2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (Start Your Engines!)

The 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series was the 61st season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 38th modern-era Cup series season.

Technical changes
The big change from 2008 was Chevrolet introducing the Impala SS into competition, replacing the Monte Carlo SS, which had been discontinued after 2007. Otherwise, Ford, Dodge, and Toyota made no major changes.

Mergers, contractions, and alliances
The economic crisis of 2008 caused problems even before the 2009 season began. While gas (and diesel) prices came down to nearly $2.00 per gallon, corporate America was reluctant to shell out millions of dollars to sponsor teams due to the volatility of the stock market. As a result, Richard Childress Racing merged with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. to form Earnhardt Childress Racing, a merger that was considered logical due to Dale Earnhardt having raced for Childress for most of his career, as well as being good friends with Childress. They fielded the No. 1 and No. 8 from DEI and No. 3, No. 30, and No. 31 from RCR, and shut down the DEI No. 01, No. 14, and No. 17 teams as well as RCR's No. 07 teams, as the 01 team had been inherited from MB2 Motorsports, and the 17 team was the last remnant of DarWal, Inc. In addition, Front Row Motorsports had ECR support for their No. 34 car, to be driven by Tony Raines.

Reduction in manufacturer support
Following General Motors' bankruptcy, GM cut all financial support in the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series, and considerably reduced financial support in the Sprint Cup Series. Similarly, the Chrysler bankruptcy led to several Dodge Sprint Cup teams, including Petty Enterprises, losing their manufacturer support. Dodge claims that "funding is on hold." Pacific Coast Racing, however, did receive support from Dodge, and PCR, as the owner and operator of a licensed Mopar dealership, supported all Dodge teams in 2009, giving Sheldon Johnson Jr. the nickname "Lee Iacocca Jr.". Toyota gave a small reduction in funding before the season, but did not made any mid-season cuts. Rumors floated that Toyota may leave the Camping World Truck Series or Nationwide Series; the automaker denied these reports. Ford, the healthiest of all the automakers, continues funding at pre-crisis levels. From the 2005 season it had been rumored that Honda will join the Nationwide and Sprint Cup series, and the rumor gets stronger entering the 2009 season, as Dodge claimed its funding on hold. This was denied by the manufacturer. Honda eventually joined NASCAR in 2015.