1. Earnhardt Jr.
2. Kyle Busch
3. Biffle
4. Truex
5. Newman
6. Kahne

And of these 6 studs, Earnhardt, Biffle and Kyle are the only ones that we can trot out each week with confidence to start. We still have to be smart and pick and choose certain races for Kahne, Newman, and Truex, which makes the whole process even more difficult.

That leaves 18 starts from the others. The road courses should alleviate some of those starts because you should be able to pick 2 from the group of Robby Gordon, Montoya and McMurray for each road race. That knocks the number down to 14. But that is still assuming a lot. Let’s say Robby Gordon blows a motor or has to go to a backup car. Are you still going to start him if he starts the race in a backup car at the back of the pack if you have someone like Ryan Newman starting in the Top 10? I probably wouldn’t. So even though we think we can pencil in 4 B List starts from the others at the road courses, we still need to be wary that things might change.

The problem for me is that I don’t buy 9 starts out of Mark Martin. I know some people think they can get 9 out of him, and I really hope they do. I’m just not going to bank on 9 starts from Mark. If I can make it work, that’s fine. I’m just going to prepare like I won’t use him up so I don’t start forcing him into starts that I normally wouldn’t make. I honestly see myself using him about 5 times this season. So in my mind, I’m throwing him and everybody else into the “others” category.

Right now I have one start with McMurray, Montoya, Mears, and Labonte, which knocks the number down to 10 for me. Thats still 10 starts I need to get from the others and could be more if a couple of guys pick inoportune times to blow motors or wreck primary cars in practice.