The latest crop of NASCAR Sprint Cup rookies is collectively in need of a big day heading into Sunday’s race at Bristol.

None of the four drivers in the competition for Raybestos Rookie of the Year is currently in the top 35 in owners points, with just one more race to get there or face another hurdle.

Under current NASCAR rules, cars in the top 35 are guaranteed a starting spot each week, while everyone else has to attempt to qualify on time for the few remaining starting positions.

The first five races each season use the previous year’s final top 35, but the race this weekend is race No. 5 for 2008, and that puts rookie leader Sam Hornish Jr. (36th), Dario Franchitti (38th), Regan Smith (39th) and Patrick Carpentier (46th) all in danger of being “go or go-home” guys when the Cup series reaches Martinsville after next week’s Easter break.

Franchitti began the season with the top 35 points accumulated last year by David Stremme at Chip Ganassi Racing, while fellow open-wheel star Hornish was the beneficiary of Penske Racing teammate Kurt Busch giving up his top 35 points, with NASCAR’s permission. Busch was still guaranteed to start each of the first five races, thanks to his status as the most recent former series champion not in the top 35.

Smith, now driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc., was inside the top 35 at the end of last season, thanks to sharing a ride with Mark Martin at Ginn Racing, which was merged into DEI late last year.

Carpentier, farthest from becoming a guaranteed qualifier, has already had a good taste of having to make it on speed.

He made all three races in a brief trial with his current Gillett Evernham Motorsports team late last year, but has not been as fortunate so far this year. His cause was set back when he failed to make the field for the season-opening Daytona 500 and again when qualifying at California was rained out and he was not in the lineup.

“It seems like we’re not too bad, so far qualifying,” said Carpentier, who has qualified easily for the last two races. “So, hopefully, we’ll get to make the next races and keep learning.”

Franchitti, who leads Hornish by two points and Smith by three in the rookie standings, isn’t thrilled with the idea of having to qualify, but is ready to deal with it, if necessary, as part of the learning curve.

“Ah, it is what it is,” the Scot said. “If we end up out of it, we’ll work our way back in. Nothing else we can do.”

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GETTING TOGETHER: Conquest Racing, one of the teams moving from the defunct Champ Car series to the IRL’s IndyCar Series, has signed a technical partnership with Forsythe Performance Research, one of open-wheel racing’s top organizations.

The alliance will provide the team with technical and engineering resources for the 2008 season.

“We are working very hard on our transition from Champ Car to the IndyCar Series and we are excited about this partnership with Forsythe Performance Research,” said Eric Bachelart, owner of Conquest Racing. “Their knowledge and experience will accelerate our efforts of becoming a front-running team in the IndyCar Series.”

Forsythe Performance Research was a subsidiary of Forsythe Championship Racing, both owned by former Champ Car co-owner Gerald Forsythe. After the unification of the two open-wheel series was announced two weeks ago, Forsythe said his race team would not make the switch to the IRL in favor of concentrating on the developmental Atlantis Series of which he is co-owner.

Conquest will field a Dallara Honda in the IndyCar Series for rookie Franck Perera from France and an as-yet unnamed second driver, beginning with the March 29 season-opener at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

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GATOR WINS: Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher has been to victory lane 42 times in his career, but he says only a handful of those wins carry special meaning for the NHRA Top Fuel star.

“There’s no question that my two wins at the Gatornationals (in 2004 and 2007) are among a small group that stands out from all the rest,” the defending series champion said. “We have some prestigious races that dot the schedule every year but, clearly, the Gatornationals is one of those big-time events that you want to capture at some point or another.”

Schumacher will try to make it three victories this weekend at Gainesville Raceway. The only four-time winner at the Florida track is retired Joe Amato.

“History aside, we just want to go down to Gainesville and run well,” said Schumacher, who already has one win this season and leads Larry Dixon by one point in the Top Fuel standings. “We’re off to a nice start this season, so we’d like to keep moving in the right direction.”

Besides being a two-time Gatornationals winner, Schumacher holds the track record for speed, with a run of 333.95 mph in 2005.

AP-ES-03-12-08 1052EDT