(By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service)
Posted: Sunday,July 31st, 2011
INDIANAPOLIS—It is something of an anomaly that, in the midst of one of its most successful seasons, Roush Fenway Racing is beleaguered by uncertainty.
That doesn’t mean, however, the organization isn’t trying to keep the gang together.
Carl Edwards is in limbo during contract negotiations with RFR and others, most notably Joe Gibbs Racing. The rumor mill already has Edwards leaving Roush and driving for Gibbs next year.
David Ragan, Saturday’s pole winner at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, is in a contract year. Simultaneously, RFR is negotiating to retain Ragan’s sponsor, UPS. Matt Kenseth has inventory to fill on the hood of his No. 17 Ford, after Crown Royal announced its impending departure as his primary sponsor.
Carl Edwards, driver of the #99 Subway Ford, speaks with crew chief Bob Osborne after qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on February 26, 2011 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
Greg Biffle, re-signed with primary sponsor 3M intact, is the only driver whose program doesn’t require immediate attention. Otherwise, team owner Jack Roush and the rest of the company brass have plenty of work to do.
“I can’t speak to Carl’s thought process, although we’ve had a lot of good conversations,” said Steve Newmark, who succeeded Geoff Smith as president of RFR last year. “I can only tell you that my view and Jack’s view is that Roush Fenway is the right place for him, not only this year but into the future. Ultimately, he’s going to make the decision on what he thinks is the best for him.”
Performance isn’t the issue. Edwards leads the Sprint Cup Series standings. All four RFR drivers have at least realistic shots at qualifying for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Trevor Bayne, under contract to Roush, won the season-opening Daytona 500 in February. Bayne and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are running strong in RFR Nationwide Series cars, with Stenhouse a contender for the series championship.
If RFR has to replace Edwards, the organization first will look in-house, but Newmark would rather avoid that situation.
“We’ve got a driver development program for a reason, and we’re extremely excited about having Ricky and Trevor in our stable, and that would be our first look,” Newmark said. “We have not spoken to other drivers outside of our camp, but we obviously wouldn’t preclude any conversations.
“The goal—same as it was a few months ago—is to remain status quo and have the same four Cup drivers that we have now, because we think it’s starting to be a pretty good match when you look at where we are still, potentially having four positioned to be in the Chase. And then you look at how well Trevor and Ricky are running in Nationwide—it’s been an ideal season for us on the track.”
Newmark can only hope the team’s strong performance will be enough to sway Edwards.
“We’ve all kind of parsed—or the media has parsed—every statement that Carl has made, in part because he’s given very few of them,” Newmark said. “We understood that, and we sat down with him from the beginning, and he said, ‘I don’t want this to be public, and I’m going to maintain a very uniform approach to say that I’m not going to discuss it.’
“We have our discussions with him, and those are the discussions that matter to me.”
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