Roush Fenway Racing working diligently this offseason to improve results for 2010 Cup season

After a 2009 season in which the organization snared only three wins and put just two drivers in NASCAR's Chase For The Sprint Cup, everyone at Roush Fenway Racing agrees that things need to improve a little for the 2010 season.
 
While some organizations would be pleased with those numbers, they're obviously not what this group is accustomed to. And everyone involved with the teams of Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards and David Ragan is working to make sure that the 2010 season nets better overall results.
 
It should be noted that Roush Fenway did win the Daytona 500 with Kenseth in 2009 and that both Edwards and Biffle did make the Chase, with Biffle finishing seventh and Edwards 11th in the standings.
 
But that's not enough to satisfy the organization, so they're working diligently for improved results in 2010.
 
The group has shifted from five teams - Jamie McMurray also competed for Roush Fenway in 2009 - to four to meet the requirements of NASCAR's ownership cap and has shifted some personnel around as part of both that transition and an effort to improve.
 
Long-time crew chief Jimmy Fennig has moved to a role with the research and development team. Donnie Wingo, formerly the crew chief for McMurray, will help Ragan's team. That group has undergone a series of changes in personnel, from engineers to the pit crew as it tries to return to the form of 2008, where it finished 13th in the standings, after a 2009 season in which it fell to 27th.
 
Others have undergone changes as well, though all the other crew chiefs remain in their positions. But pit crews and others are moving around within the organization in an effort to strengthen all four teams.
 
General manager Robbie Reiser says it is all part of trying to build the organization back to top form.
 
"We made quite a few changes over the four, then we've done a lot of restructuring internally to get our performances back where we can win races and win championships," he says.
 
"I think we've got a direction to work in. We just got so far behind in a lot of different areas in some ways we've had to go back and start over and try to get this thing pointed in the right direction. We went back and restructured our engineering department. It's gotten so large over the years … so we went back and did some work there."
 
Edwards, as he assesses his season, says it's just small changes that need to be made to help the team gain that needed edge.
 
That appears to be the philosophy within the organization. There's been no major realignment of Cup crew chiefs or anything of that nature. Instead, there seems to be an overall study of the entire organization and a fine-tuning of the one-team approach that has worked well for Roush Fenway in the past.
 
The group appears to be heading for a more efficient approach to the season - and is clearly committed to improving as much and as quickly as possible.
 
And they plan to do so together.
 
"We don’t need to point fingers and change things around – do wholesale changes," Edwards says. "It’s so competitive right now.  I finished 11th in points. I think if things would have been a little different on pit road and we had some little bit different luck on the race track, we could have finished sixth or seventh. That’s not too far from being a contender for the championship, so we’re working on a lot of little things to try and make us a little faster.  The thing I’m most proud of is that [crew chief] Bob [Osborne[ and I aren’t yelling at each other. [Team co-owner] Jack [Roush is] not freaking out. … I think as long as we keep everything pointed in the right direction, we’ll be all right.”
 
Wingo, shifting to a new team, says that the organization's program for intermediate tracks is better than it's program for short tracks and that the team is working to improve that.
 
He says that it is both an issue with the cars and the setup.
 
"It’s a combination of all," he said. "It’s one of those deals, when you get a little bit behind, sometimes you panic and try to do too much. We just need to concentrate on certain areas and try to improve those areas and just kind of grow from that."
 
Everyone agrees it is not time to panic.
 
The organization plans to test more in the offseason, at places where testing is allowed, and to look over simulation notes as well.
 
The organization certainly knows how to turn the tide. In 2004, though it won more races, Roush Fenway had only two drivers in the top 12 in the standings. In 2005, all five Roush drivers were in contention for the title, with Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards and Mark Martin all finishing in the top four in the standings.
 
Can they turn the tide in time for the 2010 season?
 
Certainly.
 
"It's amazing, when the place is so big and it's got some issues, you get to the end of the season and you move the people around and you put them in place and everybody you sit down with everybody and give them what you're looking for and all the sudden it starts to run," Reiser said last week. "I don't know how long it will take, but it seems to be taking shape here in the last week already."
 
As to the goals for 2010, those don't seem to have been impacted at all by the 2009 season.
 
Reiser says the goals for next season on the "only goals that you can have.
 
"Win every race and win the championship. That's basically what you're going to when you have drivers like Carl and Matt and Greg and even David looking for his first win. We have guys that are more than capable of winning championships so that's what you go after."

Bob Pockrass contributed to this story