[Motorsports One]

Here's the entry list for the Sprint Cup Series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Entry list for Ford 400 - Motorsports One

[Bob Tanner]

Hmmm...? Three go home.

MY bet is McCumbee, Raines and Papis.

[Racer Duck]

I must be doing something wrong: it says "These teams have to earn one of the 8 non-guaranteed starting positions" then lists 7 teams. seems pretty likely those 7 teams have a pretty good chance of getting one of the 8 spots left. what am I missing?

[Motorsports One]

Originally Posted by Racer Duck

I must be doing something wrong: it says "These teams have to earn one of the 8 non-guaranteed starting positions" then lists 7 teams. seems pretty likely those 7 teams have a pretty good chance of getting one of the 8 spots left. what am I missing?

There are 8 non-guaranteed starting positions, but the reason there are only 7 listed underneath that line is because of Bill Elliott's champion's provisional. I could have listed Elliott in that section, but I thought it would be better to list the past champions in a section of their own just above that.

In the event that qualifying is rained out, all past champions get in the field by the provisions of the rule book, so I thought it would be easier to understand by giving them a section of their own. Earlier in the year, as many as 3 past champions were listed in that section (Labonte and Jarrett).

About the likeliness of these teams getting the 8 spots, that's not necessarily true. In recent races, Brad Keselowski and Sterling Marlin have taken spots away from some of those teams. The reason their teams are listed in the bottom section of the list is, again, to point out who gets in and who goes home in the event of a rain-out.

[Motorsports One]

Originally Posted by Racer Duck

I must be doing something wrong: it says "These teams have to earn one of the 8 non-guaranteed starting positions" then lists 7 teams. seems pretty likely those 7 teams have a pretty good chance of getting one of the 8 spots left. what am I missing?

Looked at it again to see if my explanations were over-simplified. Here's what they mean.

The champions section: these past champions have to earn one of the non-guaranteed positions, but only the most recent champion can use the champion's provisional if more than one doesn't qualify on time. In case qualifying is rained out, all past champions make the field by the provisions of the rule book.

The "attempts" section: these teams have to earn one of the non-guaranteed positions. In case of rain, the following teams will make the field, either by virtue of past owner wins (in this case, the #77 team because of the owner points swap with the #2 team) or driver wins or by virtue of having made the most qualifying attempts.

The DNQ section: these teams have to earn one of the non-guaranteed positions. In case of rain, these teams will not make the field because they haven't made enough qualifying attempts in the season.

[Racer Duck]

Thanks Martin. You do a superb job and I, personally, really appreciate what you do. (I should probably say that more...)

I knew what you were doing, but it still struck me as "odd" when there were 7 to make 8.

And you know how I am about "odd" things...