Team owner Jack Roush (Left) talks with driver Carl Edwards (Right). (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Buoyed by a new Ford engine and the tireless efforts of all four teams, Roush Fenway appears headed for a turnaround. It would not be surprising to see Edwards, Biffle or Matt Kenseth win in the next few weeks.

Though Roush will be sorely missed while he recovers from his injuries, the crash won’t be a setback for the organization, which is one of the deepest in NASCAR and has capable leaders like team president Geoff Smith and competition director Robbie Reiser, not to mention a host of veteran crewmen and crew chiefs.

In 2002, Roush Racing was in the midst of one of its finest seasons when Roush’s plane went down.

Prior to the crash, Kenseth had won two races and teammate Kurt Busch one. Four weeks after the crash, Mark Martin won for Roush at Charlotte.

Kenseth went on to win five races that year and Busch won four. They combined to win four of the last five races of the season and Martin finished just 38 points behind Tony Stewart in the race for the championship.

The following year, Kenseth gave Roush his first Cup championship and, a year later, Busch won the inaugural Chase.

As Roush recovered from his injuries and the death-defying experience, the organization he built never missed a beat, continuing to win races and challenging for the series championship.

“The reason that we are here is because of Jack,” Burton said a day after the 2002 crash. “I don’t think people realize that everything he has built, it started from racing.”

“If I know Jack,” Kenseth said shortly after Roush’s first plane crash, “he’d be upset if we didn’t get down to business and go on with racing as hard as we can.”

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Roush and his organization proved that in 2002. As he recovered, Roush vowed to come back stronger than ever, and he did.

“I won’t pull back, I won’t work any less hard, I won’t be any less competitive, I won’t be less than I can be every day of my life,” he said eight days after the 2002 crash. “I’ll do everything I can with all the areas and opportunities in front of me. That’s my standard.”

It is still his standard today.

Roush Fenway Racing will be fine while its leader and co-owner recovers from his latest brush with death.

And when he returns, he and his organization will be as strong as ever.

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