NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
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CUP: Roush Looking For The Point That Matters
Roush Fenway hopes to keep Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth in Chase and recharge Greg Biffle’s team…
Mike Hembree  |  Posted January 24, 2012   Concord, NC
Carl Edwards is among several elite drivers who fell short of expectations in 2012. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
At Roush Fenway Racing, the search for That Point has been ongoing for weeks, even though the start of the 2012 season is a month away.

That Point cost RFR driver Carl Edwards the championship last season. He and Tony Stewart tied atop the final point standings, and Stewart won the tiebreaker (most victories).

A point gained anywhere during the season by Edwards would have tipped the scales in his direction (although, obviously, Stewart and his team could have responded differently in the closing weeks if Edwards had one or more additional points).

“How do you get one more point?” RFR general manager Robbie Reiser repeated the question. “You pass one more car. It shows you how important it is to lead every lap you can.”

RFR put Edwards and Kenseth in the Chase last season, Edwards finishing the close second to Stewart and Kenseth rolling home fourth. Kenseth won three times and Edwards once, and David Ragan added another win. Greg Biffle, in the fourth Roush car, was winless.

RFR will have only three cars – Ragan having moved on – in the Sprint Cup Series this season, and there are two primary targets – put multiple cars in the Chase again, and lift the profile of Biffle’s team.

Biffle had strong cars at several tracks last season, but he was hammered by the worst kinds of luck, couldn’t close out apparent victories and finished 16th in points.

“The 16 car didn’t have the best season,” Biffle said, “but Matt and Carl made the Chase, and Carl tied for the championship. It’s up and down. I’m a believer that you make your own luck, but last year we had the crappiest luck that I’ve ever seen.”

Biffle said his team needs to follow the route blazed by Stewart, who turned a mediocre regular season into a championship run in the Chase.

“They got it turned around a little bit, uprighted the boat, started pumping water out, made the Chase, and the rest is history,” Biffle said. “And that gives me the confidence we can do that.”

Roush is celebrating the 25th anniversary of his NASCAR team this season. He has had 46 drivers over that span, and 17 have won races. The next victory by a Roush driver will be the organization’s 300th.

RFR has what Roush calls “four and one-half teams,” or three Cup, one full-time Nationwide (defending champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr.) and one part-time Nationwide (Trevor Bayne). Roush said he hopes to pick up enough sponsorship to extend Bayne’s ride through the full season.

“We’ve had great luck bringing success to drivers,” Roush said. “We’ve had great drivers that have had great potential when they came to us, and they have been effectively coached.

“Now we’re able to concentrate our best people in the four and one-half programs that survived. That will make us stronger from a personnel point of view.”

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 29 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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