With teams cutting back and sponsorship dollars harder and harder to come by, many in the NASCAR community believed the top-35 would be a non-issue during the 2009 season. Many questioned whether or not there would be full fields each week and few thought those fighting to stay in the top-35 would include some of the sport's biggest names.

Thought to be a serious threat heading into the 2009 season, Mark Martin has gone from a championship contender to being on the bubble. High hopes of a season racing at the front of the field and contending for wins have been replaced by the grim reality that if the No. 5 team struggles continue in Bristol, Martin will be forced to make the show on time in Martinsville.

While he has had strong cars week-in and week-out, Martin and his Alan Gustafson-led crew have struggled to find the luck needed to produce results. After starting second in the Daytona 500, Martin was able to salvage a 16th-place finish. However, the next two weeks dropped the veteran driver steadily down the standings thanks to back-to-back 40th-place finishes. Two engine failures and an incident this weekend in Atlanta have put this team in a spot few foresaw heading into the season.

"Now you can always find a silver lining if you look hard enough and I am getting pretty good at that," Martin said after winning the pole in Atlanta. "The silver lining is we had fast race car at Daytona and a top-10 car at California and a top-five car in Vegas in the race. I think that all of guys kept their chins up because of that."

This team will have to do more than keep their chins up over the next couple of weeks. Next weekend's race at the Bristol Motor Speedway will be the final time NASCAR will qualifying according to the 2008 owner points. Following the Sharpie 500 next Sunday, NASCAR will make the switch to the '09 owner standings in order to determine which teams are locked in the show and which are required to qualify on time.

Joining Martin in the danger zone is David Gilliland (34th), rookie Joey Logano (33rd), former Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman (32nd), Sam Hornish Jr. (31st) and John Andretti (30th).  All currently in the top-35, these teams are separated by only fifty points headed to Bristol, where anything can happen.

On the other side of the coin, there are four full-time organizations currently on the outside looking in. With only one more race to get themselves back in the top-35, Bristol is a pivotal race for drivers like Aric Almirola (36th), Scott Speed (37th), Paul Menard (38th) and Travis Kvapil (39th).

With so much at stake for all of these teams, the race at Bristol will be a matter of survival. The high-banked, high-speed short track in the mountains along the Tennessee-Virginia border has been known to tear up race cars and these teams are hoping they can simply make it to the end in one piece and come out of the weekend locked into the top-35.