Roush Fenway needs to go back to its roots

Burton(left) and Martin share a conversation
during the 2001 season

Racing has certainly changed in the last 18 years, however, success can certainly be something that burns a company when they aren't keeping themselves up.  Jack Roush has been around since 1988 and his Hall of Fame driver of the past Mark Martin and another driver shared something in the late 90s and early 2000s that helped provide the company with one of the strongest working cores in the sport but once Martin and teammate Jeff Burton were gone the working core at RFR was gone.

Back then the two believed in helping one another -- even if -- it meant in return the other driver would run better than the other.  Back then Martin and Burton was part of Roush's five car operation, however, they were housed in the same shop together. I do not see that these days with this organization.  Since these two drivers parted ways with Roush it went to "I have to beat my teammate system."  Martin and Burton had a system where all come together to make the organization better and that is what needs to happen with Trevor Bayne and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., even if Stenhouse is racing for playoff positions. 

The organization has to have two drivers willing to work with one another and two crew chiefs that

Bayne and Stenhouse need more of a working bond in the
Roush Fenway shop

have that same attitude.  I believe back in the day Jimmy Fennig and Buddy Parrott shared that same idea and the cars and success reflected it on the race track.  There has to be that will to want to be a successful pair of teammates in this sport.  Martin and Burton knew what it took to make that happen, so if there are notes that were left behind by these two drivers Roush's current drivers need to take a look at them and see how being a working pair in the garage can win you races. 

People speculated in 1998 that Martin was given better race cars than Burton, however, the teams kept working together to find more speed and were solid contenders all the way around .  I think that there is a missing piece at Roush Fenway Racing right now that they need to find to bring back some of their driver chemistry that they had in the late 90s with Martin/Burton and get the cars back up front.

Bayne is currently 21st in the standings and you can tell the 6 team is not getting the same equipment as the 17 throughout the playoff run.  It is just a disappointment to see the cars perform this terrible and know there are ways to get more out of a team and know that the team is missing that little tiny piece of the puzzle.