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41. Ron Fellows
Fellows is a legendary sports car driver, famous for his domination in the American Le Mans Series and excellence in distance races. In NASCAR, he's a road-course ringer, a hired gun who's guaranteed to be driving for someone at both Sears Point and Watkins Glen this summer, though as of this writing he didn't have a ride in place yet. In 2007, Fellows took over for Tony Raines in the No. 96 at both road courses, finishing 15th at Sears Point and fourth at the Glen. However, Hall of Fame Racing's switch to Toyota would seem to preclude Fellows from driving with them in '08; Fellows is a long-time Team Corvette driver, and he seems likelier to find a ride with a Chevy-based Sprint Cup team. As with Boris Said, you won't see Fellows drafted in fantasy leagues, but presuming he winds up with a job for those two road races, he'll be well worth a pickup on fantasy teams. At the Glen, in addition to his fourth-place finish in 2007, he has two career second places.

42. Michael Waltrip, 55, Michael Waltrip Racing, Toyota.
OK, I'll play the role of contrarian. Look at Waltrip's results from the fall Dover race and after that: He qualified for six of nine events, posted three top-15 finishes and, just as importantly, had no finishes outside the top 30. So at least it can be said that this horribly disappointing team did its best work at the end of 2007. Still, I admit that by any possible metric, the No. 55 was just terrible last year. From a cheating scandal at Daytona in which Waltrip's car was found to have jet fuel in it to a weird unexplained off-track crash of his personal SUV, Waltrip, who was supposed to be the walking embodiment of all things Toyota, let everybody down. He gets one more chance in '08. Crew chief David Hyder didn't survive the jet-fuel thing, and his replacement, Buddy Sisco, was fired this offseason, so Paul Andrews, the helmsman for Alan Kulwicki's improbable 1992 Cup championship, will be the chief here. Also, as it did last year, MWR might employ Terry Labonte (and his past champion's provisional) for a few races, including the roadies and maybe the Brickyard. Could things get better for the ubiquitous Waltrip? If he quits all the commercials and TV stuff, maybe. But do you really expect him to give all that up?

43. Kyle Petty, 45, Petty Enterprises, Dodge.
As I mentioned while discussing Bobby Labonte, 2008 is a big year for Petty Enterprises. The pieces are in place, the talent is there ... but will the cars be any good? Kyle Petty is the son of a legend, but it has been 13 years since he won a Cup race and nine years since he has had more top-10s than DNFs. On a couple rare occasions, Petty ran well in '07. He posted a third-place finish in the fuel-mileage-focused first Charlotte event, and he was solid in the second Atlanta race. He's also one of the true good guys in the sport, a philanthropist's philanthropist, and he's a pretty good announcer. But he's at the end of the road, and it might've behooved Petty Enterprises to hire someone else for what could be something of a "last hurrah" season. Petty will continue to be spread a bit thin by his television commitments (he missed five races while broadcasting for TNT in '07, and he could miss at least that many again this year), and the No. 45 will continue to be helmed by Billy Wilburn and pretty much the same crew. This isn't a matter of Petty Enterprises being completely without a clue; after all, Labonte finished 18th in points this past season. It just that Petty himself seems stuck in a decade-plus rut. On the plus side, he finished 2007 ranked 35th in owner points, so at least he won't have to qualify well to make the first five events in 2008.

44. A.J. Allmendinger, 84, Team Red Bull, Toyota.
Allmendinger wasn't quite the open-wheel star Juan Pablo Montoya was when they both hit the Sprint Cup Series as rookies in 2007, but he was a Champ Car stud with scads of talent. Maybe it wasn't surprising that he failed to qualify for 19 of 36 events, considering he had the least stock-car experience of anyone in the sport's major leagues, he was joining a new team, and Toyota had never had a car in a Cup race. But certainly more was expected of a kid who shook up CART to the tune of five wins in 2006. The story of '07 for Allmendinger was practice: he needed it -- badly. Partway through the '07 Busch Series season, Chip Ganassi, a well-known benefactor of open-wheelers, gave Allmendinger a full-time ride, and the kid also ran nine races in the Craftsman Truck Series. Like his teammate, Brian Vickers, most of Allmendinger's prospects hinge on whether Toyota can start fielding competitive cars. But I find it difficult to believe the No. 84 is ready to overcome all its obstacles, including its driver's inexperience, to make a ton of races in '08.

45. Michael McDowell, 00, Michael Waltrip Racing, Toyota
McDowell is the current runner-up on the ARCA circuit, and this January was named the driver of MWR's No. 00 car once David Reutimann makes the jump to the No. 44 after five races. That means McDowell is scheduled to make 31 tries to get into events, beginning in Martinsville the last weekend in March. McDowell is just 22 years old, but won four ARCA races as a rookie on that series last year, taking Rookie of the Year honors in the process. He'll be teammates with Reutimann and Michael Waltrip, who clearly struggled badly to make races in '07, and who appear to be fighting uphill battles here in '08. There's no question McDowell will be an underdog to make events, and he's not likely to be a ton of use in fantasy leagues in his first year. But who knows: if the rising Toyota tide winds up lifting all boats, maybe McDowell shocks us all.

46. Jacques Villeneuve, 27, Bill Davis Racing, Toyota
What Dale Earnhardt Jr. is to NASCAR in terms of royal bloodlines, so is Jacques Villeneuve to Formula-1. His dad, Gilles Villeneuve, was a great F-1 driver who died behind the wheel of a racecar, though Jacques managed to do something his father never did: win an F-1 championship (in 1997) and an Indianapolis 500 (in 1995). In the decade since, Villeneuve hasn't had much luck in F-1, and like several other open-wheel stars, has chosen 2008 to join North America's most popular racing circuit. His Bill Davis Racing ride will be the No. 27, which was Jeremy Mayfield's No. 36 in '07. In other words: "ruh-roh". BDR has a storied history, but a checkered recent past, and finances, sponsorship, car fabrication, engine quality and complete driver inexperience figure to hamper Villeneuve. Esteemed crew chief Slugger Labbe worked with Villeneuve in the Craftsman Truck Series for seven races at the end of last year, with an eye toward taking their partnership to Sprint Cup, and Villeneuve also qualified for two Cup races (at Talladega and Phoenix). He has next to no experience running shorter tracks, so like a lot of the open-wheelers he figures to struggle at them, but he's a world-class road-course race who would be well worth starting at Sears Point and Infineon this summer. However, in January, BDR announced that Villeneuve was only guaranteed to try and qualify for the season's first five events, at which point the entire No. 27 team will be "up in the air." It sounds like if Villeneuve is in the top 35 in owner points, he'll keep going. If not, sponsorship will become a problem, and he might not even try to qualify. In other words: stay away.

47. Aric Almirola, 8, Dale Earnhardt Inc., Chevrolet.
Considering he was a 23-year-old part-time driver trying to make his bones in stock-car racing, 2007 had some high drama for Almirola. In a Busch Series event in Milwaukee, Almirola qualified Denny Hamlin's Busch car on the pole, and when Hamlin's flight from that weekend's Cup event to Milwaukee was delayed, Almirola got to start the race as well. However, Hamlin eventually arrived and Almirola was ordered out of the car during a lap-59 pit stop. Hamlin wound up with the win, and though Almirola got credit for the victory, the incident led to bitterness. Almirola left Gibbs and joined DEI, where he'll serve as Mark Martin's understudy in the No. 8 for anywhere between 10 and 12 races this season. Word from Martin is that he also will run a part-time schedule in 2009, and Almirola would presumably be his substitute again, so it's going to be awhile before this talented kid becomes fantasy-relevant.

48. Marcos Ambrose, 21, Wood Brothers/JTG Racing, Ford.
Ambrose is another developmental driver who had a quasi-nuts episode in a NASCAR-sanctioned event in '07. Driving in the Busch Series event in Montreal (he eventually would finish a solid eighth in Busch points), Ambrose had the dominant car but was passed by Robby Gordon. In his attempt to regain his position, Ambrose tapped Gordon and spun him out, bringing a caution flag. Gordon was ordered to restart farther back in the field, but he ignored NASCAR officials and zoomed directly behind Ambrose despite being black-flagged, had a meltdown, and punted Ambrose off the course. The two drivers subsequently made peace, with Gordon actually sponsoring Ambrose in the Watkins Glen Cup event; unfortunately, qualifying was rained out and Ambrose never got his chance. He'll get his opportunity in '08, running 12 races for the legendary Wood Brothers in one of the most storied cars in NASCAR history. Presumably, if he does well, bigger things will come. Bill Elliott also will run some races in the No. 21, as will Jon Wood. While Ambrose can be ignored for fantasy much of the season, pat attention to him at the road events.

49. Bill Elliott, 21, Wood Brothers/JTG Racing, Ford.
Awesome Bill from Dawsonville is five years removed from his most recent full-time Cup ride, but his 20 races in 2007 were his most since '03. The Wood Brothers asked Elliott to replace Ken Schrader in the No. 21 in the Coke 600, after they dropped out of the top 35 in owner points and needed Elliott's past champion provisionals and qualifying chops just to make races. And indeed, Elliott made a lot of races. He just didn't stay on the lead lap very often: he only ran the full race in four of his 20 outings. The lesson? Bill Elliott could probably qualify your family station wagon in a Sprint Cup event, but even one of the sport's greatest drivers ever (Elliott won 44 career races and the 1988 points title) is relatively helpless on race day with inferior equipment. The Wood Brothers have announced Elliott will run 17 races for them in '08, and those provisionals will come in handy for the No. 21 over the course of the season. Just don't expect him to provide any fantasy bang.

50. Dale Jarrett, 44, Michael Waltrip Racing, Toyota.
DJ's biggest productivity in 2007 came in the broadcast booth. He's a really good announcer. Unfortunately, on the track, the Michael Waltrip Racing fiasco ensnared Jarrett, the 1999 Cup champion, and he never managed any finish better than 17th all season (and produced an ultra-bad 32.3 finishing average). After quickly using up his past champion provisionals, Jarrett did manage to qualify for 13 of 19 events, but his race-day efforts often seemed desultory, and he finished on the lead lap in just six of the 24 races he entered. Jarrett probably would've simply preferred to retire, but he agreed to run in 2008's first five events, using his provisionals again, to try and get the No. 44 into the top 35 in owner points. At that point, he'll likely relinquish the keys (or, I suppose, start button) to the UPS ride to David Reutimann. You'll see Jarrett behind the wheel of the No. 44 one last time, in the All-Star Race, but after that you'll have to watch him on telecasts to catch a glimpse of him.