35, 18, 21 and 757
There are lots of numbers rolling around NASCAR, but these are the four you need to watch this week.
35: Starting this week, the top 35 in this year's owner points are guaranteed a spot in the race as long as they qualify. (Up through Bristol, NASCAR used the top 35 in last year's owner points.) This new system replaced the provisional system. I never completely understood the details, but it, like the new method, was there to ensure that the top names in the sport aren't sitting out Sunday's race just because their car blew up in qualifying.
The current owner standings show some weird things. First, the No. 18 driven by Bobby Labonte is in 34th. Whew. For a while this season, it was looking like bad-luck Labonte might not crack the top 35. He's safe, sort of, because NASCAR did keep the past champion's provisional. Unless Matt Kenseth (who won a Cup title more recently than Labonte) dropped out of the top 35 (don't laugh -- Kenseth is a disappointing 27th in owner points this year), Labonte will claim this provisional.
On the hot seat is the driver of the No. 21, Ricky Rudd. He's 38th in owner points this year because, until last week's 25th-place showing at Bristol, Rudd has been absolutely awful. He's going to need a good qualifying run this afternoon to make the field.
If Mark Martin is the best driver never to have won a Cup title, Rudd might be next on that list. Sure, he didn't crack the top 20 last year or the year before. But Rudd has finished fourth in points as recently as 2001. He was second in 1991, and he has finished in the top 10 a remarkable 19 times.
Rudd has 23 wins, still ranking him ahead of most of the series' young guns. He's definitely the most durable: Heading into Martinsville, he has 757 straight starts, way ahead of Rusty Wallace (666) and Mark Martin (550). That streak started back on Jan. 11, 1981, when Rudd rolled off third in the Winston West 500 at the old Riverside track and finished 19th when the engine on his No. 88 Gatorade Chevy gave out.
That's a heck of a streak. I'd hate to see it end this week.
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