It might have been more than just a victory. For Denny Hamlin, that win in the 2009 finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway -- somewhat eclipsed by Jimmie Johnson's fourth straight series championship -- might have been a sign of more to come.

If there's anyone to point to as the prime candidate to challenge Johnson for Sprint Cup supremacy in 2010, it may be Hamlin, fresh off his best season in NASCAR's big league. No, he didn't better the third-place points finish he recorded in his rookie campaign. But he set personal highs in wins (four, including three in the final 11 races), top-fives (15), laps led (1,380), and showed flashes of the kind of consistency it's going to take to be a threat to unseat Johnson next season.

“

I feel like through the season, I've gotten better. I'm figuring out what I need to make my race car better.

”

- DENNY HAMLIN

"We've been competitive enough to run with those guys, and we've come a long way as a race team," Hamlin, who wound up fifth in final points, said after his win in the finale.

"I feel like through the season, I've gotten better. I'm figuring out what I need to make my race car better. [Crew chief] Mike [Ford] is starting to figure it out ... So there are some things we need to do to be better, and I think this Chase has just made us stronger, because now I think everyone is focused and everyone is fired up about next year knowing that we're one of the few guys that can run with that 48 every single week."

It was a rewarding end to a sometimes frustrating season, one that began when Hamlin was caught up a wreck in the Daytona 500. Throughout the early part of the year, it seemed he was destined to be good, but not good enough. Runner-up performances at Bristol and Martinsville were promising and grating at the same time. After dropped lug nuts at Richmond ruined an effort where he led 148 laps, he left without a word.

He finally broke through at Pocono, and then scored an emotional, long-sought-after victory at Richmond, his home track. For seven straight weeks, he didn't finish outside the top 10, and the No. 11 team entered the Chase in fourth place and full of confidence. But only frustration awaited. There were too many on-track incidents, too many poor qualifying efforts, and too many mechanical failures for Hamlin to mount a serious challenge. And yet, victories at Martinsville and Homestead --- part of a season-ending run that saw him finish third or better in four of his last five starts -- have him primed for 2010.

Didn't get much better than this: Finally winning at Richmond

Winning at Richmond

No victory in 2009 was more gratifying for Hamlin than the one at his home track in September, because none had been more difficult to come by. A year earlier he had led 381 laps at Richmond, but faded at the end because of a cut tire. In the spring he again led the most laps, yet finished 14th after lug nuts were dropped on a pit stop. So when he finally broke through, the satisfaction was evident. "My house," he said over the radio. And for one night, it was.

The disappointment still lingers: Getting schooled by Mr. Martinsville

Schooled at Martinsville

Hamlin seemed to have the car to beat at Martinsville Speedway in March -- until Mr. Martinsville himself came along. Jimmie Johnson used his front bumper to nudge Hamlin out of the way with 15 laps remaining, and won his sixth race at the Virginia short track. Hamlin seemed more awestruck than anything, but the latest in a string of near misses surely stung. His revenge had to wait until October, when he bested Johnson on the same track.