that was wrong on many levels. 

Where it went right: Kahne proved he's a top-flight driver by making the Chase in otherwise unremarkable equipment. If he could have the equipment of a Jimmie Johnson, he'd be running at the top of the standings every week. Unfortunately, he was the only real highlight of the season for RPM.

Where it went wrong: Nobody else ran particularly well in 2009, with Elliott Sadler and AJ Allmendinger posting disappointing results, and Sorenson going almost nowhere at all. Kahne also took several not-so-veiled shots at RPM, indicating he'd be looking elsewhere when his contract ran out.

Prospects for 2010: The team is cutting to three cars, with Sorenson out the door and Allmendinger taking over the 43. Dinger has some game, and with the right equipment and crew could actually start moving up in the world. The jury's still out on Sadler, who's run reliably but not spectacularly for years now. And Kahne, unless things change in a hurry, is out the door at the end of the 2010 season.

Next up: Richard Childress Racing