New characters to appear in weekly top 35 drama (cont'd)

"He's got to protect his racecar here at Bristol, which is tough to do," Busch said. "I looked at him [Thursday] and said, 'That's right, you've never been to Bristol.' I'm like, 'Well, there's not much help here. You have to go learn from yourself'.'

"I think he feels confident enough to know that he can get out there and try to survive. Sam Hornish Jr. has a big task ahead of him. He can run anything. He has to protect his radiator. And that means staying off of other cars and make as many laps as you possibly can. Attrition might help him if he just stays out of trouble. Attrition could add up and he could end up with a 25th-place finish. That's what we're hoping for, and that should put him in the top 35."

He isn't alone. J.J. Yeley of Hall of Fame Racing is right on the dividing line. Dave Blaney, Dario Franchitti and Kyle Petty are below it. So is the Wood Brothers' No. 21 car, driven by Green on Friday because regular driver Bill Elliott decided to attempt Martinsville instead. The late switch was costly -- Elliott, as a past champion, would have gotten into the field Friday. Green, with no such safety net to fall back on, went home.

"Jeff Green has a good record here, and we thought putting him in the car would give us our best shot at qualifying on speed," Wood said. "I think what he's done in practice here [Friday] shows that we made a good decision. Unfortunately, when I saw the weather forecast I figured this was going to happen. I guess the most appropriate thing to say right now is that when it rains, it pours. This sort of typifies the way our season has gone so far."

These are difficult times for the Wood Brothers, which has won 96 times on NASCAR's premier circuit, the most recent at Bristol with Elliott Sadler in 2001. The Woods are 202 owner points behind Yeley's car. Even when the points change, they'll still be doing the same dance.

"Everything is about points," Wood said. "The whole world is based on points. Every time I turn around, I see the number 35. Everywhere I look, it's 35. There it is. I would guess I probably explain that top 35 10 times a day to someone. Our whole world is top 35 right now."

Even placing Elliott back in the car is no guarantee. He's third on the past champion's provisional pecking order, behind Busch and Jarrett. Next week, Jarrett is retired and Busch is back in the top 35. But the garage is abuzz with talk of more possible points switches, perhaps between two of Michael Waltrip's cars, or Petty and past champion Bobby Labonte, or Busch and Hornish -- again. That latter scenario was news to the driver of the No. 2 car.

"I didn't know that is a possibility," Busch said. "I hope that he's able to race as hard as he can and as smart as he can the next few races to get locked in. It's just a tough road, an uphill battle when you don't have points. Not only do you end up getting your tires last -- when you're back there in points trying to qualify with those other guys -- it's an uphill battle. I hope he does the right things this weekend and Martinsville to help his season go a little bit smoother. But there hasn't been any talk of a points swap."

Yet the Woods are taking nothing for granted. They have plans to field Elliott at Martinsville, but nothing concrete beyond that.

"You look at it day by day," Wood said. "Other things could change with the points and the [past] champion's deal. You look at other possibilities that could happen. You never know. You never know what's coming. You've got to make your own plan and live by it."

And that entails not giving up.

"All you can do," Wood said. "We've made a lot of improvements on the cars the last couple of weeks. It was pretty good here. ... That's what keeps you going. There's a lot of work going on every night, every day. It doesn't take a lot of work to fall behind, but it takes a lot of work to catch up. We're trying to double up and catch up. The guys are doing a really good job. They're working their butts off."