For Greg Biffle, the 2009 Sprint Cup season was a series of near-misses. Having won at least one race in each of his six previous full-time seasons, Biffle was shut out of Victory Lane, although he came tantalizingly close on several occasions.

"We came close to winning several times and that's one positive thing about our season," Biffle said. "We came very close at Kansas, California and a few others like Texas and Michigan, so that's good that we were running competitive enough to get into Victory Lane. The unfortunate part is we weren't competitive enough all season."

Despite not winning a race, Greg Biffle made the Chase and led all Roush Fenway drivers with 551 laps led and 10 top-five finishes.

At California, Biffle might have had the field covered, only to roll over an air hose on his last stop. He led 93 laps at Texas, only to finish third behind Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. He led nearly a third of the race at Darlington, only to crash with 50 laps remaining.

But the real heartbreak came at Michigan, when Johnson ran out of gas on the final lap, putting Biffle in the lead. However, Biffle's No. 16 Ford ran dry just seconds later, handing the win to Mark Martin.

His last best chance to score a win might have come at Kansas, when he led 113 laps, only to be caught and passed by eventual winner Tony Stewart with 30 laps remaining.

Otherwise, 2009 was a fairly average season for the Vancouver, Wash., native. He shook off a crash at Atlanta and engine failure at Bristol to record five top-10 finishes in his next seven starts. After falling out of the top 12 with a miserable day at Chicagoland, Biffle rallied with top-fives at Indianapolis, Watkins Glen and Bristol to cement a spot in the postseason.

Didn't get much better than this

Despite not winning a race, Biffle made the Chase and led all Roush Fenway drivers with 551 laps led and 10 top-five finishes. He still was within 114 points of Martin after Kansas, but three consecutive finishes of 16th or worse extinguished his championship chances.

The disappointment still lingers

Letting several sure victories get away is something that may gnaw at Biffle this offseason.

"You're always second-guessing yourself in some of those instances," Biffle said. "Like 'Should I do two [tires]? Should I do four? Is track position going to be more important than the tire? Is there going to be a caution right away? Are we going to go green the rest of the way?'

"You're always thinking of how can I do it different. The other thing is you're always trying to get every ounce you can. ... You pick up little bits and pieces and try to perfect it, and sometimes you hope it will win you a race."