Story by: Langley Austin ~ langley@RACE22.com

Wytheville, VA(January 1, 2010) -- It's still a little strange typing 2010 ... even though we've been talking a little about it since the 2009 season started, but getting used to not putting two zero's after the two is still a challenge.

With that being said and with it being New Years day I thought I might sit down and do a little pondering ... I'm always thinking about what we're going to put up on the website next and in fact the "Best 9 of '09" categories have been in the works for about three weeks. So with most of that done, just waiting to post all of them so we have something fresh for you to read everyday and that got me to thinking about our next little project of stories and story lines. All that thinking(past giving me a headache) has me thinking about what we might see.

Maybe looking into a crystal ball a little if you will thinking of things like who's going to be next years ... Best Drivers, Most Improved, Best Performers, Top Winners, UARA Champion, UARA Rookie, Individual Track Champions and all the other things that we should be watching for. I've put my thinking cap on for that and hopefully we'll have a great couple of lists put together to keep you informed and have you knowing what we're going to be watching.

Today I was taking a look at our Schedule/Winners Page for the 2009 season and man, I don't know whether you guys enjoyed having that or not, but it made our records and made knowing what happened as far as wins this season great. I know we're thinking right now of how to make this even better and how we can have even better records for the 2010 season. Anyways, in looking through that list of winners it reminded of several moments in the 2009 season that we won't forget, some of which made the recently released "Best 9 Performances of '09" like Mercer's huge win streak, McCall's come from behind win, Paddy Rodenbeck's first triumph and so much more.

It also got me to thinking ... who won the most races and that made me make a list of the biggest winners this season. It was not surprising to me that Andy Mercer's 14 wins at Hickory Motor Speedway this season was atop that list as Mercer's run there this season was borderline legendary with the first ten being ten in a row. There were others who made that list that you wouldn't neccessarily think about right off the top of your head like Dexter Canipe, Jr., who won seven races at Tri-County and two late in the season at Hickory ... Kevin Leicht who won eight at Newport and the biggest race of the season at Tri-County, the Firecracker 150.

Check it out for yourself ... here's the list;

Top 9 Winningest Drivers of 2009 ...
1) Andy Mercer/14 Wins
2) Marty Ward/13 Wins
3) CE Falk/12 Wins
4) Philip Morris/9 Wins
5) Dexter Canipe, Jr./9 Wins
6) Kevin Leicht/9 Wins
7) Brent Brinson/9 Wins
8) Speedy Faucette/7 Wins
9) Travis Swaim/6 Wins
tie) Rodney Cook/6 Wins
tie) David Triplett, Jr./6 Wins

After doing that list I got thinking about win streaks and who may have had the nine longest win streaks and honestly a few them surprised me. Again this was a list that to no one's surprise had Mercer atop the list with those ten wins in a row, but behind him there were a few surprises like Marty Ward, who won eight races in a row at Greenville Pickens, six in a row at Newport by Leicht and five in a row at Myrtle Beach by Brent Brinson.

Check out this list and see what you think ...

Top 9 Longest Win Streaks of 2009 ...
1) Andy Mercer/10 Wins at Hickory
2) Marty Ward/8 Wins at Greenville Pickens
3) Kevin Leicht/6 Wins at Newport
4) Brent Brinson/5 Wins at Myrtle Beach
5) Philip Morris/5 Wins at Motor Mile(3) and South Boston(2)
6) Speedy Faucette/4 Wins at Ace
7) Matt McCall/3 Wins at Lonesome Pine(UARA), Hickory(DHM) & Tri-County(UARA)
8) CE Falk/3 Wins(Twice) at Langley(second time with 2 at Langley & one at South Boston)
9) Nick Smith/3 Wins at South Boston
tie) Dexter Canipe, Jr./3 Wins at Tri-County
tie) Marty Ward/3 Wins at Greenville Pickens

I think it's it very interesting to note that Marty Ward's name appears on that list twice, just goes to show what kind of season that the veteran driver had on his home turf at Greenville Pickens Speedway. Behind that list, there were many back to back winners everywhere and I think another interesting note on that is Matt McCall was the only driver to win back to back races all season on the UARA-STARS tour. He was also the only driver to win three races in a row on three different tracks in two different sanctioning bodies ... pretty impressive, but add to that, that he only won five races, but all five of them were on different tracks.

Philip Morris' five wins in a row were pretty awesome too as he had three in a row at Motor Mile Speedway mixed with two others at South Boston Speedway to start his first five races of the season. It's no wonder he's the NASCAR National Champion as that's a pretty good accomplishment for any driver and if he could have kept that pace up throughout the season he would have dominated the NASCAR National Points Standings.

All of these racers have my respect as they are each exceptional in their own right and I think this gives you a little preview between these two lists of who you might be seeing on our "Best 9 Drivers of '09" list coming out soon.

OK, I don't want to give it all away, but hey if you've got some extra time on your hands ... send me your list of "Best Drivers" for the 2009 season and we might just publish them on the website when we publish our very own list. Alright, you can chew on this info for a while and we'll be back soon with another one of our "Best 9 of '09" list and keeping you entertained all winter long, plus you never know when we'll have some breaking news for you to digest!