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Jack Roush Outspoken in Victory
3/3/08: SOZ Studios, MI - By Dennis Michelsen "DMIC" (RaceTalkRadio.com)
Last year I was shocked when the Roush-Fenway drivers got off to a slow start with the Car of Tomorrow. After all this was new technology and Jack Roush is a wizard at coming up with new ways to do things! So why did they get behind? Did Jack Roush think the COT unveiling would be delayed so he put all his time into the old car? Were the other teams just better at the new design because they had better ideas for how to handle the change? According to Jack Roush it was simpler than that. It was all about following the rules!
Getting Off to Slow Start with COT
"We got behind on testing last year because I misjudged what NASCAR was going to do with the stated testing policy," said Jack Roush. "We did the testing according to plan. When I asked the guys how we could be so far behind (After Bristol) they said other teams have been testing for thousand of miles." When he was pressed whether they just got behind or didn't focus enough on testing Jack Roush had an interesting response. He mentioned that it wasn't about focus but rather about adhering to the new testing rules that NASCAR put in place. "If I had been the first team testing or been the only team out there I am sure I would be penalized. I expected other teams to be penalized but NASCAR didn't do that and we got behind."
Editor's Note: The complete interview with Jack Roush and the top three finishers from the UAW-Dodge 400 can be heard on www.racetalkradio.com" www.racetalkradio.com all day on Monday on the replay of "Couch Potato Corner." (Or on the archive) Each Sunday night Lori Munro and Dennis Michelsen bring you a review of the weekend in racing. Featured during the show is live audio from the NASCAR media center after each Sprint Cup event!
Back on Top
Roush-Fenway has shown with back-to-back wins that their Fords are just as good (if not better) than the Hendrick Motorsports Chevys or the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas. But even more impressive is the overall strength of the Roush-Fenway teams! Three of the team's drivers finished in the top ten. Matt Kenseth would have made that number four if Jeff Gordon had not spun him in the late going. Only one of Roush-Fenway's five teams is outside of the top twenty in points. Fifteen times in 2005 the Roush Fords went to Victory Lane. Last season they only won seven races with six wins in 2006. Could these back-to-back wins by Carl Edwards be a sign that Roush-Fenway is back to their 2005 form? Last season Hendrick won half the races. Could Roush-Fenway match that record this year?
NASCAR Parity
The new car design has put the racing back in the hands of the drivers. Three of Roush-Fenway's drivers are as good handling a loose racecar as anyone in NASCAR! This new car design might bring out the best in the talented Crew Chiefs that Jack Roush has assembled. While the season is just three races old we appear to have parity among the brands and teams. Seven different teams are represented in the top twelve. Thirteen different drivers have posted top five finishes with twenty-one different drivers posting top tens. That might make dominance as the kind shown by Hendrick last season and Roush in 2005 unlikely. Jack Roush and some of the other owners were behind Rick Hendrick last season on the new car. It is very obvious Jack Roush caught up!
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