Roush's restructuring was a given

With the last three seasons that Roush Fenway Racing has had on the Sprint Cup side, it was a definite given that there were major changes needed to be made within the organization to get things back to being a winning organization.

Based on what I have seen from twitter and a few articles, the organization finally hired outside of the company and went into other companies backyards and grabbed engineers.  With Michael Waltrip Racing falling out at the end of the season that was one of the places I had a feeling RFR would go and get some new help from.  The team hired Kent Day who will now oversee the simulation program at Roush.  They also have hired crew chief Brian Pattie who worked with Clint Bowyer at MWR as Greg Biffle's crew chief.

Romberg brings years of aerodynamic experience from Hendrick

Roush Fenway also went to Hendrick Motorsports and grabbed Kurt Romberg away.  He was the chief aerodynamicist at HMS for 15 years, he worked with General Motors and Petty Enterprises prior to joining Hendrick.  In the past, Roush has been a program that graduated crew members up from the next level, including engineers instead of hiring away from other organizations.  So when I heard that they had done this it was very good news to see.


The infostructure at Roush Fenway the last few years hasn't been at it's best.  It was time to clean house and start with a clean slate in my opinion.  The same issues have been a burden on this team since the 2012 season and there were no signs of it getting any better this past season either.  So when you are put in this position you have to clean up some of the mess.

Ford is bringing in a new body for its Ford Fusion next season and from all the details that I've been told, it will be a much better race car than the one the last couple of seasons.  That might be one of the keys to hiring Romberg because since Ford brought the Fusion in, Roush has struggled highly. It also might be key that the low downforce package will put into place at the majority of the tracks on the schedule in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

This will be Trevor Bayne's second season full-time with Roush Fenway Racing in the Sprint Cup

Stenhouse (left) and Bayne there were 5 top-tens in 2015

Series when 2016 gets here, while I was disappointed in how Bob Osborne handled some of the situations this season; I think it is best that a driver and crew chief get a hold of one another for two seasons.  In my opinion that has been one of the biggest issues for fellow Roush Fenway driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr., he hasn't been able have a steady coach up on the box his first three seasons until he worked with Nick Sandler this past season.  I listened to Trevor Bayne's radio for much of this season and when the same issues come up every weekend with the race cars handling characteristics then there lies a problem with how the chassis is being setup and simulated.

Bayne continuously had an issue with a race car that was tight in the center and loose off.  If you've been around racing long enough you know that it is a bad situation for a driver to have to have inside the car.  So with all of the new hires that came in at Roush that have been announced it is hope that they just might be able to fix some of the issues that the drivers have been faced with the last three seasons.

A year later the question still lingers on

It's been a year since Trevor Bayne made his last start for the Wood Brothers organization and fans are still commenting on him not being in the 21 car.  Bayne was picked up by Jack Roush in September of 2010 when the Micheal Waltrip Racing team let him go because of lack of sponsorship.
Roush started a new program in the Xfinity Series to finish off the rest of the year and Bayne made one start with the Wood Brothers in 2010 at Texas.  Bayne was really only meant to be a one or two year loan to the Wood Brothers from Roush Fenway but instead the endeavor turned out to go a lot longer than expected until Roush could find the right sponsor for Bayne.  Now with the rumors of the Wood Brothers going full-time I am reading many comments on why they did not do it when he was racing for the organization.

Bayne was backed by Roush when he ran for the Wood Brothers.  The chassis's were the same as the RFR team were racing on the Sprint Cup side and Roush didn't have the funding to run the car full-time while Bayne was there.  He was meant to be a loaner for the organization until Jack Roush could find a slot in his organization to put Trevor Bayne in a car full-time and that happened last year when AdvoCare stepped up to the plate to sponsor Bayne in a multi-year agreement with the driver and team.  I've seen so many comparisons between Trevor Bayne and Ryan Blaney in the 21 car, but you really can't compare them when you look at the equipment that the two drivers have and had while they were in the car.

Blaney is running cars that on any given weekend are capable of winning, while Trevor Bayne was in struggling equipment from 2012 forward.  Roush just didn't put it all together to bring the Woods back to full-time material.  That was not the goal at the time when Bayne was put in the 21 car because at the time, Roush couldn't get sponsorship on the Xfinity side for Bayne, and at the time his teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr wasn't fully sponsored either. So Bayne was put with the the Wood Brothers and that is where he raced for five years until the deal with AdvoCare came into place last May.

I see a lot of wishful fans that post things about "That should be Trevor in the 21 car now."  Well the fact of the matter is, Jack Roush had a plan from the get go with Bayne and he has followed through with it.  Bayne got one of the most prestigious cars in NASCAR when he took over the 6 car.  Mark Martin gave praise to team for putting Bayne behind the wheel of the No. 6 car and this was just his first full season in the car and it has been a learning curve of course.

Homestead Pre-Race Notes

Homestead marks the final race of the 2015 season and Trevor Bayne looks to finish it on a high note in his No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion after finishing 34th last weekend in Phoenix.  This will be the fifth time that Bayne has started at Homestead-Miami Speedway in his Sprint Cup Series career when the green flag drops this weekend at the 1.5 mile track in South Florida.
Quoting Trevor Bayne:
"Homestead is my favorite track on the schedule.  You can make up some time around the outside there.  It's just a lot of fun to race on.  I'm excited to get there this weekend and this 2015 season on a strong note for everyone back at the shop and on this AdvoCare team."
Notes of Interest:

• Trevor Bayne's made four previous starts at Homestead with a career best finish being a 23rd in 2012.  Bayne has an average start of 20.8 and an average finish of 32.5.  
• Bayne also has four career starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at the 1.5 mile track.  He has two top-fives and two top-tens, along with two 11th place finishes.  He has an average start of 9.8 and an average finish of 8.0, while leading 5 laps at the track.
• Trevor Bayne will make his 94th career start at Homestead.  He has 1 win, 1 top-five and 5 top-ten finishes.  He has an average start of 23.0 and an average finish of 26.0.  

Phoenix Pre-Race Notes

After blowing a tire last weekend at Texas and finishing 39th, Trevor Bayne is coming to Phoenix International Raceway to make his third career start at the low-banked tri-oval venue in Avondale, Arizona.  His 28th place effort earlier this year at the track is his best of the two efforts.  Bayne competed in 10 NASCAR Xfinity Series events at the track with one top-five finish and six top-ten finishes.  Bayne's crew chief Bob Osborne has won at Phoenix once in his career, this race during the 2010 season.
Quoting Trevor Bayne:
"Phoenix is a fun track to race on.  Hopefully we can have a solid run there this weekend with this AdvoCare team and for everyone back at the shop.  We're all ready to go for our last west coast race of the season and look to finish on a strong note."
Notes of Interest:

• Trevor Bayne has made two starts at Phoenix in Sprint Cup, he has an average start of 34.5 and an average finish of 34.0.  His best was 28th earlier this season at in the No. 6 AdvoCare Ford.
• In 10 NASCAR Xfinity races, Bayne recorded 1 top-five (4th in 2013) and 6 top-tens that all came in consecutive events from November 2011 to November of 2014.  Bayne had an average start of 12.5 and an average finish of 13.1
• This is the next to last race for the Sprint Cup Series on the 2015 schedule with Homestead being the season finale.

Scott's Pit Box: NASCAR needs more drivers with integrity and dignity

As a long time fan of NASCAR since the 1980s, I was very disgusted to see Matt Kenseth pile drive Joey Logano in the wall at Martinsville Speedway last week.  I have been a fan of this sport since I was probably four years old, and the last two weeks I have witnessed two races bring a black eye on this sport have grown up with.

I never can remember Mark Martin retaliating on someone

As a long-time fan of Mark Martin I never once witnessed Mark take someone out intentionally with anger. In the last few years this sport has changed into more of an entertainment business than it is a sport.  It just isn't true racing anymore, when guys go out and they take each other out whenever they want to go.  I know a lot of people are not going to agree with me, but this is fact, I know something that did not happen; Mark Martin didn't do this and who did Kenseth get mentored by?  Yeah that's right Mark Martin.

The interesting thing is fans want to praise Kenseth for what he did on Sunday and think that NASCAR put too much on him with the two-race suspension.  In my opinion he should have gotten worse because he destroyed two very expensive race cars and when he drove Logano into the wall it became a safety concern.  Then you throw on top of that, Kenseth took out a championship contender while he was leading the race and possibly on his way to winning his fourth straight event.

You can put up races like Earnhardt and Labonte from 95 and 99, the few incidents that Jeff Gordon and Rusty Wallace had while racing for a win at Richmond but don't compare them to what happened this past weekend.  Here's why:  They were racing hard for a victory.  Kenseth was 9 laps down to the race leader and he deliberately took out Logano and that's what makes this so different.  It is dirty and cold.

This past weekend Trevor Bayne could have easily taken Kevin Harvick out for what he did in Talladega.  However, Bayne did something much different than Kenseth did to make things tougher on Harvick.  While struggling with a car laps down he held Harvick up and made it tougher for the other driver to pass.  Like a member of our group said we still have drivers left that have integrity left, Trevor Bayne being one of them.  One that doesn't use horrible foul language on the radio, blame others for wrecks, whine about the car they're giving, have constant negative interviews, and be ungrateful to his team.  Fans are getting what they want and it is sad.

The sport has a big black eye over its face right now.

When the past two weeks we've seen fans throwing beer cans over the wall at Talladega and Martinsville, that just shows what kind of state this sport is.  We've got a bunch of hillbilly drunks in that stands that want to throw beer cans at drivers then they don't need to be in the stands.  The same way with drivers wanting to play judge and jury on the race track.  The sport has taken a huge change since Bill France Jr., passed away and handed it over to his son.

As I stated before this has become more of an entertainment series than real racing.  Popularity matters more than standards and NASCAR needs to get that straightened out as they've now set a strict standard with what Kenseth did this past week.  Next season if Jimmy Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick or Carl Edwards wrecks someone the way Kenseth did on Sunday; they deserve the same punishment as the precedence has been set by the sport.  There shouldn't be any free ride if you are the most popular driver in the sport.

Texas Pre-Race Notes

This weekend will be Trevor Bayne's 11th trip to Texas Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series this weekend.  Bayne made his Sprint Cup Series debut at the track in 2010 with the Wood Brothers Racing team and finished 17th, which has been his career best finish at the venue three times.  Bayne looks to get his No. 6 AdvoCare Ford back in contention this weekend with the series returning to another 1.5 mile track.  He is coming off a miserable run at Martinsville where he finished 31st, five laps down to the race leaders at the half-mile paper-clip oval.
Quoting Trevor Bayne:
''Texas has always been a special track for me, this is where I made my first Cup start and where I got my first Xfinity Series win.  I always love racing here and am looking forward to this weekend.  It's in AdvoCare's backyard and hopefully we can give them a great show with our AdvoCare Ford Fusion.''
Notes of Interest

• Trevor Bayne has made 10 starts in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.  He has a three 17th place finishes as his best career finishes coming in 2010, and both 2011 events.  He has an average start of 19.4 and an average finish of 22.4.
• Trevor Bayne won his first career Xfinity Series race in November of 2011 at Texas Motor Speedway.
• In 9 career starts in the Xfinity Series events at the track, Bayne's win was his only top-five and top-ten at the track.  He has an average start of 9.3 and an average finish of 16.6

The past two weekends show why NASCAR is losing its integrity

First when a guy takes out another to deliberately cause a caution flag and end the event, so he can advance into the next round of the Chase and NASCAR says there is nothing wrong with it.  The following week, a guy five laps down to the race leader plays judge, jury, and executioner all in the same incident by taking out the race leader because he didn't like how a race finished two weeks ago.
NASCAR is losing its hold on what matters.  There is no integrity left in the sport, because NASCAR has let it slip away with this new generation.  I listened to Chocolate Myers this morning on Sirius Radio and I whole heartily agree with him.  What happened yesterday made me sick to be a NASCAR fan, I like Myers have been a part of this sport for my entire life and have seen just about every race since the mid 1980s.  When I see fans praise an idiot that is five laps down take out the race leader, you are just wrong.

Back in the 1990s, I was a Mark Martin fan.  I never once seen Mark Martin take his revenge out on someone on the track.  He wasn't that type of guy.  Like Myers said this morning I can't remember a time when Dale Earnhardt was five laps down and took a race leader out that was running for a championship.  There were a lot of races through the 1990s I seen Earnhardt take someone out while racing for the win, I seen Jeff Gordon and Rusty Wallace do it a few times around Richmond.  The fact is the integrity of this sport has been lost because we don't have patrons left that carry on what this sport really has stood for over the years.

These last two weeks I have really seen a black eye put on the sport that Big Bill France built.  When you have two guys that have deliberately made their minds up to be judge and jury and change the total outcome of how this championship is going to be played out, it is sickening.to me.  Who do I blame for this change in the sport, Brian France and Mike Helton for allowing this nonsense to go on and on.  I think NASCAR needs to set a standard now with Kenseth after taking Logano out on Sunday.  Here is why.

In November of 2011, NASCAR suspended Kyle Busch for taking Ron Hornaday out of a Camping World Truck Series event and deliberately changing the outcome of the Truck Series championship, now we're in a different series.  We're talking Sprint Cup and the fact is a standard is much higher in Sprint Cup than the two lower tier divisions of NASCAR; so I believe Kenseth needs to face a much harsher penalty.

Kenseth's fans want to argue that there is no difference in what happened Sunday than what happened in the race at Kansas.  If you think that you are out of your mind because there is a BIG BIG difference in the two situations.  When you are racing for the win and you block a guy, not once, not twice, but three times, you are asking to get punted.  That was racing for the win.  People say Logano did it to keep Kenseth out of the Chase, well the fact is, it is Logano's job to win races every given Sunday.  Kenseth's deal on Sunday was premeditated and that is the big difference.