Did Carl Edwards admit he wasn't a team player for RFR?

Here's the most unethical comment I heard Carl Edwards say during the press conference for Joe Gibbs Racing on Tuesday

" “I have learned a lot about how to be a good teammate. Admittedly, I was not the best teammate at the beginning of my career.

“I felt I had a lot of the every man-for-himself attitude, and wanting to prove myself regardless of any damage to the relationships. I didn't think of it is a real team atmosphere.”

So did he admit that the last 10 years while being at Roush Fenway he hasn't been a good teammate and worked with the rest of the organization?  All in all I think there has been a big cloud over this team since 2011 and it all came about when Edwards got that big multi-million dollar deal to stay with Ford Racing.  You know that when that happened, Greg Biffle took a pay cut to stay on board the organization, Kenseth was hurting for sponsorship on the 17 car and there were a lot of rumors brewing about who Edwards' replacement was going to be if he left.

Now 3 years down the road, maybe some answers to the questions that fans have been having about Roush Fenway's problems are coming out of the closet.  Sure, Roush is a different structured organization than the Gibbs guys are, but if you can't work together as a whole team there's going to be some problems amongst the drivers and the teams crews.  I really think that there was a lot of animosity within the RFR organization because of Carl Edwards.  I've heard different stories of crew members taking pay cuts, and it was because of Bob Osborne first getting a huge (worthless deal) to start it all off to try and sway Edwards into staying, and then the big contract signing.

Now I look at the different approach for 2015.  People aren't seeing a lot of star power within Roush, however Jack Roush has said it numerous times, Ricky Stenhouse is as good of driver as anyone, he has just struggled to work himself into the cup level but when he does there will be success.  Trevor Bayne will be moving up full-time and he has quite a bit of Sprint Cup Series experience from being behind the wheel of a Wood Brothers car the last 3 seasons.  Bayne will be success, people just aren't giving the driver a chance to prove himself.  Greg Biffle will be the lead man, and I think in the past few weeks we've seen a difference in Biffle for a major reason - the organization is taking what he says and putting it into the cars, instead of taking the info from Edwards.

Then the announcement that Mark Martin is back within Roush. He may not be driving for the organization but this is a soothing ointment to some wounds. Martin has raced for a few organizations since he left in 2007.  He is going to be more than a drivers coach, he's going to be a team leader and they've not had that since he's been gone.  I believe that he will be able to help the 3 drivers work as a group and find what they're missing on the track.  Bayne and Stenhouse are a closer age group so they have a lot more in common and they worked well as a pair in the Nationwide Series, now they'll be able to do so on the Sprint Cup level.

Bayne will be racing the iconic number 6.  It was the organizations premier car from 1989-2005, and it is great to finally have the number back on the track.  Maybe, just maybe having Edwards leave will be a helping piece to fix some of the issues within Roush.  They won't have to pay out that big contract fee and they'll be able to have teammates that really can work together.. 

Oh and the part about Gibbs.  Four cars isn't always a great thing, there's usually someone that gets left out of the  picture and I don't see nothing changing about Edwards way of doing thing because when he goes to JGR, Kyle Busch is the top man for Toyota and he's going to want that attention. There's going to be a rivalry within the organization, to me its too many BIG Roosters in little hen house.

Martin coming back is a refreshing moment to Roush

It was almost a week ago, fans screaming bloody murder over Jack Roush and Fastenal's announcement, four days later there might been a soothing announcement in the Roush Fenway camp, long-time driver Mark Martin would be coming home to work as a driver development coach and possibly more.

I grew up watching Mark Martin as a driver.  Say what you will, Mark Martin is the driver that helped make Roush what it is today, it wasn't Edwards, Kenseth or Biffle.  The line of history that Mark Martin put into place at the company is far greater and when he left at the end of the 2006 season it was the start of Roush's troubles in my mind.  They lost the company leader, the guy that could put all the right pieces into place. 

Martin is someone that might be in Jack Roush's eyes the one that could step in and do part of his job since he has been wanting to step away in some form.  Mark Martin will bring back a lot to the table, even though, he is not an engineering, he brings the pieces he gained from organizations like Hendrick, Michael Waltrip, and Stewart-Haas Racing.  The company needed someone to come in from the outside and tell them where they are going wrong in places.

Mark Martin and Jack Roush shared one of the longest running deals in NASCAR, from 1988-2006; they were a winning combination on the track.  Martin earned 35 of his 40 Sprint Cup Series victory behind the famed No. 6 that will be returning to the track next season with Trevor Bayne behind the wheel.  I had a gut feeling back in May, when Martin did the video as part of Bayne coming to Cup, he in some form was returning to the company. 

“I’m excited to return to Roush Fenway Racing, as it feels like I’m going home to where I belong,” Martin said in a news release. “I was fortunate to help build this team from the beginning and it’s very humbling to be a part of Jack’s team again. When Jack first hired me in 1988, we didn’t talk about salary or benefits or perks, we talked about testing, tires and putting the right personnel into place to win on the track.

“That commitment is what stood out to me then and it’s still what stands out to me today.”

I have said since he left the organization, it's been lacking a true "leader" form.  Martin was the go-to guy for everyone when he was there, he gave advice, helped the teams with car data.  He knows his way around the organization and can help fix some of its issues.  Martin can help develop drivers like Trevor Bayne, Ricky Stenhouse, Chris Buescher and Ryan Reed for the companies future.