CUP: Roush Fenway Fords Fast

Sprint Cup

CUP: Roush Fenway Fords Fast

Jack Roush will have three of the first four cars on the Daytona 500 starting grid...

SPEED Staff | Posted February 24, 2012 Daytona Beach, FL

Best Buy will continue its sponsorship role with Roush Fenway Racing next season and will be the “anchor” sponsor for Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s No. 17 car. (Photo: Getty Images)

Article by NASCAR Wire Service

For all the talk about tandem racing leading up to Daytona's Speedweeks, Roush Fenway Racing may have the ultimate three-car push in store for Sunday's Daytona 500.

Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle will occupy the first two spots when the green flag falls on the 54th running of The Great American Race. Matt Kenseth earned the fourth starting position by winning the second Gatorade Duel qualifying race Thursday. Tony Stewart won the other qualifier, making him the only non-Roush driver in the first two rows.

With close proximity among Ford stablemates at the start of the race, teamwork would seem to be in order. After bypassing Biffle for his Duel win, Kenseth said that's not necessarily so.

"Certainly, I think you race all day. You just race to try to have yourself in the best position," Kenseth said. "Like always, you're going to try the best you can to take care of your teammates as good as you can.

"Obviously, if it's multiple choice at the end, you're going to get the same answer for yourself. Obviously, you're going to go with a teammate instead of going somewhere else when it comes down to the end of the race."

Daytona International Speedway has produced an odd lot of results for longtime team owner Jack Roush. His cars have won five times in points-paying races, but just once in the Daytona 500 when Kenseth scored a rain-shortened victory in 2009. Roush also has four runner-up finishes in the 500, the most recent coming last year when Edwards ran second to Trevor Bayne.

Kenseth's win marked the first qualifying race triumph for Roush in 25 years of trying, leading the car owner to feign embarrassment over his lack of success in the Thursday preliminary.

If any of Roush's drivers plan to make it to Victory Lane in Sunday's main event, they'll have to be mindful of keeping their engines cool with their choice of drafting tactics. In Thursday's Duels, drivers reported water temperatures inching toward the perilous 300-degree mark -- the product of NASCAR's rules limiting engine cooling in an effort to curb two-car tandem racing.

While the reviews of the rules were mixed among drivers, Roush seemed pleased that his motors were able to withstand the heat.

"Whatever they do is fine," Roush said. "It's the same for everybody. I hope it's not a lot different than what we had today. Today was a good dry run."

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