The culture at Roush Fenway had to change

In all respect to what Roush Fenway was, the times have changed so much that the culture around Roush Fenway's ways had to change with new blood coming into the organization.  We're heading into the first off week of the season for the NASCAR teams and I have to take a look at few things that went in the wrong direction over the last few years.

Trevor Bayne and Ricky Stenhouse have a discussion in the garage

It's hard to admit that you've gone in the wrong direction.  I think that Jack Roush, Robbie Reiser and Steve Newmark all had to take a look at the way that this race team has been ran over the past few seasons.  One of the biggest problems is admitting when you went the wrong direction and Roush did just that a few seasons ago.  I have to look back at things and the issues started midway through the 2011 season and they excelled when Roush re-signed Carl Edwards to a major contract and team members from what I have heard had to take a pay cut or they were let go.

The problems just became worse and worse as the Gen-6 Ford Fusion came out.  The team needed fresh, new faces amongst their organization in engineering and overall leadership.  The organization hired two new key members to its senior leaders by hiring Kevin Kidd away from Joe Gibbs Racing as its Sprint Cup Series director and Mark McMardle who had experience working with several teams in the past as its engineering director.   The team needed someone with fresh new ideas to come into the team and change its culture of work around. 

“Rome was not built in a day and we’re in the process of building Rome back up,” Kidd said “It’s going to take time. That’s the simple truth. I had some perspective on it this week like when you look at other organizations that are down and trying to build back up – Ganassi comes to mind. Penske, maybe less so but maybe from a few year back. It’s a solid two to three year process of trying to get back to full form and ultimate competitive level. I’ll stop short of saying it will take two to three years, but it’s going to take time.

“One car debuted on one weekend is not going to be the answer to of our problems. When you look at where we’re trying to go with this, we’re trying to change the culture of Roush Fenway Racing, how we’ve done business in the past and how we’ll do business in the future. Ultimately, that change, more so than nuts and bolts of race cars, but the change of our working philosophies, that’s what will get us back to a competitive level – and that takes time.”

Earlier in the season, many said the shop had a totally different atmosphere than before, even the walls and floors were redone.  The team as a whole seemed to have a lot more confidence but the results have not changed since the season began, as Biffle is the only one with a top-10 finish in the season opening Daytona 500.

The new chassis will be debuted at Texas Motor Speedway in two weeks.  On the other side of things, the Xfinity Series program seems to have turned the corner with drivers Chris Buescher, Ryan Reed, Bubba Wallace and Elliott Sadler.  Buescher is only five points out of the lead.  So it would seem that the Sprint Cup program might be able to take some of their package from Xfinity and put it to use in Sprint Cup.

Bayne, Osborne starting to come together after 18th place finish

Trevor Bayne and Bob Osborne worked together for the sixth time on Sunday afternoon in Martinsville and the two seemed to have found the right chemistry during the first short track race of the season.  After qualifying 36th on Friday, Bayne began to steadily move forward until Alex Bowman ran into the side of Bayne's car cutting the tire and making him spin out.

Bayne battled back to an 18th place finish with a damaged car

Bayne returned to the track in 43rd after the crew did a few minor repairs on the car.  The race resumed on lap 16.  Bayne was able to work himself up to 29th as Osborne decided to keep him on the track after the second caution flag fell on lap 21.  Bayne worked his way into the top-25 for the first time before the 100th mark of the race.  He was able to keep up with the track and remain in the top-25, and cracked the top-20 for the first time following a lap 171 restart in the race. 

Bayne and Osborne seemed to have figured out the new in car track bar adjuster out, as Bayne would move it to .6 on the meter and as the race went on, he would drop it down as the track tightened up.  Osborne used more strategy to help Bayne move forward in the race.  Bayne would move into the top-5 and maintained a position amongst the top-ten until he was shuffled on the outside of the track. 

Bayne was shuffled outside the top-20 but the driver and crew chief remained upbeat, as Osborne kept telling him he was doing a great job keeping his car in one piece. He was able to overcome two incidents not of his making late in the race to come back and finish in 18th position.  It was the first race this season that the team has been able to stay on the lead lap throughout the whole race.  Bayne is now 26th in the points standings 36 points behind 16th.

Fontana Race Preview

This weekend the Sprint Cup Series heads to Auto Club for the four race of the season and the final of the 3 race west coast swing of races that NASCAR put in place on the schedule.  Trevor Bayne enters this weekend still looking for his first top-ten finish of 2015 behind the wheel of the No. 6 Advocare Roush Fenway Ford Fusion.

This will be Trevor Bayne's second career start at the two-mile track in Fontana, California.  He started 27th and finished 30th in the No. 21 in 2011.  Bayne has ran 7 NASCAR Xfintiy Series events at the two-mile oval, he has 3 top-ten finishes at the track with an average start of 12.4 and finish of 11.3.

Bayne enters this weekend 26th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Points Standings, he is -30 points behind 16th for the final Chase position.   Bayne's crew chief Bob Osborne will be on top of the pit box for the 18th time at Auto Club Speedway this weekend.  He has 1 win, 6 top-fives, and 11 top-ten finishes at the track, along with average start of 19.6 and finish of 10.8 on the D-Shaped oval.

Complete Weekend Schedule for the Sprint Cup Series at Fontana
 
Thursday, March 19
7:00 PM NSCS HAULERS ENTER
Friday, March 20
7:00 AM - 7:00 PM NSCS GARAGE OPEN & INSPECTION BEGINS
11:00 AM NSCS ROOKIE & SPOTTER MEETINGS & RANDOM DRAWING
12:00 - 1:15 PM NSCS PRACTICE
4:50 PM NSCS QUALIFYING
Saturday, March 21
7:00 AM - 3:30 PM NSCS GARAGE OPEN
8:30 - 9:25 AM NSCS PRACTICE
11:30 AM - 12:25 PM NSCS FINAL PRACTICE
Sunday, March 22
7:30 AM NSCS GARAGE OPENS
10:30 AM NSCS DRIVER/CREW CHIEF MEETING
12:00 PM NSCS DRIVER INTRODUCTIONS
12:30 PM NSCS RACE

Scott's Pit Box: My Take On Roush Fenway Reformat

I've been a long-time fan of Roush Fenway Racing, I can remember the first time that Mark Martin got behind the wheel of one of Jack Roush's Ford Thunderbirds in 1988 at Daytona.  There first race was a very rough one, and for the first 1 and 3/4 seasons at Roush, it was a struggle for the organization to find its way until they did in 1989 at Rockingham's North Carolina Speedway.

Jack Roush's teams still looking for right handle in 2015

There is a glare of those struggles going on again, Roush Fenway Racing has been struggling since 2012 and finally in the off-season there was some changes made to the organizations leadership roles in Sprint Cup and overall engineering.  Mark McArdle took on the position as the head engineer of the organization while Kevin Kidd took on the role of Sprint Cup Series director among the team.

Here's the variable in all this, changes made to an organization don't always mean an instant success.  It takes time to put all the pieces in place to become successful.  Roush will have a new car on the track from what I have been told around Texas, I don't expect them to be running with Hendrick Motorsports or Stewart Haas Racing anytime soon, but I do expect to see changes in the way the car is handling.

Roush is in a rebuilding stage.  I have some what compared it to coach Butch Jones at the University of Tennessee when he first took on the job with the Volunteers.  Tennessee was in a struggle with 3 head coaches in the matter of 5 years.  He has had the motto "Brick By Brick" since he came to being the head coach there.  At Roush I feel it's going to be very similar.  And there are going to be some fans that aren't happy with the slow process but this team will get back to where they want to be at, and it might take another year. 

The schematics of the organization have changed and it will take putting all the right formula's in to make sure the team gets back to where they want to be at.  Jack Roush isn't getting any younger and I've noticed more and more than he has realized a lot more of the leadership roles to Robbie Reiser, Steve Newmark and his two newest guys McArdle and Kidd.   Ricky Stenhouse showed some promise last weekend at Phoenix that things were beginning to turn around with a 13th place finish.  This weekend teams will go to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana and it has in the past been one of the organizations strongest venues.  Each week will be a learning curve for the organization.

This is Bob Osborne's first season back since 2012

In amongst all the changes, veteran crew chief Bob Osborne has been working with Trevor Bayne in his first season full-time in the Sprint Cup Series.  Osborne apologized last weekend for the ill-handling car he brought Bayne to the track at Phoenix, and I have to put that into the equation as well.

Osborne has been out of the series as a crew chief since 2012, and the cars have had made changes to them that might be playing a big role in how he works the races.  So I believe with Osborne and his engineer team it will take a bit for the team to make a strong showing.  Those that keep doubting Bayne need to realize, he's not in top notch equipment just yet.  If you provide the Tennessee native with the right equipment, he can perform.  He showed that last season when he gave Kyle Busch a run for his money in several Xfinity Series races. 

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Bayne struggles with ill-handling car to finish 28th at Las Vegas

Trevor Bayne and crew chief Bob Osborne worked together for the third time this season and struggled to come away with a solid finish at Bayne's best track on the circuit.  The team fought an ill-handling race car all afternoon and came away with a 28th place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Early in the race it appeared that Bayne would make progress.   The more than they run the more of a four wheel slide the 6 got, he reported to Osborne that he never felt the side skirts hit.  Bob Osborne decided to take a shim out of the front end to help with the handling.

From that point on the team struggled to find any handle as the track began to get more rubber build up.  Bayne went down a lap by the 60th circuit around the 1.5 mile oval, he reported of being
extremely in the tight center off behind someone else.  A caution soon fell for debris, and the team would not be in contention for the lucky dog.  The team came in and took four tires, but found themselves 2 laps down to the race leaders.

The struggle continued throughout the race and Bayne could only make his way up to 28th by the time the checkered flag fell.  He leaves Vegas p24 in the driver standings and the No. 6 is p27 in owners points going to Phoenix next weekend as the points will be now go off 2015 standings.  Rumors going around are that Roush Fenway will debut a new chassis at Texas Motor Speedway in a few weeks.

Las Vegas Race Preview

This weekend will be the third race on the Sprint Cup Series schedule as NASCAR travels out west for the big west-swing the next few weekends.  Trevor Bayne will be making his fifth career start at the 1.5 mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway, it is the only intermediate track that Bayne has scored a top-ten finish on in his career.

Bayne's crew chief Bob Osborne has won two races at the 1.5 mile track, with 3 top-fives, and 4 top-tens in 8 starts at the track.  The two will be working together for the third time on the No. 6 Advocare Ford this weekend. 

During Bayne's venture in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Trevor Bayne ran five races, scoring 3 top-fives, and 5 top-tens and never missing a lap in the five events he ran at the track.  Bayne had an average start of 11.6 and an average finish of 5.4 at the venue. 

His four Sprint Cup Series starts at the track amounted to 1 top-ten finish, an average start of 27.8 and an average finish of 18.0 in the No. 21 Wood Brothers car while he was there.  This weekend marks his fifth try at the Las Vegas tri-oval venue.

Bayne gets top-20 in Atlanta

With the first race with NASCAR's new intermediate rules package Trevor Bayne and crew chief Bob Osborne were able to bring home a very hard fought 19th place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

Bayne took the green flag from his 29th starting position and was able to find a few positions early in the race.  Fighting a problem early on in the race when the hose on his cool box came unattached he made his way up to 24th.  Bayne said he was losing the nose really bad in traffic, as crew chief Bob Osborne told him to use the in car track bar adjuster for the first time and take 1/4 round out.  The adjustment only made the car worse, as Osborne decided on the competition yellow that they would do a wedge adjustment, tape on the grille and right front tire pressure adjustment. 

After the pit stop Bayne came back out in 24th.  Osborne reported to Bayne that his tires looked the same as the 20 lap run in the practice session on Saturday afternoon so the team had no concern for tire wear.  Bayne would fight a loose off condition until a caution flag fell on lap 93, Osborne called Bayne down pit road for four tires, and a chassis adjustment on his No. 6 Advocare Ford Fusion. 

Bayne returned to the track in 21st.  He would work himself into the top-20 for the first time on lap 101, however, once the race progressed through and rubber began to lay down, Bayne's handling began to turn to a loose condition.  He would fall one lap down to the leaders soon thereafter. 

Osborne continued to adjust on the car throughout the race, and the team ended up falling another lap down to the leaders as the race continued to go green.  Then Bayne missed the big accident of the afternoon with less than 30 laps remaining in the race.  Bayne was called back to pit road for four tires, he returned to the track in 23rd, he would move up to 19th and hold off Justin Allgaier for the position. 

“The beginning of the race we were decent,” said Bayne after the race.  “It was just track position and all the cautions, and that was the biggest thing was track position at the beginning of the race, and in the middle of the race we freed up the car a lot and then about that time we had a long green flag run and the track took rubber and it loosened up even more, so we were just way too loose for the middle 100 laps – and then we got it tightened back up at the end and we could start making ground.  Overall, I thought we executed pretty well for this being our first time working together at a real race track.”