Darren Hauck / AP

David Stremme was considered one of NASCAR's rising talents when he made the jump to Sprint Cup full-time in 2006. But he found himself out of a job late last season when team owner Chip Ganassi hired Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti.

"But I still feel like we can beat them," Stremme said.

Perhaps. But before they can start thinking about checkered flags and championships, Wallace and Stremme must work through a snag: They don't have enough sponsorship to run a second car in every race for the rest of the season.

"We're working like hell trying to fill more races," Wallace said.

Stremme wants to do anything he can to help Wallace find sponsorship and his son become more consistent on the track, and in that way repay Wallace for his career advice.

"It's not just about race cars," Stremme said. "I'm able to talk to him about a lot of things I'm going through in my career, and he's been able to help quite a bit on that, too."

And despite last year's setbacks, Stremme believes he can win in Cup.

"I think I can still showcase a lot more of what I'm able to do," Stremme said. "I'm able to do that a lot here with Rusty's team. Each week, like I said, we go into it and people know we're a contender, and I feel good about it."