Qualifying day is always a stressful day for drivers, but for those teams outside the top-35 in Owner Points, it’s more like the day from hell. This weekend at Martinsville Speedway, NASCAR will use the 2008 Owner Points standings for the first time this year. Those teams outside the top-35 in points will be forced to qualifying for Sunday’s Goody’s Cool Orange 500 on speed, or go home early.

Open-wheel driver Sam Hornish Jr. currently holds the 35th spot in points for owner Roger Penske. Hornish is locked into the field for Sunday’s event and can breathe a sigh of relief – for now that is. Behind Hornish in 36th position is Roush Fenway Racing’s Jamie McMurray.

Perhaps one of the biggest surprises of 2008, last year’s Pepsi 400 winner at Daytona International Speedway has struggled throughout the year and currently finds himself in an unfamiliar predicament. While he has been running at the end of each race, McMurray has hit a string of bad luck. The Missouri-native has no DNF’s but his best finish thus far in 2008 is a 22nd at the Auto Club Speedway.

"There are a lot of expectations for myself and the No. 26 IRWIN Industrial Tools team heading into Martinsville this weekend,” McMurray explained. “We know we are outside the top 35 and right now, the only goal we have is to get ourselves back into the top 35. We’ve had a really rough start to the season, and honestly, it’s hard to pinpoint one exact reason – we’ve just had a lot of bad luck. We’ve spent a lot of time over the last week and a half looking at what we need to do avoid the bad luck that has followed us around since the start of the season.”

Dave Blaney follows McMurray in 37th place in his Bill Davis Racing Toyota. One of the strongest Toyota teams in 2007, Blaney and his No. 22 Caterpillar crew have struggled to put together good runs throughout the first five races. A DNF at Daytona started the team off on the wrong foot and Blaney has yet to finish higher than 24th.

Also on the outside looking in is another of the world’s best open-wheel drivers, Dario Franchitti. Making the transition to stock cars has been a bit of a challenge for the Scottish driver who has only been able to salvage a best finish of 32nd at the Auto Club Speedway.

For these drivers, and others – Kyle Petty, Regan Smith, Joe Nemechek and Patrick Carpentier to name a few – qualifying on Friday afternoon is their race. Working at the shop all week and practice on the track is focused on making the show, then concentrating on the race.

Qualifying for Sunday’s Goody’s Cool Orange 500 is set to begin 3:40 p.m. ET and can be seen on Speed.