Many Rumors and Questions Surround 2017 Roush Fenway lineup

It was a couple weeks ago after the race weekend in Charlotte ended, I began to get phone calls concerning Trevor Bayne's future with future with Roush Fenway Racing.  Rumors are just that rumors until there is more spark to the fire.  Then the beginning of last week, Greg Biffle started it all off saying he was ready for a change in his career, along with Cheez-It/Kelloggs announcing that they would no longer be with Roush Fenway Racing or Watkins Glen International next season. Then by the end of the week a rumor came out that he would be running a second JTG Daughtery car in 2017, pretty much received a call confirming that on Sunday from a friend who's husband works at HScott Motorsports and was told Steve Addington would be going with Greg Biffle.

Changes in the Horizon for Roush Fenway

Now it seems that the biggest rumor floating around the garage is Roush Fenway going to two cars next season.  It seems logic that it will be Trevor Bayne and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driving the cars since they are the ones with sponsorship and contracts for the upcoming season.  It has been 21 years since Roush Fenway Racing has ran less than 3 race cars in the Sprint Cup Series circuit, it was 1995 with Mark Martin and Ted Musgrave.  I'm not sure what would happen with their third charter that is on the 16 car, maybe lease to Front Row Motorsports for a short term or to another team.

Two cars would give the team a better chance to to work with one another and it is one less car to float information back and forth to.  I truly believe that might be the way to go if you look at how Team Penske has been doing it the last few years.   Bayne and Stenhouse back in the then Nationwide Series had a good working core chemistry to find the right setups in their race cars from 2010-2011, when the two were competing for RFR full-time in the series then.  Stenhouse won back to back championships in the series in 2011-2012.

Many expected after Ryan Reed ran the race at Talladega last weekend that Roush Fenway would be bringing back the 99 car next season.  However, his sponsor Lilly Diabetes announced that they would be returning to sponsor Reed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series next season.  Rumors are going around that Chris Buescher will return to the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports car for 2017.

I am sure there are going to be some people who disagree with me on what you are about to read but it is my opinion.  I think Greg Biffle going on might be a good thing for this organization in several ways. Biffle is 46 years old and that is a big difference mark in Bayne and Stenhouse who are 25 and 29, so here is where people will likely disagree with me. I think the difference in age has been a hold back for Roush Fenway in a way.  Biffle has been the main driver the team has gone to the past two seasons to put data for the direction they need to go.  His age differential and driving style are much different than the two younger drivers.

So now if Roush does go to the two car system it will be a little easier to direct the team in the direction they need to go.  We will see in the coming weeks when the team makes their announcements what will happen.