Can Roush Fenway Racing go on without Jack Roush?

Jack Roush is debating retirement after a long career in auto racing

Yes you read the question correctly, can Roush Fenway Racing go on without Jack Roush?

In my mind they will be able to do so.  I read an article this morning where Jack Roush see's retirement in his near future.  I mean think people, Jack is getting up in age (74 to exact) and he's not going to  be around forever.  I believe last season, Roush started planning for his eventual retirement by putting management in place that could run the team better in case of this situation.

Roush started his organization back in 1988 in NASCAR with Hall of Fame driver Mark Martin in a newly formed race team.  It took them nearly two years to win, but since Roush has had drivers combine for 135 victories in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.  Late last year, the organization announced that it was cutting back to a two-car team to try and fix some of the problems within the organization. 

"I expected to have better years than  2016 and 2015," Roush told the Arizona Republic in advance to this weekend's Camping World 500.  "Had I realized I had these years in front of, I might have decided to side-step and retire.

"I'm 74.  I can't do what I'm doing today for another 10 years.  My window is, the longest I've been able to predict what I was going to do in life, has been five years.  I'm probably down to a three-year window.  I'm looking at how I can be useful."

Jack Roush would be one of the few
car owners in the garage to know what
he is looking for examining spark plugs

I look at many of the people that Roush has hired on in the last few years to help bring the company back up to par and it seems like as of late there is more speed in the two cars at the track, they still need a little more to get to victory lane.  I think Ford has realized that and they're working hard to help the organization get back to where it needs to go.

In essence I also feel Ford is going to help keep them going when Jack Roush steps away.  Whether it be to find someone to help run the everyday business of the shop or to take it over and they might already have someone in mind.  Rumors began to float around in 2015 that Doug Yates was ready to buy Jack Roush's portion of the company (whether it was true or not, I do not know), so he's a possible candidate for the job.

There is a piece of me that thinks when the sport evolved to fuel injection from carburation it also took a piece of Jack Roush with it.  Jack Roush was one of the few car owners you seen that pulled a spark plug out of one of these V8 engines and examined everyone of them to see if they were running rich or lean.  He had his hands on his cars in some way and now I think it has been slowly peeled away.

Within the last year and a half many changes to Roush Fenway Racing's structure changed to help boost their technical settings to go faster on the track.  It started when Kevin Kidd was hired a couple of years ago and he is now the general manager of the organization.  At the end of last year, several other moves were made to help bring the technology along to make the cars faster, but so far the best finish the teams have had is Trevor Bayne's 10th at the Daytona 500.

"We've restructured our management group to be able to operate with greater independence from me," said Jack Roush, who also owns a huge engineering company in Michigan.  "And without as much of the inspiration for what we do as, maybe, I've been in the past.

"The race team, with the partnership we've got with John Henry and the Fenway Sports Group, has got plenty of depth.  As long as....we're able to to make a viable business out of it.  I'm sure the people that will follow me and will manage the affairs after my passing, they will look favorably on the involvement."

I noticed a different Jack Roush back in January when Mark Martin was inducted into the Hall of Fame.  Just the way Jack was during the ceremony caught me off guard.  There is a lot of questions about whether or not this team could go on without the man that started it, I believe Ford Performance will help find a way to keep them going.  During the 2002 season, when Roush had his first plain crash the team came together harder than ever before to make sure that they won races and competed for Jack.  I believe that would be the same case when Jack takes his step into retirement.

The people that have been with the organization would want to carry his name on in good faith and make sure they go forward in the right manner.

Pre-Race Report: Bayne heads to Phoenix

Trevor Bayne is heading to the second round of the west swing races at Phoenix Raceway, the driver goes into the race sitting in the 11th position in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series after the first three events of the season.

 Phoenix Raceway has been one of the toughest tracks for Trevor Bayne on the Cup Series circuit since arriving on tour in 2011.  He has yet to score a top-ten finish at the track in the desert, with a career best finish coming last spring when Bayne piloted the No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion to a 23rd place finish.  Bayne has averaged a 27.8 start at the track and a 30.6 average finish in five events at the track.

Bayne did have success at Phoenix Raceway in the NASCAR XFINITY Series in the 10 career starts he had at the track.  Bayne scored 1 top-five and 6 top-ten finishes, and averaged a 12.5 start and 13.1 finish in the series.  Crew Chief Matt Puccia has been on the pit box for 11 MENCS events at Phoenix Raceway with his best finish coming with Greg Biffle in 2012, a 3rd place finish.

This weekend AdvoCare will return this weekend as the primary sponsor on the No. 6 Ford Fusion at Phoenix after two weeks of new sponsors being on the car at Atlanta and Las Vegas. 

Trevor Bayne on Phoenix:  "We've started off on a really positive note with this AdvoCare team so far in 2017 and I'm confident that we can continue that this weekend in Phoenix.  Phoenix is a challenging track that races a lot like a short track.  I'm ready to get there this weekend and hopefully we can have another solid run on Sunday."

Performance Plus Motor Oil on board for the first time at Vegas

After representing Liberty National Life last weekend in Atlanta, Trevor Bayne will have his third sponsor in as many weeks on the No. 6 Roush Fenway Ford Fusion this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Performance Plus Motor Oil will be the primary sponsor for Bayne and his No. 6 team this weekend for the Kobalt 400 at the 1.5 mile track in Las Vegas.  Las Vegas is the last 1.5 mile track that Trevor Bayne scored a top-ten finish on, back when he was driving the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford in 2012.   This will be the seventh event that Trevor Bayne has taken part of at LVMS in his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career.

After their performance in Atlanta, Trevor Bayne and the team should be looking forward to another intermediate track as they were heading to a competitive top-ten finish before the final caution flag took any chance of that way.

"I'm fired up to get back to the track this weekend in Las Vegas.  We had some really good speed last week in Atlanta and I'm excited to see how that will transfer over to this week.  Vegas has always been a really fun track to race on and I'm confident (crew chief) Matt (Puccia) will give me a solid Ford Fusion that will unload just as fast as last week.  I also want to thank everyone at Performance Plus for coming on board.  This is the first race of the season with these guys on our Roush Fenway Ford and I hope that we give them a great show on Sunday."

Bayne, Roush Fenway show improvement at Atlanta

There were a lot of questions going into Sunday's Fold's of Honor 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway where Roush Fenway Racing was concerned.  It was the first race on a mile and a half venue this season where the organization has struggled for the last few seasons.

Trevor Bayne and teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr., were competitive for much of the 500 mile event and ended up finishing in 12th and Stenhouse ended up finishing 13th.  The No. 6 Liberty National Life Ford Fusion started from the 15th position and the driver and crew chief had a plan from the start of the race to conserve their tires for the start of the race.

The No. 6 Liberty National Life crew complete a stop

Spotter Roman Pemberton reminded Bayne not to really go forward until he got about 15-20 laps into the run where the tires on his no. 6 LNL Ford Fusion would last through the first run.  The first 85 lap segment was ran on Friday's qualifying tires, so the team remained content to settle into the top-20 early on as Pemberton reminded Bayne to stick to their plan.

Bayne began to pass cars about 20 laps into as Pemberton told Bayne "Keep that rhythm going," and crew chief Matt Puccia came over the radio "Don't get anymore than that out of it."

Bayne was up into the top-ten when the first round of pit stops began under the long green flag run on Sunday.  His No. 6 Liberty National Ford needed a slight adjustment made to help tighten his car up.  After the stop, Bayne was running inside the top-10 once again with a strong car through the long run.  He finished the first stage in 13th after falling back late in the run on the older tires, trying to get his car to the finish of the stage without having a tire go.

The Liberty National Life crew was able to get Trevor Bayne out in the top-10 for the second stage of the 500-mile event, as Puccia did an air pressure adjustment and wedge to help during the long run and forward drive.  Bayne remained steady through the second stage of the race and very competitive as he battled to get a top-ten in the second stage of the event.

Crew chief Matt Puccia came over the radio and asked Roman Pemberton how they looked on the track, as Pemberton replied "Really, Really good.  We just have to get ourselves in a hole where we can place ourselves with the leaders."

Bayne would finish tenth in the second segment of the event that setup the final stage, the green flag dropped at lap 178 would be a run of  147 laps on the 1.54 mile track.  Bayne and his crew worked to conserve tires through the run but several caution flags late in the event hurt their finish at the end of the event as they settled for 12th after being a strong contender for a top-10 before the No. 3 of Austin Dillon had battery issues and brought the yellow flag on lap lap 311.

"Today was a solid day overall," said Bayne after the Folds of Honor 500.  "We had some good speed right off the truck with our Liberty National Ford and were able to make good adjustments throughout the day today that kept us in the game.  I can't thank these guy's enough of this team for their hard work on this team for their hard work.  Today was a good step in the right direction and we're ready to build off of this next week in Vegas."

Liberty National Life will be on the No. 6 for the first time at Atlanta

Since Trevor Bayne has been running full-time for Roush Fenway Racing at the upper level when he moved up in 2015, AdvoCare has been the only sponsor that has adorned his No. 6 Ford Fusion.

That is about to change this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Liberty National Life Insurance will be on the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford for the first of multiple races this season for Trevor Bayne.  In November, RFR and Liberty National Life announced their partnership that would begin with the Folds of Honor 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend.

Trevor Bayne is coming off a 10th place finish in the season opening Daytona 500 and hopes to carry that momentum over to Atlanta where he started third last Spring in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

Trevor Bayne finishes 6th in Can Am Duel

Trevor Bayne piloted his No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion to a sixth place finish in Thursday night's first Can-Am Duel 150 qualifying race at Daytona International Speedway. The result of Bayne's finish put him 11th in the starting lineup for the Great American Race on Sunday afternoon. 

Trevor Bayne talks with owner Jack Roush after the Can-Am
Duel Qualifying race on Thursday night.

"My AdvoCare Ford felt really good tonight," said Bayne after the 150 mile event.  "It pushed like crazy and runs bottom better than any car I've ever really had here.  Really made tonight a fun night and helped us learn what we need to do over the next couple of days to get this car ready for the 500 on Sunday."

Trevor Bayne started the 60 lap event in 10th position and quickly charged to the top-five and in third position by the time the 7th lap was complete in the first Can-Am Duel.  Bayne made a huge save when Jamie McMurray got into the back of his No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion on lap 8.  Bayne was shuffled to the back of the top-ten by the time that that competition caution flag waved on lap 25. 

Crew Chief Matt Puccia brought Bayne in for four fresh Goodyears, sending him back out in 11th position for the lap 30 restart.  Bayne would then move himself back inside the lead pack of cars, as he would take the middle to get himself up to 6th place when the caution flag lap flew at lap 48.

He battled side by side with Matt Kenseth in the closing laps to get inside the top-five and made a quick move to get in front at the line by Kenseth got the fifth position back before the two crossed the line.  Bayne crossed the line 6th in his No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion.

Bayne, Stenhouse can make two-car system work at Roush Fenway Racing

This weekend it is a nice mid-70 degree weekend for racing at Daytona International Speedway and the haulers rolled in on Thursday night to start things off for the season.  The teams began to unload their equipment on Friday afternoon to begin preparation for Daytona Speedweeks and there will be a big difference this season for Trevor Bayne and his organization.

While the sport is taking a major change in its sponsor, Roush Fenway Racing is as well and just about everyone has heard it.  For the first time in their career Trevor Bayne and teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr., will be a two-car operation together.  Roush and veteran Greg Biffle parted ways right before the end of the 2016 season and it made many people wonder what would happen with the team.  For years there has been a veteran face among the organization to build upon, now the two younger drivers are what is left to to move forward into the future.

Bayne and Stenhouse worked together from September 2010-2012 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series

Bayne and Stenhouse worked together as a strong pair in 2011

and even though Bayne missed most of the 2012 because of sponsorship issues, the two drivers had immediate success in the series together.  The two won 9 races and Stenhouse won back to back championships when the two were teammates in the series.  So this isn't their first rodeo working together as teammates in a two-car system.  While neither driver has yet to find full success in the upper level of NASCAR, there are some pieces fans and the media have left out when discussing these two drivers.  They've not had top-notch cars since they've been running in the series.

There is that lone win between the two drivers in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series that came from Trevor Bayne's win in the 2011 Daytona 500.  So I go on something that many people have tried to point on in the media.  You have to look at sponsorship dollars right now at Roush Fenway Racing and in years passed, there just wasn't enough money and sponsors to fully field three to four race cars and be competitively in the top circuit of the sport.  Right now Roush has two cars and enough sponsors to fully spread the money around to make sure that they put it all in the right places and there are a couple of other pieces to the puzzle that needs to be talked about as well.  Bayne and Stenhouse likely don't cost as much on a monetary scale as say a Greg Biffle or Carl Edwards so it is a lot easier to take the money from the sponsors and put it into finding what else is going on in their race cars.

I think that Roush made some key organizational moves in the off-season to put people in other positions and remove certain people as well.  Do I wish that there would have been a lot more people hired from outside of this organization to bring in new voices and ideas?  You're darn right I do.  I think that this is a starting point, however, for this team to try and find its grip.

When you shuffle a third car out of the organization there is a big change.  However, there is something else that comes with this as well.  I believe when Greg Biffle was there, the possibility was higher say for the team to sit and take what the veteran driver wanted over the other two drivers in the organization.  Now I think it is a pretty much even drawing board with Bayne and Stenhouse in the Cup Series.   In years passed, I somehow feel the team was afraid to criticize the members and drivers and say they were running terribly.

This season is a fresh start almost for an organization that truly needed it.