RCR plans to run the No. 07 in the '10 Daytona 500

Richard Childress Racing will run a fourth car in the 2010 Daytona 500, the No. 07 Chevrolet that finished 21st in the 2009 Cup owners' standings with driver Casey Mears, a team spokesman said on Wednesday.

But beyond that, the car's schedule will be determined by sponsorship, the lack of which put Mears on the job market at the end of 2009. Mears will drive the car at Daytona, where it's a guaranteed starter in the lucrative season opener, "unless he gets another full-time ride," the RCR source said.

If Mears isn't available, another driver would be selected. The car's crew chief is also to be determined after Doug Randolph, who was Mears' crew chief at the end of the season, this week began working as Bobby Labonte's chief mechanic at TRG Motorsports.

The source said that RCR is in "serious talks with a number of potential sponsors and we're still aiming towards fielding that car full-time in 2010. About the same number of people who typically would be affected at the end of any season were released, but because we have everything in place to compete with that team at a high level, we're in a position to hold out [on further layoffs] longer than we might have, otherwise and maintain most of the full-time personnel we had assigned to it until early next year, at least."

Mears drove the No. 07 car in 2009, his first year with RCR after two seasons with Hendrick Motorsports, and scored four top-10 finishes in 36 starts. His best finish was sixth, in August at Michigan, but the end of his season was marked by finishes that didn't reflect how well they ran.

Before the end of the season -- the first in which RCR had fielded four Cup cars -- the car's sponsor Brown-Forman decided to end its five-year sponsorship program. Since then the company has been scrambling to accrue backing to enable the fourth car to join those of RCR regulars Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer.

Related: Randolph to crew chief No. 71 at TRG