Roush Fenway transfers No. 26 owners' points

Roush Fenway Racing and Roush Yates Racing Engines have fashioned a "comprehensive services contract" with Latitude 43 Motorsports that will give the new team a guaranteed start in the season-opening Daytona 500 using the 2009 owners' points accrued by Roush Fenway's No. 26 Ford.

In addition, Roush Fenway will field four full-time teams in the 2010 Nationwide Series -- including a No. 98 Ford for Paul Menard, who races for Richard Petty Motorsports in the Cup Series -- and RFR president Geoff Smith said Wednesday that the stable has sold more than 75 percent of the sponsorship of its eight-car fleet in NASCAR's two top national series.

Smith said the NASCAR-approved deal with Latitude 43 included "race car builds; repair and maintenance; gear, transmission and engine services; and testing services," as well as some complete race cars. But the most integral part of the deal is the transfer of the 22nd-place owners' points earned last season by Jamie McMurray.

Latitude 43 has yet to announce any plans for 2010, and Smith wouldn't speculate about what the team's schedule would include or where it would operate from -- though he said the car wouldn't be fielded from RFR's facility.

But Smith was clear about what RFR had done in the aftermath of the contraction it was forced to make, from five to four Cup Series teams, per a NASCAR mandate that takes effect this season. Due to that, McMurray is driving this season for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing.

"The [points] transaction requires a different format for NASCAR's approval," Smith said, "So there's a comprehensive services contract between Roush Fenway Racing [and] Roush Yates Racing Engines, as two suppliers, with Latitude 43 Motorsports being the customer.

"Included in those service mechanisms is a transfer by Roush Fenway Racing of all the heritage rights that it may have relating to the [26] car number and owner points and so forth.

"There were a certain number of existing cars that were sold to start the inventory and they can buy new cars as needed, depending on what they're going to campaign."

Smith is heavily involved with sponsorship procurement for all of RFR's programs. Three of the team's four Cup cars, for drivers David Ragan (No. 6), Greg Biffle (No. 16) and Carl Edwards (No. 99) are fully sponsored, Smith said; but 2003 Cup champion Matt Kenseth's No. 17 Ford is not.

"Within a very few days I think we'll be able to announce we have a fully-sponsored 17 car," Smith said of the car that has a partial season of funding from Crown Royal.

• In the Nationwide Series, Menard will run his first complete schedule since 2006, when he finished sixth in the championship for the second consecutive season before stepping into the Cup Series full time. That car is fully sponsored by the Menards home improvement store chain and a variety of partners.

Smith said RFR's other three Nationwide programs had varying sponsorship gaps. Former series champion Carl Edwards will again compete full time in both Cup and Nationwide, running a No. 60 Ford sponsored by Fastenal and Copart in the secondary series. Smith said Edwards' car has "four open races."

Colin Braun and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will run full schedules as rookie of the year candidates in the No. 16 and 6 cars. Braun's car has 18 races with Con-way Freight and two more with 3M, leaving 15 of the series' 35 races unsponsored. Stenhouse has 18 races with CitiFinancial backing, leaving "the remainder for sale," Smith said.

Biffle is part of a previously announced deal to run a partial Nationwide schedule for Baker Curb Racing, but "at this point in time David Ragan, Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle are not doing Nationwide races with us."

Last season, Biffle and Ragan won twice each and Kenseth won another Nationwide race in Roush Fenway cars.

Braun competed in the Truck Series, winning his first career race, but Roush Fenway has disbanded that program and is in the process of divesting its equipment.