Do you want to know who the ultimate racer is?

It just might be a guy like Bob Jenkins who's probably spent millions -- yep, millions -- attempting to do it right as he tries to gain a foothold in Cup racing. And before you say "so what, racing costs money," you need to know it's the guy's own money that he's burnt through.

Jenkins first appeared in the Cup owners' standings in 2004, when he made a couple unsuccessful attempts in a No. 92 car. He was one of 10 owners in the same 0-fer boat that season. But the difference between Jenkins and the rest -- two-thirds of whom no longer have any discernible involvement in the sport -- is that Jenkins in 2009 made a quantum leap toward achieving his ultimate goal.

The goal is a solid position in the Cup Series garage. And while locking-in the 35th position in the owners' standings last weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, which came via a 33rd-place finish after rebounding from a crash 101 laps into the 267-lap race, might seem tenuous -- it's actually priceless.

His Front Row Motorsports team did it with less funding, less personnel and less technology than probably anyone who finished ahead of them in the standings. But they certainly didn't lack in any of racing's intangibles, like creativity, resourcefulness and commitment.

"I went out and got some really good people," Jenkins said of his 2009 plan. "This economy has generated a lot of talented people that are out of jobs, so we were able to assemble a team that with funding could compete with most of these guys -- not everybody, like the Hendricks of the world -- but that's been a huge benefit."

And now it can't help but give Jenkins a hefty bargaining chip as he looks ahead to Speedweeks 2010 at Daytona. Not only is he locked-into the sport's Super Bowl -- the Daytona 500 -- his lead team is guaranteed a starting position in the first five races, which was the same thing that got them off to the start that ultimately led to their impressive finish last Sunday.

"No, I honestly didn't think we could be here at the beginning of the year, but from the beginning we concentrated on doing the best we could," driver John Andretti said. "When we were at Daytona, we were still building the team and we didn't even have a race shop. Our goal was to make it to the first Talladega and see where we were and it's all the people here who have made this happen, with reliable, consistent cars."

But there's already no mistake about something else: Jenkins has already earned a ton of respect, and so have his guys.

"It's amazing," Andretti said. "After the race at Texas, I got a text from Mark [Martin] saying 'good job today.' Here's a guy running for a championship -- what's he doing texting me? But it makes you feel good that they know, and they can see that we overachieve in a lot of ways, because we're a good group."

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Every weekend you want to be the best that you can be, and I think that we are because we push really hard to be that way.

”

-- JOHN ANDRETTI

"We just want to be in the position where we're competitive," Jenkins said. "Maybe not to win races yet, but to consistently be improving and offering a solid program. And we've achieved that. This season we've not lost one [crew] person who said 'I've got a better job down the street and I'm leaving.'

"I kind of credit that to an attitude that we're like a bunch of 12-year-old boys working on our bikes in the neighborhood. That's what these guys do, without the pressure of sponsors or a big team. I have one engineer on this team, for everything, and it's his clear canvas to paint, same as it is with the crew chiefs, who are running their own programs."

Andretti said it's Jenkins' personal involvement that's the difference.

"It says a lot for the guys, and it's all about competition, because every weekend you want to be the best that you can be, and I think that we are because we push really hard to be that way," Andretti said. "And Bob, he's involved with the people on the team, he knows everyone's names, and about their families and you don't get that with a big team."

Respecting their achievement, which was attained with a group that numbers fewer than 40 people from administrative help to the race teams that field two Cup cars and another full-time effort in the Nationwide Series for driver Tony Raines, who finished 20th in that series' owners' standings, has to be a given.

Jenkins knows all about NASCAR's infamous "top 35 rule," the guideline that grants the top 35 teams in the car owners' standings an automatic starting position in each successive week's race. It's even more critical at season's end because 2009's owners' standings guarantee 35 teams starting positions in 2010's first five races.

"With my two cars, to be honest with you, we live out of those purses," Jenkins said. "So it's just critical to be in every race, to get points and continue on to next week's race."

Jenkins' Front Row Motorsports made it stick with its No. 34 Chevrolet, which was driven in 34 races by John Andretti. Andretti skipped two races in May to compete in the Indianapolis 500. When he returned from Indy, the situation wasn't overly promising with the car only about 40 points ahead of 36th.

But Andretti, a versatile, capable driver who's won in Cup cars, Indy cars, IMSA sports cars and NHRA top fuel dragsters among other classes, teaming with crew chief Steven Lane, a veteran mechanic who came to Front Row through its initial alliance this season with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, got the job done.

"I've been with some big teams and I've seen what kind of resources and man-hours are out there," Lane said. "We've tried to concentrate on five races at a time and to do what we needed to do to stay in the top 35. Honestly, if you would have asked me at the beginning of the year if we'd be there 10 races in, I'd have said that'd be tough.

"So it's been a big achievement, and we've done it without a lot of money, and that's the thing. I know what kind of budget Red Bull [which finished behind them in the owners' standings] has, so it's a big thing."

And now they get the reward, which is stability and, Jenkins hopes, something solid to offer potential partners.

"It certainly helps, because those first five races are some of the biggest races of the year," Jenkins said of Daytona, Fontana, Las Vegas and Atlanta, a corporate business center. "It's critical."

And for Andretti, for whom family means a huge amount, it's time to get with his friend and team owner to decide if they'll continue the battle next season. Jenkins said the next two weeks he'd hope to know what direction he was going, but he didn't see "any wholesale changes taking place."

"This race team needs to be sponsored, but I don't want having sponsorship be the deciding factor in whether or not we can race," Jenkins said. "We've tried to build a nucleus that can survive in a down economy, that's consistent and solid, so that when good times do come around, we become a logical choice for somebody."

For team owners Kevin Buckler, Joe Nemechek, Tommy Baldwin and Phil Parsons, the current economic downturn created an opportunity, both in equipment and personnel that enabled them to experience a dream in 2009, of establishing themselves in the Cup garage.

Jenkins' Front Row team has been here, and to hear Andretti tell it -- now they're truly established. And for Jenkins, it doesn't get much better than that.

"Our attitude, from day one since we started this team, is that we realized that you just can't walk into this sport and say 'here I am,' and that sponsors would just line up to sponsor us," Jenkins said. "Our position has always been that you have to make your own place at the table -- nobody's gonna give it to you.

"It's been ugly over the years and it's hurt at times, but establishing the consistency we have and to be locked into the top 35 at an attractive price will help us to attract a sponsor for the next couple years. For us it's kind of been racing in its purest form, maybe without a big budget, but guys working on cars and enjoying the fruits of their labors.

"For these guys, they set out at the beginning of the year to accomplish this and it's a big deal for them. They feel like they had a plan, they've come together and they did it."

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.