Post-35 blues: Junior, Newman, others need results in a hurry

We're only two weeks into the Sprint Cup Series season but already there are some nervous drivers, crew chiefs and team owners in the garage area.

NASCAR's controversial Top 35 rule locks drivers into the first five races of the season based on the final point standings of 2008. But once Race 6 rolls around at Martinsville on March 29, the guaranteed starting spots of the magic 35 revert to this year's points.

Will Dale Earnhardt Jr. be on the outside looking in come March 29? (Getty Images)

That means the likes of Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ryan Newman, Jeff Burton, Joey Logano and Scott Speed are in danger of some sleepless nights.

Should any of that quartet find himself below the cutoff line after next month's race at Bristol, they'll be forced to qualify into one of the remaining eight spots in the field the next week in Martinsville.

The thought of NASCAR's most popular driver possibly not being in the show come the last Sunday of March is a distinct possibility.

After two races, Earnhardt has endured a controversial crash and subsequent 27th-place finish in the Daytona 500 to go along with his engine failure and finishing 39th last Sunday in Fontana.

That adds up to Junior sitting right on the Top 35 transfer line and in an uncomfortable position to start the year.

Earnhardt knows what's at stake if things don't turn around in the next three races, and that has definitely upped the ante of Sunday's trip to Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

"I'm looking forward to these next couple of weeks -- to seeing how we're doing on the track and seeing how what we did over the offseason is paying off," Earnhardt said. "We've had some great cars, but the results haven't reflected that. I've had a lot of support from my teammates and all that stuff. Everybody has got a job to do."

That goes for the guy behind-the-wheel as well. Earnhardt's pit road miscue in Daytona and the follow-up tangle with Brian Vickers put him in a big hole from the get-go.

While last week's engine problems, which included one in the final practice session and another that knocked him out of the race, can't be pinned on Junior, it certainly didn't help things to have that 39th-place finish coupled with the previous week's 27th.

The good news for Earnhardt is the next three tracks on the schedule are ones where he's shined over the years. He finished second in last year's Las Vegas event, third in the spring Atlanta race and fifth at Martinsville last March.

A similar three-race rally in 2009 would pull Earnhardt out of harm's way and up the point standings.

Looking at 2008 results won't help improve Newman's confidence. While with Penske Racing last season, Newman rattled off a pair of 14ths and a disastrous 33rd at Bristol.

Replicating those numbers won't help the 2008 Daytona 500 winner move his way toward the top of the point standings after the disappointing start to this season.

While his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate and boss Tony Stewart got out of the gate with two straight eighth-place finishes, Newman went through three cars during Daytona's Speedweeks and ended up 28th at Fontana.

A broken rear wing early in Sunday's race put Newman behind the eight ball all day and he was forced to play catch-up from nearly the drop of the green flag.

"I don't know if we weren't making big enough changes to the car or if we were chasing the racetrack, but unfortunately, we just couldn't make the No. 39 Chevy better," said Newman.

He now finds himself in 33rd place but only three points ahead of Aric Almirola, who is 36th in the standings.

"We've had a rough couple of weeks," said Newman. "If we could get a little luck on our side, I think that would be a big step in the right direction."

Those steps need to be taken in a hurry or by the end of March NASCAR could be faced with the reality of several familiar names watching from the sidelines

Garage chatter

•  Don't believe for a second any of the rumors of Kyle Busch considering a ride on the new Formula One team based in Charlotte. While the start-up organization plans to field two cars in the 2010 World Driving Championship and is targeting American drivers, there is no chance Busch will make the leap from NASCAR to open wheel. Danica Patrick withdrew her name last week, and while Mario Andretti is touting the abilities of his grandson, Marco, for the job, the seats will more than likely be filled with names most race fans are not familiar with at this point.

•  Lots of talk in the offseason about the prospect of short fields in NASCAR's top three divisions, but so far that hasn't been the case. It will continue this weekend in Las Vegas where 51 Sprint Cup and 48 Nationwide Series teams are entered. Of course there are at least 10 teams in the Nationwide garage that are simply "start and parkers."

•  While many fans have voiced displeasure with NASCAR's new rule allowing Truck Series teams to pit for either fuel or tires on each pit stop, Camping World Truck Series director Wayne Auton says the sanctioning body is pleased with the results of the new policy so far with input coming from several team owners.

•  Maybe the late starting time last week in Fontana wasn't such a bad idea. FOX registered a 6.0 rating, the biggest sports audience of the weekend and only 14 percent lower than what the race pulled two years ago. Last year's race was run on a Monday after being delayed so TV numbers don't translate. What it most likely means in more late and prime-time ending events in NASCAR's future.