Points swapping in top 35 boost for new-look teams

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- After a multitude of point swaps -- as well as name, number and owner changes -- the critical top 35 in the Sprint Cup owner standings heading into the 2009 season-opening Daytona 500 barely resembles the same lineup from the end of 2008.

Locked into the 500

Sam Hornish Jr. will start at Daytona thanks to a deal Penske made with Bill Davis, while Clint Bowyer and Marcos Ambrose also landed positions in the coveted top 35.

• Hornish a lock for Daytona 500
• Ambrose, Bowyer move up

Eleven positions, or 31 percent of the top 35, have either different numbers or numbers in different places. Since being in the top 35 guarantees starting the season's first five races, the most critical element is 10 point exchanges that enabled six teams that otherwise wouldn't have been in the top 35 to have a guaranteed starting spot for the Daytona 500.

The teams and drivers that benefited from the exchanges include Yates Racing and Paul Menard, whose new team is 23rd; Front Row Motorsports' John Andretti, who went from 45th in 2008 to 27th; Hall of Fame Racing's Bobby Labonte, from 39th to 28th; Penske Racing's Sam Hornish Jr., from 38th to 31st; Richard Childress Racing's Clint Bowyer, from 50th to 32nd; and JTG Daugherty Racing's Marcos Ambrose, from 36th to 35th.

The activity, at least for the Sprint Cup Series, is unprecedented and apparently driven by an economic necessity to merge teams to make dollars go farther or shut them down completely, as was the case with five teams that were in the top 35 last year that no longer exist.

Some of the changes were subtle, but no less driven by economics. Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, whose largely sponsorless No. 8 car was 14th in 2008 owner points, has swapped positions with new teammate Juan Montoya, who was 25th last year while driving for Chip Ganassi Racing.

The assumption is that if the 8 was shut down within the first five races, Montoya would have an 11-position advantage if qualifying was rained out. In conjunction with the point swaps, Chip Ganassi now owns the No. 8 and Teresa Earnhardt took ownership of the No. 42 from Ganassi's father, Floyd.

EGR was involved in three other point scenarios, two of which involved successful exchanges. The points from the former Dale Earnhardt Inc. No. 15, which Menard drove to 27th in the standings before leaving for Yates Racing, transferred to Front Row's No. 34, which ended last season 45th after making just five races.

Andretti, who made the 2008 Daytona 500 through his Gatorade Duel 150, said that in his opinion that swap was one of the more legitimate.

"We're in the process of moving into DEI property, the former Ginn [Racing] shop in Mooresville [N.C.]," Andretti said. "We'll have a technical alliance moving forward and we're buying some of [DEI's] cars, which they no longer need."

The points from another former DEI car, the No. 01 driven to 32nd by 2008 Sprint Cup rookie of the year Regan Smith, have moved to RCR's new full-season team for Bowyer. The No. 33 made only two starts last season and has never run a full schedule for Childress. Bobby Ginn, who last owned a NASCAR entry in 2007, is the listed owner on the No. 33. (Continued)