Roush optimistic about championship shot with Edwards, Biffle and Kenseth in field
It's not every day that Jack Roush seems openly optimistic, but the NASCAR Sprint Cup team owner certainly is taking a positive approach to his shot at winning the 2008 title.
Three Roush Fenway Racing drivers – Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle – are competing for the championship after making the field for the Chase For The Sprint Cup. Edwards is second in the standings with six victories this season while the other two drivers do not have a win.
Still, Roush holds out hope that any of them can carry Roush Fenway Racing to the top of the standings in this final 10-race run.
"Carl has certainly been the strong horse in our group and the Ford camp in looking toward the championship, but Matt has won a championship before," Roush said. "He’s got a strong team behind him and is certainly able. Every year he has some portion of the year where he’s just spectacular, and he hasn’t really had that spectacular run so far this year. I think it’s in front of him, and I expect it in the next 10 races. Greg Biffle, of course, won a Truck championship and a Busch Grand National championship, and he’s anxious to complete the trifecta, and I’m sure he can. Our technology is great. Our testing program has been productive. We think we’re ready to close the deal.”
Roush also has two teams that are outside of the Chase field, with David Ragan making a late surge and currently sitting 14th in the standings, while Jamie McMurray is 18th.
That dynamic could actually help the organization overall, Roush believes. If all of his teams were in the hunt for the title, Roush could be chasing one championship but losing ground on the future. This way, he can balance the pursuit of one title with two teams looking ahead.
"The teams that didn’t make the Chase, if they’re spending their money and their time wisely, are preparing for 2009, and that’s what we’ll be doing with the two teams of ours that aren’t in the Chase," Roush said. "We’ll be trying to work out things and move people around for 2009, but as far as the Chase is concerned, the first year five years ago when we started the Chase format, the last race of the first 26 … was more exciting than any championship that I’ve been a part of for almost 20 years.
"So NASCAR has really got it right as far as building a crescendo toward the end of the year. We will struggle to make sure that everything we’ve learned throughout the year we bring to bear for all of our teams, and it’s really an exciting thing to feel that now there’s not just one or two or three teams that can compete for the Chase and for all the excitement and the support of the fans and sponsors, but, realistically, out of the 12, I think there are nine teams that can be a factor in this thing. I don’t have the three that won’t be, that I think can’t be. I’m not specific on who they are, but I think that we’ll have a really great competition toward a championship and a wonderful championship in 2008 with NASCAR’s oversight and what they’ve done with the sanctioning body. It’s just wonderful.”
Roush admits that his hottest team, though, is obviously the No. 99 with Edwards and crew chief Bob Osborne. The team started the season well, then settled into a pace that kept it among the leaders, though not dominating. Then Edwards picked up the pace once more, challenging for wins week to week and establishing himself as the driver most likely to chip into the dominance of eight-race winner Kyle Busch and his Joe Gibbs Racing outfit. Edwards has a worst finish of 13th in the last seven races, a streak that includes three wins, a runnerup finish and two other top-10s.
"I think that it’s absolutely at peak," Roush said when asked about the team. "… He’s peaked and the crew chief has peaked. They’re in a position to realize the potential out of all the support we’re getting from all of our sponsors and Ford Motor Co., and Carl has been faced with enough frustration and enough opportunity and has had missteps and things where he’s tripped the light fantastic and done a great job to get the result.
"He’s ready to close the deal, and I certainly rate him as high as I could in terms of the likelihood he could be able to win this championship.”
The team chemistry is working well - but Roush says there is more to this driver and this effort than people realize.
He clearly thinks Edwards would make a great NASCAR champion - and not just because of his performance on the track.
"Carl’s got a great moral code," Roush said. "He’s a really fierce competitor. He’s a young man that you’d like, if you were an adult, a young man you’d like to think your son could grow up and be similar to. He’s a young man you’d like to think your daughter would entertain in the courting process, and he’s somebody to look up to.
"He’s worked really hard with his family and preparing himself for the public persona that people would rally behind. He’s the best gymnast I’ve ever been involved with. He’s quite a guy.”
