Roush Fenway shaping up as the group to beat
By Rea White - Associate Editor
Monday, March 03, 2008
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David Griffin / NASCAR Scene
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Carl Edwards thinks Bob Osborne is an exceptionally intelligent crew chief. Osborne believes that Edwards can drive through any situation and become a contender in a race.
Team owner Jack Roush may have another perfect partnership at Roush Fenway Racing with the relationship that has developed over the years between the pair. Add with that the move of Robbie Reiser from a crew chief to general manager of the organization’s Cup program, additional input from Ford Motor Co. and a heightened focus on developing NASCAR’s new Sprint Cup car and Roush has put together a formidable group.
Through the season's first three races at least, the entire organization is showing strength reminiscent of 2005, when it put five drivers in the championship chase.
The group’s intermediate track program appears stout. Things are going so well that the drivers are showing great excitement over their cars, even when they don’t win.
Roush has two drivers in the top six in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings after three races, Edwards and Greg Biffle. Matt Kenseth has also run well but hasn’t fared well in terms of finishing, dropping him to 16th. David Ragan is 19th in the standings, and Jamie McMurray is 26th.
At the top, though, has been Edwards. He’s won two consecutive races and heads to yet another intermediate track – the 1.5-mile Atlanta Motor Speedway – on a hot streak. He currently holds a 21-point lead over Kyle Busch in the standings, though his team could be penalized for an unattached oil tank cover discovered in postrace inspection Sunday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Immediately after his latest win, Edwards gushed about how great it is to be working with Osborne, the crew chief who took him to a third-place finish in the standings in 2005.
“I’m starting to agree with Jack,” he said of his team owner. “He told me this week he’s going to start making Bob wear a helmet, and I asked him why and he said, ‘Because the stuff that’s going on between his ears is really important and we need to protect it.’ Bob’s a smart guy, and I’m just proud to be driving this race car.”
While the two have made it look easy getting to the front, it was anything but in Sunday’s race. First Edwards got a speeding penalty on pit road and had to start at the tail end of the longest line. Then a tire rolled out of the stall, and NASCAR was going to penalize the team again until it became clear it wasn't the team's fault that it got away. The team also underwent a mid-race crew change in its effort to get a more experienced crew member in the lineup late in the race.
Osborne stayed calm while arguing the call, knowing that his team could win the race if they didn’t have to forfeit the positions.
“The crew member that was supposed to catch it right away ran up to the box and said what happened, so I jumped down and spoke with the official about it,” Osborne said. “In that situation, when you think you didn’t actually break a rule, you have to try to keep a level head, so I did my best to do that. I wanted to go ballistic, for sure, and yell and scream and take a punch and do whatever I had to do to get my way, but I kept a level head the best I could, and the officials were very good in the situation also.”
A review of the film showed the team was not at fault, and Edwards was not penalized.
He went on to win and grab the points lead for the first time in this young season.
Roush said it would be easy to read too much into that points lead, though.
He says that the team probably isn’t as good as people are now going to say it is, just as he never felt it was as bad as people thought it was early last season.
Roush will not dispute, however, that things are going right at this point in the season.
Neither does Edwards.
He feels optimistic about the advancements the group has made.
“The hard work that Bob has put in and everything that Jack has put into it … the idea that I think we are close to the form that we were in 2005, where it just seemed like a Roush Fenway car would win every week, that’s what I’m really excited about,” he said.
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Carl Edwards
Comments
2 responses to "Roush Fenway shaping up as the group to beat"
Joe Shafer said:
Mar 3, 2008 at 1:48 PMThe tire that got away was in part due to the cameraperson, however it looked like the tire carrier rolled the tire to the catch man. I thought NASCAR had a new rule in place this year that the tire was either laied down or in posession of crew member. If that is the case, looks like that part of the stop should have been a penalty.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportJoe Shafer said:
Mar 17, 2008 at 7:14 PMThe tire that got away was in part due to the cameraperson, however it looked like the tire carrier rolled the tire to the catch man. I thought NASCAR had a new rule in place this year that the tire was either laied down or in posession of crew member. If that is the case, looks like that part of the stop should have been a penalty.
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse Report