Well, Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch won their respective qualifying races. That means they will line up right behind Martin Truex Jr. and Mark Martin for Sunday’s Daytona 500.

Unless some gets disqualified, this will be the starting lineup for the 51st Daytona 500.

1. No. 1, Martin Truex Jr.
2. No. 5, Mark Martin
3. No. 24, Jeff Gordon
4. No. 18, Kyle Busch
5. No. 14, Tony Stewart
6. No. 83, Brian Vickers
7. No. 48, Jimmie Johnson
8. No. 42, Juan Pablo Montoya
9. No. 20, Joey Logano
10. No. 11, Denny Hamlin
11. No. 8, Aric Almirola
12. No. 96, Bobby Labonte
13. No. 2, Kurt Busch
14. No. 88, Dale Earnhardt Jr.
15. No. 9, Kasey Kahne
16. No. 99, Carl Edwards
17. No. 36, Scott Riggs
18. No. 41, Jeremy Mayfield
19. No. 98, Paul Menard
20. No. 44, A.J. Allmendinger
21. No. 26, Jamie McMurray
22. No. 33, Clint Bowyer
23. No. 47, Marcos Ambrose
24. No. 12, David Stremme
25. No. 07, Casey Mears
26. No. 31, Jeff Burton
27. No. 55, Michael Waltrip
28. No. 00, David Reutimann
29. No. 77, Sam Hornish Jr.
30. No. 19, Elliott Sadler
31. No. 7, Robby Gordon
32. No. 29, Kevin Harvick
33. No. 6, David Ragan
34. No. 43, Reed Sorenson
35. No. 16, Greg Biffle
36. No. 39, Ryan Newman
37. No. 34, John Andretti
38. No. 82, Scott Speed
39. No. 17, Matt Kenseth
40. No. 21, Bill Elliott
41. No. 28, Travis Kvapil
42. No. 78, Regan Smith
43. No. 66, Terry Labonte

Missing The Race:
No. 71, Mike Wallace
No. 51, Kelly Bires
No. 75, Derrike Cope
No. 57, Norm Benning
No. 73, Mike Garvey
No. 08, Boris Said
No. 87, Joe Nemechek
No. 09, Brad Keselowski
No. 46, Carl Long
No. 37, Tony Raines
No. 27, Kirk Shelmerdine
No. 23, Mike Skinner
No. 64, Geoff Bodine

Post from: Adam Fenwick

Petty Enterprises, Gillett Evernham in merger talks: One of the greatest NASCAR teams of all time may be nothing but history by the start of the 2009 season. Boston Ventures (the primary owner of Petty Enterprises) is in talks with Gillett Evernham Motorsports to merge the two teams in to one four car operation by the start of the 2009 season. That would mean the elimination of the Petty’s second car that was expected to be driven by Chad McCumbee in 2009. This also puts into question the future of Bobby Labonte with Petty Enterprises even though he just signed a contract extension. The big rumor in that regard has Bobby Labonte joining the new Earnhardt Ganassi team to drive the No. 41, Reed Sorenson driving the No. 43 and A.J. Allmendinger driving the No. 10. Of course, this is all speculation at this point.

Wood Brothers going to part time schedule in 2009: It was recently announced that the legendary No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford will be going to a part time schedule in 2009, running only 12 races. The team plans to focus on the Daytona 500 and mile and a half tracks. The main reason behind this is a lack of sponsorship dollars. The Air Force is leaving this team to join Gillett Evernham in 2009 and Little Debbie is joining Marcos Ambrose at JTG Daughtery Racing. Bill Elliott will return to the team to drive the car under this limited schedule.

Bill Davis Racing looking for sponsorship: Another team looking for help is Bill Davis Racing. Dave Blaney has stated that the future of the No. 22 Toyota is “up in the air” as they have no sponsorship at all for the 2009 season. Of course their usual sponsor, Caterpillar, jumped ship and moved to the No. 31 driven by Jeff Burton for Richard Childress Racing.

Stewart Haas Racing still lack sponsorship for Newman: Ryan Newman’s No. 39 Chevrolet has sponsorship for a good chunk (22 races) of the 2009 season from the U.S. Army, but they still need to lock down sponsorship for the remaining 14 races in 2009. Rumor has Burger King as the front runner.

Kenseth extends with Roush-Fenway: Matt Kenseth won’t be the next big free agent on the market. He signed a multi-year contract extension with Roush-Fenway Racing a few weeks ago.

Speed will drive for Red Bull in ‘09, switch to No. 82: In a move that was expected for quite some time now, Scott Speed will drive for Red Bull Racing full time in 2009 behind the wheel of the No. 82, the former No. 84 that A.J. Allmendinger drove for the better part of the last two seasons.

Post from: Adam Fenwick