43rd is worth 34 points. Owners are awarded points in the same manner, PLUS they get points for attempting a race, where as drivers do not. All teams who pass inspection and fail to make the race get owner points that descend in the order of quickest non-qualifier to the slowest. So if a team misses the race but was the fastest non qualifier the owners would get 31 points and an other drivers would follow the 3 point drop scale, down to a minimum of 1 point. You need to build up a 'resume' for a team to even look at you.
Connections are good to have.
Jayski can't really do anything for you as I have not seen you work or really know how you work. To contact the shops, I have Team Addresses for the Cup and BGN teams with addresses and phone numbers. An oval tracks under a mile in length is considered a short track. Of course Sears Point and Watkins Glen are road courses. I have a page devoted to just that, explaining all the rules and showing how many provisonals each team has left, what tracks and races they have been used at, where the provisional starters finished and a DNQ page.