AUTO RACING

Ford, Roush Finally Showing Some Clout

Published: Jul 13, 2007

JOLIET, ILL. - Ford teams have had little to cheer about this year in NASCAR, but that may be changing.

Jamie McMurray's victory in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona on Saturday followed Carl Edwards' win last month at Michigan and gave Ford and its premier organization, Roush Fenway Racing, two victories in the last four races. Roush Fenway also placed all five of its cars in the top 12 at Daytona.

Before Michigan, team owner Jack Roush had collected only one win in 2007: Matt Kenseth's victory at California in February. Chevrolet, meanwhile, had won 13 of the first 14 races.

Roush now says he let his teams get off to a slow start because he misjudged how much testing other teams would still do - particularly with the Car of Tomorrow - after NASCAR cut off access to Goodyear tires in an attempt to limit testing.

Entering this weekend's USG Sheetrock 400 at Chicago, Ford and Roush finally look like a match for the Chevrolets.

"The big thing that has helped us with the Car of Tomorrow is we now have a test team," Roush said. "We are doing the things I thought we weren't going to be allowed to do when NASCAR told us we couldn't take tires from the racetrack because they didn't want us to test. I thought they would put teeth in that, but they didn't.

"We got behind. But five weeks ago I hired six people and dedicated a tractor-trailer [for testing]. We've been to Iowa, Milwaukee four times in the last month, and Road Atlanta and VIR [Virginia International Raceway]."

Roush's three 2007 victories have come with NASCAR's current car, and the Chicagoland race also will feature the current car. But if Roush Fenway is going to compete with the Chevrolet teams for the championship, it will have to have a strong COT program.

"We're not caught up yet," Roush said. "But we're certainly on the path, and we'll be heard from more before the year is over."

At the midpoint of the season, Roush has two drivers in the top 12 in third place Kenseth and sixth place Edwards and another, McMurray, just outside of the cutoff for the Chase for the Championship in 13th. Greg Biffle is a disappointing 16th and rookie David Ragan, who replaced Mark Martin in the No. 6 Ford, is 23rd.

The good news for Roush is that McMurray and Edwards are finally on track.

When he signed McMurray to replace 2004 Cup champion Kurt Busch, Roush was hoping McMurray's engaging personality would rub off on some of his new teammates and give the Roush camp a different feel. But McMurray struggled last season and he got down.

"Jamie has had trouble getting from me the things that would put him in this position consistently," Roush said after McMurray's Daytona victory. "And I've had trouble figuring out what I could do to put him in this position consistently.

"So I threw it back to him late last year: 'Jamie, I've made a number of changes in your team, and it didn't work out. You're going to have to help me.' So Jamie went searching for a crew chief. And he came back with Larry Carter. The rebirth of this team is Jamie first and Larry second."

The combination certainly worked at Daytona. Carter's laid-back approach is similar to that of Donnie Wingo, who for several years was McMurray's crew chief at Chip Ganassi Racing.

"When Donnie and Jamie worked together, they ran well every week," Carter said. "So there was never any question in my mind Jamie McMurray could drive a race car. He's a fantastic driver. So I felt this was a good opportunity for me."

Ford has only nine cars competing full time in Nextel Cup, compared to about double that for Chevrolet. But quality matters, and Ford and Roush Fenway are starting to show they may have some.