Why Roush needs to remain two-car team in 2018

Yesterday I wrote about Steve Newmark's comments on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio about the Roush Fenway Racing organization remaining a two-car operation in 2018.  Today is my day to put it all in my perspective on why it is the best thing for this organization at the moment.

Trevor Bayne talks with car owner Jack Roush at Michigan

The starting point here is, Roush Fenway is still searching for more speed on intermediate tracks after a lot of changes that were made to the team.  While Ricky Stenhouse Jr., has been able to win on restrictor plate tracks this season, the team is still looking for the speed with both drivers at other places.  So to add a third car one year after dropping down to two just isn't a smart move when the organization has not completely gotten the speed back into their race cars.

To justify staying this way just look at what Team Penske did back in the late 2000s.  They ran three race cars and struggled with them.  They switched back to two cars in 2011 and a year later were about to win a championship with Brad Keselowski in 2012.  Penske has remained a two-car team since and helped back the Wood Brothers to keep their third driver on the track in the 21.  I believe that Roush has taken this same road to bringing themselves back up the ladder.

Sponsorship is also a major effect on the organization.  Where the two years prior, AdvoCare completely backed Trevor Bayne they are not this season.  Once again this weekend Roush Performance Parts is on Bayne's Ford Fusion at Kentucky Speedway.  So here is that little issue that fans of Bubba Wallace keep wanting to gripe about when he got dropped after Pocono.  Wallace has not won a race since he first arrived at Roush and the sponsorship didn't come with him.  So with issues going on to keep the two primary cars in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series going forward they had no choice but to drop the 6 Xfinity program out.

Years ago unsponsored cars were white and black on the track but around Roush's 25th anniversary in the sport, they started to change that.  Bayne ran several events in a 25th Anniversary Roush Fenway car in 2013, a Roush CleanTech car and other Roush related products but here is the problem with that; when those companies are on the car it was what we used to call a 401K sponsorship on the car.

That meaning that the money is coming straight from the organization and not from a corporate organization like AdvoCare or Liberty National Life.  The same goes for when Ford Performance is on the cars as well, instead of running a blank car it is a way for the team to advertise for the manufacturer or the car owners main company.  Sponsorship is the driving point of this sport, and the company needs more of it to fill some of the holes for 2018.  Fans want to have this little debate about the organization asking too much for sponsorship, however, since Newmark came in, I have heard all that changed when Geoff Smith parted ways as the Team President. 

Smith in my opinion was responsible for the big split between Mark Martin and Valvoline back in the early 1990s because he wanted too much from the sponsor.  I believe now Newmark is smarter about getting sponsorship for the cars and takes what they can get for the cars. 

The one thing that RFR did not downsize was its engineering department last fall.  While going from 3 cars to 2, the team kept it's engineering core the same and added to it.  Roush still has work to do in getting their chassis's better but they're finding speed as the season goes on. The goal is to get back to a three car organization but not until they have speed back in the main two cars for the organization. 

Newmark: Objective is to stay two cars in 2018

Stenhouse and Bayne will remain the two-car duo at RFR

Roush Fenway Racing President Steve Newmark stated on Tradin' Paint on Tuesday afternoon that the intent was for the organization to remain a two-car Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series team in 2018 and remain with one NASCAR Xfinity Series program as well. 


The team began this season with two cars in each series but last month but with the lack of sponsorship on Darrell Wallace's No. 6 car, the team was forced to shut down the cars program after Pocono.  There are many who believe that owner Jack Roush should have kept Wallace's program floating with his own funding, however, with the sponsorship issues on the Cup Series side as well it wasn't possible.

"I think our objective right ow and plan is to stay two (cup) and one (Xfinity)," Steve Newmark said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.  "On the Cup side, that's clearly our direction.  I think even if sponsor came for the third team, I think right now we feel this process has worked." 

"We made a very painful decision to cup down to two this year, and we had the option to stay at three but decided that the most important thing is to put our cars in the best position to win.  To do that, we thought that it was best to consolidate to two teams but maintain the same size engineering staff and R&D and laser focus that on the two cars." 

This season Ricky Stenhouse has found victory lane twice (both on restrictor plate events) and the organization as a whole has turned the corner with their program.  It would be hard for them to add a third car for 2018 so quickly, as Newmark stated even with the aid of sponsorship on the table.  That leaves Chris Buescher out in the wind once again.  He will likely be staying at JTG Daugherty for next season.

"Chris has done a great job.  We fortunate that he and Tad (Geschickter, owner of JTG Daugherty) have struck up a great relationship and he's getting some great experience there."

 There is an option on the table if Roush doesn't want to sell it's charter for the No. 16.  They can lease the charter from the 6 or 17 cars out to JTGD for another year to keep Buescher going as well.