Carl Edwards is fourth in points in the Sprint Cup standings. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Bristol Motor Speedway isn’t a place that most people associate as being one of Roush Fenway Racing best tracks, but the team has won four consecutive Bristol night races — Matt Kenseth triumphing in 2005-06 and Carl Edwards the last two seasons.
And with just three races left until the Chase for the Sprint Cup field is determined, the Roush squad needs to build some momentum in a big way. The team has gone 21 consecutive Cup races without a victory, and Kenseth is the only Roush Fenway driver to win at all this season.
Edwards, who is fourth in points, is a lock to make the Chase. But Greg Biffle and Kenseth are in grave danger of missing it. Biffle is 10th, just 42 points ahead of 13th-place Brian Vickers, while 11th-place Kenseth is in the Chase by a razor-thin margin of 32 points.
More to the point, perhaps, if one of the Roush drivers is to seriously contend for the title, the team needs to start showing the pace of the leading Stewart-Haas Racing and Hendrick Motorsports teams. And the drivers know it.
“I feel like we’re getting better,” Edwards said last Friday at Michigan International Speedway, where he went on to finish fourth in the Carfax 400 on Sunday. “I feel like we’re getting close. We still need to be better. I feel like Jimmie (Johnson) and the 48 are the guys to beat. Obviously, Tony’s (Stewart) really good. He’s accumulated a lot more points than anyone else so far this season. I feel like he’s right there, neck and neck, with them.”
So the challenge for the Roush Fenway squad is to get their Fords faster between now and the start of the Chase, as well as to make sure Biffle and Kenseth get in at all.
