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MOORESVILLE — Grease, grime and gunk stain crew chief Richard Labbe's navy sweatshirt. He lies on the race shop's floor and works under the car. Moments later, he coils his body and slithers through the left front wheel opening into the engine compartment.

This is not typical crew chief work. Many sit in an office studying notes, talking with engineers and pondering setups. Few work on cars anymore, at least on big teams.

TRG Motorsports, which runs David Gilliland, is not such an organization. The two-month-old team barely has enough employees to field a rec-league basketball squad. Car owner Kevin Buckler says it won't survive without additional sponsorship.

Yet this team — which ran three consecutive races with the same car, something no high-dollar team would do — climbed into the top 35 in car owner points and is guaranteed a starting spot for Sunday's race at Martinsville Speedway. Their performance kept better-funded cars from Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, Red Bull Racing and Yates Racing from enjoying such security this weekend.

No other low-budget team has accomplished as much this season as TRG.

"That Cinderella torch has fallen right here," Buckler says. "I'll be honored to carry it as long as my legs hold out."

Six weeks ago, the little team was celebrating at the Daytona 500: Tommy Baldwin Racing with driver Scott Riggs, Mayfield Motorsports with Jeremy Mayfield and Prism Motorsports with Terry Labonte made the race.

None has fared well since. Riggs and Mayfield have failed to make the last three races. Dave Blaney took over for Labonte after Daytona, but has not finished better than 41st in three starts.

That leaves Buckler's team, which didn't begin operations until January and begin planning a couple of months earlier. As the economy nose-dived and Cup teams merged last fall, some questioned if there would be enough teams left to fill a 43-car field.

Buckler, who owns cars in the Grand Am series and a truck team, e-mailed friends, saying this was the time to enter Cup. A man who has gone hang-gliding, raced and performed acrobatic skiing was ready for his next thrill. He asked his friends two questions. Am I crazy? Are you with me financially?

They replied yes to both.

Buckler had his Cup team.

He has won as a driver at LeMans, but such success matters little in NASCAR. His team failed to make the Daytona 500. Changes followed. The team hired Labbe, the winning crew chief in the 2003 Daytona 500 with Michael Waltrip. Then came Gilliland, who admitted he questioned joining the team at first. A few days later, they were at California trying to make the race and save a team.

"We had our head on the chopping block," Buckler says.

Gilliland qualified. That presented another problem: Labbe had to hire a pit crew.

The following week, Gilliland finished a season-best 14th at Las Vegas. Then it was on to Atlanta with the same car. The team had a backup in its hauler, but it was the Daytona car and it hadn't been converted for the other tracks.

In truth, there was no backup. Gilliland had to measure every move as he circled tracks at more than 185 mph. One mistake could lead to a crash and the team could be in jeopardy.

"It wears you out by the end of the race," he says.

Bristol is proving as nerve-racking, even though the team now has four cars in its stable. Staying in the top 35 in car owner points would get the team into this weekend's race. Gilliland qualified 14th and ran in the top 15 for most of the first 100 laps, making it look as if he would easily remain in the top 35 in car owner points.

A bad pit stop on lap 125 changed everything. Gilliland lost about 20 spots. He later suffered two flat tires and had to make green-flag pit stops, losing laps each time.

"We worked so hard and it all comes down to a (slow) pit stop and a couple of flat tires," he said.

The car finished in the top 35 but only by a few points. Gilliland's 36th-place finish was good enough to protect him this week.

"I'm telling you, if Rick Hendrick or Jack Roush or anybody came over here and saw us working out of a little corner of a shop ... they would be surprised we're getting as good of results as we are," he said.

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dustin.long@news-record.com