ESPN Sprint Cup

Updated: February 8, 2009, 5:31 PM ET

Musical chairs, NASCAR-style

We've previewed the big four (the super five if you count Stewart-Haas Racing). What about the Cup teams not called Hendrick, Roush, Gibbs or Childress?

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By David Newton
ESPN.com
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Team Rosters

Outside NASCAR's five power teams are ones that hope to, or in some cases, expect to compete strongly in 2009. Others will be trying to get their feet under them:

EARNHARDT GANASSI RACING

Aric Almirola

Car No.: 8
Crew chief: Doug Randolph
2008 finish: 42nd
2009 outlook: Gets a chance to stand on his own after splitting last season with Mark Martin. Showed some promise with an eighth at Bristol. Should contend for a top-35 spot.

Juan Pablo Montoya

Car No.: 42
Crew chief: Brian Pattie
2008 finish: 25th
2009 outlook: Might be make-or-break time for the former Formula One driver. He should have better equipment, which could translate into a top-15 performance if he can become more consistent.

Martin Truex Jr.

Car No.: 1
Crew chief: Kevin Manion
2008 finish: 15th
2009 outlook: Was in position to make the Chase a year ago until a 150-point fine. Should be a Chase contender as he drives for a future contract.

MAYFIELD MOTORSPORTS

Jeremy Mayfield

Car No.: 41
Crew chief: Tony Furr
2008 finish: 50th
2009 outlook: He has a sponsor, a car and a solid past. It will be an uphill climb, though.

MICHAEL WALTRIP RACING

Marcos Ambrose

Car No.: 47
Crew chief: Frank Kerr
2008 finish: 45th
2009 outlook: Racing as a Waltrip team member after the merger with JTG-Daugherty, we know Ambrose can compete with the best of them on a road course. How well he does on ovals will determine if he can become a top-35 driver in his first full season.

David Reutimann

Car No.: 00
Crew chief: Rodney Childers
2008 finish: 22nd
2009 outlook: Has shown tremendous promise with an organization that has struggled for consistency. If there's an improvement in equipment he easily could be a top-20 driver.

Michael Waltrip

Car No.: 55
Crew chief: Robert "Bootie'' Barker
2008 finish: 29th
2009 outlook: Says he will retire if he doesn't show the ability to win races and improve. At least he's honest enough to admit he's at the end of his career.

PENSKE CHAMPIONSHIP RACING

Kurt Busch

Car No.: 2
Crew chief: Pat Tryson
2008 finish: 18th
2009 outlook: He hasn't forgotten how to drive since he won the 2004 Cup championship. He's just not had the horsepower to compete with the top guys.

Sam Hornish Jr.

Car No.: 77
Crew chief: Travis Geisler
2008 finish: 35th
2009 outlook: He showed a brief moment of potential at the Sprint All-Star race, but otherwise is still making the transition from the IndyCar Series. Must show marked improvement for a top sponsor (Mobile 1) to survive.

David Stremme

Car No.: 12
Crew chief: Roy McCauley
2008 finish: 66th
2009 outlook: He spent most of last season as a test driver for Penske, so he should know the new car better than most. If he can match his last season (24th in 2007) at Ganassi Racing, he'll do well.

RED BULL RACING

Scott Speed

Car No.: 82
Crew chief: Jimmy Elledge
2008 finish: 55th
2009 outlook: The organization was high enough on him to put him into this seat over AJ Allmendinger. He's done well in lower series, but expecting him to do much more than contend for the top 35 this year is unrealistic.

Brian Vickers

Car No.: 83
Crew chief: Ryan Pemberton
2008 finish: 19th
2009 outlook: He's considered a dark horse by many to make the Chase this year, and with good reason. He was in contention for a couple of wins last year and showed the consistency to hang around the top 12.

RICHARD PETTY MOTORSPORTS

AJ Allmendinger

Car No.: 44
Crew chief: Sammy Johns
2008 finish: 36th
2009 outlook: Lots of people believe he has loads of potential, but none could put him into a full-time ride. Finished 2008 on the upswing and needs to start this season on one to keep that car on the track.

Kasey Kahne

Car No.: 9
Crew chief: Kenny Francis
2008 finish: 14th
2009 outlook: Was one of the hottest drivers on the circuit in late May and early June. He needs to find the consistency that led to six wins and 19 top-10s in 2006.

Elliott Sadler

Car No.: 19
Crew chief: Kevin Buskirk
2008 finish: 24th
2009 outlook: He had one foot out the door before the threat of a lawsuit kept Allmendinger from replacing him. He'll be driving to save his job in 2010, so look for a return to the top 20.

Reed Sorenson

Car No.: 43
Crew chief: Mike Shiplett
2008 finish: 32nd
2009 outlook: Was fifth in last year's Daytona 500, but did little else noteworthy at Ganassi Racing after that. Not exactly a name you expect to return the famous 43 to Victory Lane.

ROBBY GORDON MOTORSPORTS

Robby Gordon

Car No.: 7
Crew chief: Kirk Almquist
2008 finish: 33rd
2009 outlook: He's quietly had three straight years in the top 35 and kept sponsorships when teams with more resources couldn't. Look for him to once again contend for a spot between 25th and 35th.

WOOD BROTHERS

Bill Elliott

Car No.: 21
Crew chief: David Hyder
2008 finish: 39th
2009 outlook: The Wood Brothers did the smart thing by keeping the former Cup champion in the seat and returning to a limited schedule (12 races). They're just hoping to survive this year.

YATES RACING

Travis Kvapil

Car No.: 28
Crew chief: Ben Leslie
2008 finish: 23rd
2009 outlook: Had a great 2008 season considering his cars weren't fully sponsored. He'll have to do it again this year as most of the effort has been thrown at Labonte and Menard.

Bobby Labonte

Car No.: 96
Crew chief: Todd Parrott
2008 finish: 21st
2009 outlook: The 2000 Cup champion is excited to finally be back in good equipment after three so-so seasons at Petty Enterprises. We'll find out if that's all he needs to get back to Chase-contending form.

Paul Menard

Car No.: 98
Crew chief: Larry Carter
2008 finish: 26th
2009 outlook: Showed some promise on the superspeedways last season at DEI with a pole at the July Daytona race and a top-5 at Talladega. With a little consistency he could move close to the top 20.

CONCORD, N.C. -- Pick a number. Any number. Now pay close attention.

You may need a program this season to keep up with the Sprint Cup teams outside the big four -- Hendrick Motorsports, Roush Fenway Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing and Richard Childress Racing.

And even then it won't be easy to follow.

Let's break it down. Because of the economic downturn, there have been more mergers and start-up teams since the end of last season than the California woman who gave birth to octuplets has kids (14, if you're counting).

Chip Ganassi Racing and Dale Earnhardt Inc. are now a three- or four-car operation -- again, pick a number depending on whom you ask -- called Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates.

Petty Enterprises and Gillett Evernham Motorsports have merged into a four-car operation called Richard Petty Motorsports. Yates Racing has merged with Hall of Fame Racing to become a three-car team. Michael Waltrip Racing has merged with JTG Daugherty Racing to form a three-car team.

Haas CNC Racing has merged with Tony Stewart to become Stewart-Haas Racing.

And then there are the 15 new owners who have applied for the Cup Series, including Tommy Baldwin, Jeremy Mayfield and Joe Nemechek, to name a few.

It's easier to count the non-big four that didn't merge. Let's see, that would be Penske Championship Racing, Red Bull Racing and Robby Gordon Motorsports.

Then there are the drivers and points for all these teams. For an example of how confusing this can be, just look at Yates Racing. Paul Menard, formerly of DEI, will drive the No. 98 Yates car with the No. 28 points accumulated by Travis Kvapil in 2008.

Bobby Labonte, formerly of Petty Enterprises, will drive the No. 96 of Yates/HOF with the No. 38 points accumulated by David Gilliland.

And Kvapil will drive the 28 with no points, meaning he'll have to qualify on speed for the first five races.

Watching who will emerge, if anybody, from this eclectic group may be more exciting than the Chase. Will it be Labonte, who has the support of a championship organization -- Roush Fenway Racing -- for the first time since he left JGR four years ago? Will it be Martin Truex Jr., looking to return to Chase form under the EGR banner?

Maybe Reed Sorenson will take the No. 43 now of RPM back to Victory Lane for the first time since 1999.

Or maybe Jeremy Mayfield, who made the Chase in 2004 and 2005 at what was then Evernham Motorsports, can shock the world with his start-up team.

"It's going to be interesting to see the teams that recently formed who can make it work for the year," said Jeff Burton, who drives the No. 31 for Richard Childress Racing.

It's interesting because neither Burton nor anybody else knows whether it can or will happen.

"I hope they are [taking us for granted]," Truex said. "I hope we come out of the box and surprise people. We've done it in the past, and I think we can do it again. That's certainly our plan.

"How we do it is the question."

NASCAR would like to see these new teams succeed and strike more balance into a series that saw Jimmie Johnson (HMS), Carl Edwards (Roush Fenway) and Kyle Busch (JGR) win 24 of 36 races last year.

Burton isn't so sure you'll see the new or merged teams visit Victory Lane.

"I will tell you this," he said. "You will see more race winners than last year. What impact the mergers have on that I don't know. But I think you'll see more people at Roush win races, more people at Hendrick win races … more distribution within teams winning races."

The mergers appear to have strengthened EGR, RPM and Yates, organizations that weren't far from being winning teams a year ago. But, as Truex said, until these teams actually prove something, it's all talk.

"Until you do, there's no sense in worrying about it or even talking about it," he said.

The best of the rest

Stewart-Haas is the cream of the crop outside the big four. With two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart driving one car and defending Daytona 500 champion Ryan Newman the other, along with a top-notch collection of crew chiefs and other talent from top organizations, the surprise would be if they didn't win races.

EGR appears next in line. Truex made the Chase in 2007 and was on the bubble to make it again last season until a 150-point penalty from NASCAR sidetracked him. New teammate Juan Pablo Montoya definitely should benefit from Chevrolet engines that have more horsepower than the Dodge engines he drove a few months ago at Ganassi Racing.

"I think we're going to start off great, and hopefully throughout the season we get better and better, and when it comes time to get the job done, we can be a contender," Truex said.

Brian Vickers turned a lot of heads last season with his improvement from 38th in 2007 to 19th in Red Bull Racing's No. 83. Rookie teammate Scott Speed is a definite rookie of the year candidate after winning the seat of the No. 82 from AJ Allmendinger, now in the fourth car at RPM.

Penske Racing as a whole may not see a major upswing, but one has to believe 2004 Cup champion Kurt Busch will rebound from 18th in the final standings.

A lot of eyes also are on Labonte, who hasn't won a race since 2003, when he was at JGR. He is the early favorite to be the first driver from the second-year Yates program to win.

"Me and Bobby talked about it before coming down and said, 'What are your goals?'" said Labonte's crew chief, Todd Parrott. "He hadn't asked me that yet, so I said, 'To win two races and make the Chase.'

"And he said what he planned was to win one race and make the Chase, so we're on the same wavelength."

RPM will ride heavily on Kasey Kahne, looking to return to his 2006 form, when he recorded a series-high six wins. His two wins last season were the most by any driver who did not make the Chase.

"Be more consistent, not just for good finishes, but on the bad days when we miss the setup," Kahne said. "On the bad days, we need to finish in the top 25s; last year we were in the 35s and 40s. We can't have days like that."

No drivers outside the big four can afford days like that if they hope to crack into the elite.

Desperately seeking attention

Michael Waltrip Racing/JTG Daugherty and Robby Gordon are the top candidates here. Waltrip already has said that if he doesn't win or at least contend for wins, this may be his last season.

But the success of this organization rests on David Reutimann, who was 22nd in points a year ago. He finished the season with a pole at Homestead-Miami Speedway and by far has been in the class of the also-rans.

"They were doing a great job last year, but the cars are that much better this year," Reutimann said. "Workmanship on them is phenomenal and I'm really proud of the guys in the fab shop. You have the danger of losing some momentum, but we're doing our best not to let that happen."

Robby Gordon has a chance to win on any road course and has been in the top 35 the past three seasons. He's almost run the gamut on manufacturers the past three seasons, going from Ford to Dodge to Toyota.

That he'll start the season with a Dodge engine in the Budweiser Shootout and drive a Toyota engine in the Daytona 500 may be his greatest accomplishment of the year.

Game of survivor

A lot of heads turned during last month's media tour when NASCAR chairman Brian France said 15 people had applied for new Cup ownership. The more you thought about it, with the cost of starting a team cheaper than ever, the more it made sense.

Crew chief Tommy Baldwin started the parade of newcomers when he announced the formation of Tommy Baldwin Racing with Scott Riggs as the driver. Many believe he has the resources to compete for a top-35 spot.

Mayfield totally believes he can compete well enough to drive the entire season.

"We're in it for the long haul, and that's how we set up to do this thing, and Daytona will not make us or break us," Mayfield said. "If we make it, it will be like winning three or four races in a row."

Stay tuned. And remember to bring your program.

David Newton covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at dnewtonespn@aol.com.