Roush negotiating driver contracts, doesn't expect changes for 2009
By SceneDaily Staff
Friday, April 25, 2008
Nick Laham / Getty Images
Jack Roush watches a practice session earlier this season.
TALLADEGA, Ala. – Roush Fenway Racing co-owner Jack Roush is working on contracts for two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers and seeking sponsorship for another one of his Cup teams.
Roush is in the process of contract negotiations with Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle, both of whom are in the final season of their deals with the organization.
Edwards is a hot commodity this season, winning three of the series' opening seven races, while Biffle is also off to a strong start and has been as high as second in the standings.
Roush says that he doesn’t expect any changes to his five-driver lineup for 2009 (Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray and David Ragan also drive for the team), though he does have to drop to four teams in 2010 to meet a NASCAR-mandated limit. Right now, his group is working on the Edwards and Biffle extensions.
“We are in negotiations with both, and we have every expectation that there’ll be a successful resolution to the discussions,” Roush said Friday at Talladega Superspeedway. “The guys don’t let me do the money, so I’m not involved in the negotiations, the minutiae to work their way through it, but everything is going along as we had hoped, and I have every expectation that there will be a successful conclusion to those negotiations.”
He knows that his drivers are potentially being courted by other owners. Roush, though, says that’s another sign of how the sport is changing. There was a time when drivers seldom reached the fourth and final year of a contract, instead signing a new contract in the third season and moving forward from there.
Whether it’s due to the nature of sponsor relations or other issues, that no longer appears to be the norm in NASCAR.
“In today’s world, it seems like these relationships within teams and drivers go to their end of term, and then there’s a period of time – it’s a happy or an unhappy period of time – when there’s a free-agent kind of atmosphere about things, and we’re into that right now with Greg and we’re into that right now with Carl," Roush said. "But my indication of where the discussions are is that everything is on track, and we don’t see any reason why we can’t put them together and move forward.
“In both of the cases ... we’ve got championship prospects in front of us for 2008, and everybody involved is anxious not to have the teams upset and not have the relationship between driver and anybody on the team upset to the point that we can’t make the best opportunity, make the best effort, to get the results that we’re looking for, which is to qualify for the Chase and go out and have the technology and have the momentum to be able to race for a championship in the fall.”
As to the potential for being in the running for Tony Stewart, who has a contract with Joe Gibbs Racing through 2009 but is being widely courted in the NASCAR garage, Roush said that as a Ford man he’d support any pursuit of the driver by the manufacturer. He also had a potential scenario for Stewart.
"Maybe you haven’t had the news, but I’m required soon to go from five teams to four teams,” Roush said with a chuckle. “He could actually own Roush Fenway if he collected his thoughts and his revenue.”
Roush also addressed McMurray’s struggles this season by saying that he is simply having trouble adjusting to NASCAR’s new car and the handling issue drivers face with it. He tested at Nashville Superspeedway with Edwards – with both drivers getting into the same car – in an effort to understand the problem, and Roush said he is pleased with the driver’s effort.
“I predicted initially that there would be winners and losers with the car of tomorrow, and Jamie has struggled mightily with the loose characteristic of the car,” Roush said. “… Jamie has done everything that he knows he can do and everything I would expect him to do to get himself to a point where he can be as effective as say Carl is and Greg is and Matt is, and that hasn’t happened yet.
"We do have a long-term relationship commitment with Jamie that we intend to honor, and we have one with the sponsor as well. Although there’s a certain amount of angst and unhappiness about the fact that we’re not able to do what we want to do right now, I have every hope and expectation that we will and then it’s going to be fine.”
As to the No. 6 team, Roush and his group are continuing to seek a sponsor to replace AAA, which is leaving at the end of the season. He said that the team is focused on trying to win races and perform well with the company while also finding someone to replace the sponsor to keep the group going.
“We’re very confident that we’ll have a sponsor to follow AAA that will do a nice job with the 6 car going forward,” he said.
