Hornish facing uphill battle for top 35

With a guaranteed spot at Martinsville Speedway just beyond him, the last thing Sam Hornish Jr. needed was to tangle with Bristol Motor Speedway.

Hornish spun out twice yesterday during his first, and so far, only, practice on the .533-mile oval. The second time, he backed softly into the interior wall.

"Everybody has told me there's nowhere you can go to practice and prepare for Bristol, and there really isn't," Hornish said after practice ended early because of rain. "Obviously, we had a couple of problems early on. Just learning where the braking points are, what the track likes and what it doesn't like and how to kind of get around it."

Hornish started this season with a guaranteed slot in the first five races, thanks to teammate Kurt Busch giving Hornish his 2007 points. Busch was assured a spot due to the past champion's provisional, so it was no loss to him.

But now, Hornish is close to missing out on the opportunity to assure himself a top-35 spot. Hornish is 36th in the owner points, 18 points behind J.J. Yeley. Busch, a five-time winner at Bristol, said he'll do all he can to help Hornish gain a level of comfort on the always-tough track.

"Attrition might help him if he just stays out of trouble," Busch said. "Attrition could add up and he could end up with a 25th-place finish. That's what we're hoping for, and that should put him in the top-35."

Rain cancels qualifying, ends first day early

Sprint Cup practice was supposed to go until 1:30 p.m., but the cars came off the track before 1. They wouldn't return, and Nationwide cars never made it out, as rains came and erased action at Bristol.

The starting field was set by 2007 owner points, meaning Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon will share the front row. Missing the race were Jeff Green, John Andretti and Patrick Carpentier.

Yates Racing tries a new sponsor tack

Yates Racing doesn't have a full-season primary sponsor for either of its two cars, so it's taking a different look at selling that this weekend.

Travis Kvapil's No. 28 Ford is running with "11 million" on the hood, the average number of viewers for the season's first four races.

"They're watching the 28 car go around without a primary sponsor on it, so I guess what we're trying to show is there's an opportunity," Kvapil said yesterday. -- Jill Erwin