Kurt Busch, Penske Racing and crew chief Pat Tryson proved throughout 2009, especially during the Chase, they were legitimate championship contenders.

The downside came when Tryson left the team after it finished fourth in the championship, behind Hendrick Motorsports' record one-two-three sweep. That was a 14-position improvement for Busch over 2008.

"We fought hard every race, every lap," Busch said. "What defined our year was the perseverance, hard work and just being first in class. We fought hard to be fourth overall because those Hendrick cars are tough to beat."

Busch and Tryson joined the championship mix with a regular season victory at Atlanta, which extended Busch's string of consecutive seasons with a win to eight, seven top-five and 14 top-10 finishes; plus 11 top-five starts. The No. 2 Dodge had speed aplenty.

And then Tryson said he would leave at season's end. It wasn't immediately apparent if it would hurt their championship chances.

"Pat has been a great team leader and we've had a lot of success together and a ton of fun along the way," Busch said. That continued into the Chase.

Busch, 31, scored six consecutive top-11 finishes leaving them fourth in the standings. But good wasn't quite good enough.

"Week after week, you hope you're gaining points and staying in the mix. You want to go to Homestead mathematically eligible with a shot at the championship," Busch said. "We didn't quite do that, so it's tough.

"It's been a long season, but it's been a successful season for us at Penske Racing. It was a real good, consistent effort week-in and week-out. Twenty-one top-10 finishes shows we have that type of consistency to run up front and be contenders for the championship."

How sweet it was

Winning at Texas

Many doubters felt there was no way Roger Penske's lead team, with its lame duck crew chief, could contend for a title, never mind win a race. But at Texas, the eighth Chase race; Busch, Tryson and company disproved all doubt.

"These guys are loyal guys and everybody wanted to win real bad," Tryson said. "I knew none of those guys were going to give up on me and I know I wasn't going to give up on them because we're a pretty tight-knit group."

Talladega bites hard

Accident at Talladega

Thirtieth at Talladega wasn't the season's worst finish, but Busch lost a sure top-10 in an accident with less than two laps to go; the most damaging to his hopes for a top-three point finish. But Busch was still optimistic for 2010.

"I still go back and kick myself a little bit for Talladega, with how we finished there," Busch said. "But in the end, we're just out here doing our job, working as hard as we can.

"There's some stuff we learned in the Chase with this car that will help for sure. We just have to keep pushing those guys from Hendrick, find new ideas and go after them in '10."