DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- As far as Cup Series racing goes, this weekend is put up or shut up time, at least for a week, for a good number of people.

By Sunday evening, we'll know who the 35 guaranteed starters for race No. 6 in the Cup schedule will be.

But first, let's make one thing perfectly clear. Anyone making attempts in Cup racing is racing their proverbial guts out to make something happen: Whether it's to make a race, sign sponsorship or simply to gain credibility.

And that's something that's worth a lot of credit. Shoot, good credit is probably something a lot of these guys will need in a huge supply, whether they made the first five races or not. But that's a story for another day.

Having said that, this weekend's Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway marks a critical moment in the 2009 season. Anyone who'd been "taking a free ride" based off 2008 owner points -- whether they accrued them themselves or got them through some back-room deal -- has to be in the top 35 based on 2009 merit when the series goes to Martinsville in a week-and-a-half.

Chip Ganassi, Dietrich Mateschitz and Max Jones, are you listening? But that's rude; because of course these car owners are aware.

It's a cinch that Aric Almirola, Scott Speed and Paul Menard, the drivers of cars 8, 82 and 98, respectively, are not only paying attention, but they're sitting on a chair lined with 10-penny nails, never mind pins 'n needles.

Despite having guaranteed starts for the first four races, they sit outside the top 35 in owners' points heading to Bristol, ironically in 36th, 37th and 38th, respectively.

Now, the top-35 rule has been in place for enough years that people ought to at least be used to it, though whether or not they actually like it seems to be tipped distinctly to the "negative" side.

But it doesn't need to be that way. NASCAR needs to just do away with it. Being in the race should be the right of the swiftest. Go back to a bygone era with three car owners' provisional spots, including one for a past champion, if needed.

A.J. Allmendinger and the No. 44 team thought they were part of the 2008 top 35. But when the season began they were part of the "go-or-go-home" group. With an average finish of 20th, they are locked into 20th in the standings. That's what I call damned good work.

Don't want to hear about an owner or a sponsor's commitment to anything. Everyone who enters and shows up at the race track has made a commitment, so if they're quick enough, they should get paid; and if they're not, go home and get quicker.

History is rife with tales of non-qualified sponsors' decals being affixed to quicker, unsponsored and qualified cars. If that means that sponsors might reconsider who they're affiliated with, I believe there's a process called "natural selection" or something like that, that dictates the strong survive and the weak try harder.

Obviously, the previous ending applies only to racing, and not nature.

But actually, debating the wisdom, or acceptance of NASCAR's top-35 lock-in rule that determines that many guaranteed starters at each Cup race, is a useless exercise. It ain't changing any time soon, despite what Brian France hinted at in the preseason.

But while a lot of us can dream, there are a couple shining examples of what's good about the system, at least to this point in the season -- and note, I said "the system," NOT the "locked-in top-35 system."

Start with Richard Petty Motorsports' No. 44 car, driven by A.J. Allmendinger. They began life a couple weeks before the season opened at Daytona thinking they were part of the 2008 top 35. But when the back-room dealings were done, they were part of the "go-or-go-home" group that has to qualify on speed each week.

"Go" they have, to the tune that Allmendinger has averaged a 20th-place finish and a 21st-place start, good enough to lock both he and owner George Gillett Jr. into 20th in the standings. That's what I call damned good work; and the best resulting news from that is that Allmendinger, in a guest appearance on Sunday night's Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain, said his team now has sponsorship through the Coca-Cola 600, which is a sizeable improvement from the eight-or-so races he started the season with.

An even stronger achievement's been logged by The Racers Group's No. 71 Chevrolet, driven in the three races it's made, not only this season but in the organization's entire Cup Series history, by David Gilliland.

Gilliland's not qualified as well as Allmendinger, averaging a 31st-place start, but he's only worked with the veteran crew chief Slugger Labbe since they arrived at Auto Club Speedway together. More significant is a 24th-place average finish, which in three races has elevated them into 34th in the critical owners' standings.

But they're only 95 points ahead of six other owners, so when it comes time for qualifying this Friday at Bristol, 10-penny nails doesn't quite do it justice. Red-hot carpet nails might be a worst-case; and painfully more accurate analogy.

If you're Almirola, Speed or Menard; or even worse than that, owner-drivers Joe Nemechek and Jeremy Mayfield, Scott Riggs, Todd Bodine, Sterling Marlin or Dave Blaney, who all drive for owners to varying degrees just outside the top 35 who've said they'll race the full schedule; the agony will rise to a thundering crescendo from now until about 3:40 p.m. ET on Friday when the first car rolls.

By 5 p.m., one of the biggest questions still left might be how many entries, which have dropped from a season-high 67 at Daytona to a season-low 45 for Bristol; will remain on Martinsville's list.

And everyone will just have to wonder how much the top-35 rule has to do with that.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.