Jack Daniel's Racing drivers Todd and Rick Kelly have both failed to finish the final race of the Sydney Telstra 500 at the brand new Sydney Olympic Park street circuit in New South Wales today.

The double DNF was an unfortunate end to a stellar first year of Kelly Racing, which opened its doors in March and scored three podiums in its first season in a strong final phase of the 2009 season.

After qualifying third earlier today, Rick Kelly made a strong start to today's 74-lap race aboard the #15 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore to quickly move into second place.

But the dual Bathurst winner was one of many drivers caught out by the treacherous Turn 8, first making contact with the tyre wall on the exit of the corner on lap 10 and then spearing into the same tyres on lap 12, ending his day with suspension damage.

Todd Kelly qualified down in 25th position aboard the #7 Jack Daniel's Racing Holden Commodore, but using strong car speed and a sound pit strategy he moved into the top five in the middle stages of the race.

Unfortunately a suspected alternator failure ruined any chance of Todd Kelly scoring Jack Daniel's Racing another podium finish in the strong last phase of the season.

Todd Kelly was in fourth position when forced to pit to change the Jack Daniel's Commodore's battery on lap 50. He was forced to retire from the race seven laps later.

Rick Kelly finishes the 2009 V8 Supercar Championship Series in eighth position in the Driver's standings, while Todd Kelly completed the 26-race championship in 18th position.

To put Kelly Racing's inaugural season into context, Triple Eight Race Engineering, the current benchmark in V8 Supercars, had their drivers finish 19th and 28th in the championship standings in their first season of V8 competition in 2004.

James Courtney won today's race at the Sydney Telstra 500 ahead of Michael Caruso and Mark Winterbottom, making it three Sydney-born drivers on the podium of the first ever Sydney street race, which drew 184,856 over three days.