Top 35 standings finally settled

NASCAR has now officially set those entries that will have a guaranteed starting spot in the Daytona 500 and the subsequent four rounds. The standings will be key to determining which drivers have to get in the season-opener through qualifying or via the Gatorade Duels.

Following the merger between Chip Ganassi Racing and Dale Earnhardt Inc the reconstituted organisation shut down their No.41, No.15 and No.01 teams, all of which were placed among the top 35 in the owner standings at the end of last season.

The No.01 points achieved by rookie of the year Regan Smith have been transferred to the No.33 Richard Childress Racing entry of Clint Bowyer. The team are a new entry for this season as Bowyer's former entry is now being driven by Casey Mears. This means all four RCR cars, which share the engine programme with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, will have guaranteed spots for the first five races of the season.

The No.15 points Paul Menard claimed last year have gone to the No.34 entry of John Andretti, who is only scheduled to race in the Daytona 500, where he fields a car in a partnership between EGR and Front Row Motorsports.

Despite switching to a new team this season, Menard will still start the year inside the top 35 as the points Travis Kvapil claimed last year in the No.28 Yates Ford were transferred to Menard's No.98 entry. Also within Yates, the 2008 points from David Gilliland's No.38 team have gone to the No.96 car of former Cup champion Bobby Labonte. Gilliland is not driving for the team on a full-time basis this year.

Michael Waltrip Racing have also made point-swaps among their entries. The No.44 points claimed by David Reutimann last year have now gone to the driver's entry for this year, the No.00, which was already in the top 35. Those points are now with the No.47 JTG Daugherty/MWR car of Australian Marcos Ambrose.

Stewart Haas Racing have only Ryan Newman with a guaranteed spot, as he inherited the points from the No.66 car, formerly a Haas CNC entry and now the No.39. Tony Stewart will most likely rely on his past champion status to make the field for the first five races of the year should he fail to make the cut on pure speed.

In a different kind of move, the No.77 Penske car driven by Sam Hornish has secured a top 35 spot thanks to getting the points from Bill Davis Racing's No.22 car, driven last year by Dave Blaney. Davis shut down his team due to lack of funding but he now has a minority share in Penske Racing.

The latest swap that took place was among the Earnhardt Ganassi cars of Aric Almirola and Juan Pablo Montoya. Now the No.42 has the points from the No.8, which finished 14th in the owner standings last season driven by Mark Martin and Almirola. This will give Montoya a better starting spot in case qualifying is rained out in any of the first five races of the year.

All these moves have left Richard Petty's AJ Allmendinger just outside the top 35 and having to qualify on speed or through the Gatorade Duels for the season opener. The Californian has not made the field for the Daytona 500 before, as he didn't qualify in his two previous attempts while driving for Red Bull Racing.

Ironically for the first time both Red Bull Toyotas are safe in the field for the season-opener.