Scott's Pit Box - 7/30/2014

Let's look at the changes going on at Roush Fenway after their announcement from a level-headed sense of mind.  On Sunday, Fastenal announced that they would be moving from the No. 99 Ford Fusion over to the No. 17 of Ricky Stenhouse; logically that left the door open for the big announcement that everyone knew was going to be coming sooner or later.  Carl Edwards will not be returning to the organization after the end of the year.

Fans from both sides can rage war on each other but let's look at something people.  A NASCAR team is a business, and when you make changes they have to be announced.  You can think in your mind that Jack Roush did this to publicly ruin Edwards season but he likely had an agreement with Fastenal to make this announcement and with the Fastenal deal came logically room to tell people that Edwards would not be back, I've known for almost two months through various sources that Edwards was going to be going to a new home and it was likely going to be at Joe Gibbs Racing.

Car owners have to fill the empty holes and the 17 car has been running without full-sponsorship for over 3-years since DeWALT parted ways with the organization.  Fastenal will probably cover a majority of the schedule for the 17 car, and here is the one thing that fans fail to look at is, it's cheaper for this company to sponsor Stenhouse than it was to sponsor Edwards.  You ask, how is it cheaper to sponsor one car from the other?  In all logic, Stenhouse is younger, he's going to be cheaper to sign to the deal and it is comparable to when Roush and Jeff Burton parted ways and Edwards came on board.

I have read many comments about fans feel it was a bad move to let Edwards go, however, in all concepts it just might not be.  Roush is hurting in areas where they will need to go outside of the company and hire new engineers to help figure out their problems.  With Biffle, he's going to be the senior leader and then there is Stenhouse and Trevor Bayne.  I feel Bayne and Stenhouse have a great work ethic with one another and will be able to help one another trend to being top-notch drivers. 

When changes like this happen, it gets dirty and gritty.  So the change that will occur will be very hard for some people to put two and two together to make four.  Edwards like his former teammate Matt Kenseth made a decision himself to leave the organization, Jack Roush made him an offer and he wanted to try a different route.  This is just like any other sport, athletes come and go, their teams make changes.  It's kind of comparable to when Peyton Manning and the Colts parted ways after 14 seasons except it wasn't Manning's decision to leave, it was Jim Irsay's. 

You have to look at the position Edwards put Roush in, it's not just about the driver in this instance.  For example this long waiting period every 3 years puts a big damper on the team members.  Wondering if their driver will be returning or going to another team.  People don't realize the crew members take a beating worrying about their jobs and if they'll have one.  Fans can blabber on and on how hard it must be for Edwards, well I was once in a position that these guys were in.  It's not easy, especially when you know the guy that is driving the car you work on gets almost 12 million or more a season from his last deal.

In all respect that deal was when this organization started to take a major hit. They had to cut out a lot of employees to keep Edwards in 2011, plus they gave a big chunk of change to keep Bob Osborne as the crew chief for 3 seasons and he didn't last half a season after the deal was done.  I know Jack Roush has a way of doing things and fans think he was a jerk to make the announcement when he did but this is part of the business.  The car owner usually announces before the driver what's going to happen. 

Then there's something else, I seen a lot of shock in Edwards and maybe it was because he felt his sponsors would be going with him possibly?  I have heard there's a big possibility that Kellogg's will remain with Roush and Aflac maybe getting out of the sport altogether.  Subway is likely the only sponsor that will remain with Edwards and to clear something up about a car number, Jack Roush will keep the rights to the 99.  This car number has been part of his fleet since 1996 with Jeff Burton.  Edwards fans need to realize that it was Burton that made this car number hit the historical point of winning more than 10 races.

The number has a history with this organization and in two-three years I see them adding to it with Chris Buescher most likely.  Roush let his most famous car number rest for 4 years until he announced he will be adding it back with Bayne next season.  This organization may have taken a fall but it will take the step back up the ladder in the future.