2009 entries & news.

Slow, slow, slow… you guys are killing me. What is going on out there? With only 10 days remaining to the 2009 Cobo Cup entry deadline there have only been 40 entries turned in thus far. That’s 134 entries short from last year. Why is everyone taking sooooooo loooooong!?

Some news from NASCAR:

Penske buys the #22, Davis a minority owner UPDATE more: Bill Davis is now a minority owner in Penske Racing. Penske has acquired Davis’ #22 and will keep the number for further consideration to align with the #2 and #12. But for now, the #77 Mobil 1 Dodge driven by Sam Hornish Jr. will take the 22’s owner points and start the 2009 season 31st, which guarantees it a position in the Daytona 500. “As a business person, you have to look at what your options are,” Penske said by phone. “I think the key thing right now is it’s too bad that anyone who has run a full season whether they’re in the top 35 or not — and I don’t mean the ones that run a half season — but if you run the full season last year, every car in every race, you hope you would be given some kind of priority.”

UPDATE: #09-Phoenix Racing’s Brad Keselowski will get the points from the #41 or #01 left over from the Chip Ganassi Racing-Dale Earnhardt Inc. merger, according to sources. That leaves one set of points remaining, and those possibly could go to Richard Childress Racing’s Clint Bowyer, who moved to the new RCR #33 car this year while Casey Mears, the new driver of the #07 car, has Bowyer’s points from last season. RCR officials would not confirm whether the team is working a deal for top-35 points. While having the points is good news for Hornish (who will still drive the #77), it is not good news for Richard Petty Motorsports’ #44-AJ Allmendinger, who now will have to qualify on speed or race his way in the Daytona 500. His car was 37th in owners points last year. Marcos Ambrose, driver of the #47 JTG Daugherty Racing car, is on the bubble at 36th from last season. If RCR gets points for Bowyer as expected, then Ambrose also will have to qualify on speed or race his way in the Daytona 500. Michael Waltrip, whose Michael Waltrip Racing builds cars for Ambrose, said Tuesday that he was unsure whether Ambrose would end up being locked in for the Daytona 500.

NO Shootout for Hornish: Even though some last-minute deals are taking place to lock drivers into the first five races of the Sprint Cup season, any new developments will not impact the field for the Budweiser Shootout on Saturday, NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp said today. However, Penske Racing officials confirmed Tuesday night that Sam Hornish Jr. would end up having the 2008 owners points of the Bill Davis Racing #22 car and will be locked into the field for the first five events. The former BDR team was 31st in the points last year. But NASCAR has already set the field for the Budweiser Shootout, and there will be no changes, Tharp said. Richard Petty Motorsports’ AJ Allmendinger remains in the field as the seventh Dodge.

Owners Points still could be shook up: Brad Keselowski, driving for Phoenix Racing [#09], is expected to be locked into the field for the Daytona 500, and there could be others also locked into the opening Sprint Cup races as various points transfers are being talked about as teams outside the top 35 in owners points try to secure those spots. NASCAR has been quiet on the issue of who is getting whose points because it is still accepting entries for the Daytona 500, but it appears that drivers who once thought they could be locked in – most notably #44-AJ Allmendinger at Richard Petty Motorsports – will end up having to qualify on speed for the first five races of the season when the 2008 owners standings are used to set the field. Keselowski will be locked in, according to multiple sources. And among those who could be looking for points are Penske Racing driver #77-Sam Hornish Jr. and Richard Childress Racing’s #55-Clint Bowyer, who is moving to a different RCR team this season.

NASCAR does not allow a team to sell points outright but generally will approve offseason transfers as long as the original owner has some sort of ownership stake in the car going forward. Some of the switches have already been announced: Paul Menard (#98) and Bobby Labonte (#96) are getting the two Yates Racing points from the #28 and #38 last year. There are three cars with top-35 owners whose assignments have not been announced.

One of those is the #22 from Bill Davis Racing and the other two are from Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Chip Ganassi Racing #01 and #41]. When the DEI and Ganassi teams merged, they had six cars with top-35 owners points. Three of those from the merger will go to the three Earnhardt Ganassi cars driven by Martin Truex Jr. (#1), Juan Pablo Montoya (#42), and Aric Almirola (#8). That leaves the #15, #01 and the #41 from last year. As part of an alignment with Front Row Motorsports, driver John Andretti will have one of those remaining three, Andretti said. Most likely that would come from the #15.
The other two are possibly up for grabs, although it would take some maneuvering because technically no one owner – Chip Ganassi or Teresa Earnhardt – can have a financial interest in more than five teams (four, plus one for up to seven races for an aspiring rookie looking to run a full season in the future). Keselowski would count as an aspiring rookie. That would fill one of the three remaining unaccounted for top-35 spots. As far as the other two, Hornish and Bowyer seem to be the most likely possibilities. When asked last week if Penske Racing was attempting to get owners points from the #22 Bill Davis Racing entry, a Penske Racing spokesman said that the team is “exploring all of our options.”

Bowyer needs points since the #07 points stayed with the car and new driver Casey Mears while Bowyer is moving to a fourth RCR car (#33). An RCR spokesman said he couldn’t confirm if Bowyer has secured points. Drivers who are waiting to see what will happen are those who were 36th or 37th overall in points last year. They would be locked in the first five races if one of the top-35 car owners doesn’t end up with some sort of association at Daytona. In 36th last year was the JTG Daugherty Racing #47 car of Marcos Ambrose, which has an alliance with Michael Waltrip Racing. In 37th would be Richard Petty Motorsports’ #10, which is turning into the #44 driven by AJ Allmendinger. Allmendinger, who originally thought he was going to be in the 500 and now most likely won’t be locked in, also could lose a spot in the Budweiser Shootout if Hornish can get top-35 points and be one of the top six Dodges in the field.

Jimbo