How Car Owner Points Are Awarded
Both car owner and driver points are awarded based on the same declining scale. The winner and his car owner each get 185 points plus five bonus points for leading a lap and five more bonus points for whoever lead the most laps.
Just like the drivers, car owners also see their points manually set to 5,000 with ten races remaining if they are in the top twelve plus ten bonus points for each victory.
The driver point system is more thoroughly explained here.
Earning Points But Not Racing
One important difference between car owner points and driver points is that the driver does not earn any points if he does not qualify for the race. Car owners earn points for each race that they attempt to make even if they fail to qualify.
This explains why Michael Waltrip has fewer driver points than his wife Buffy has owner points. Although Michael has not made every race in 2007 he has attempted to qualify every week.
How Each Are Used
The most important difference is how each of the point systems are used.
The driver points are used to determine the NASCAR Sprint Cup champion. This is what most people are talking about when they think if NASCAR points.
The car owner points are used in qualifying. Car owner points determine which drivers are locked into a guaranteed qualifying spot. They are also used to assign provisional starting spots. Finally, car owner points are used to set the starting lineup in case qualifying has to be canceled.
