“It’s been really tough,” said Biffle after the win. “We’ve worked so hard…It’s been a team effort. The guys at the shop – and everybody have been working really hard on these cars. We had a great run at Chicago, a great run at Indy and we came here and won. It’s a lot of everybody’s hard work paying off right now.”
For Roush Fenway the turnaround could not have come at a better time. A comparison of the two Pocono races could bode well for Roush Fenway as the season heads down the final five-race stretch before the final cut-off point for the “Chase” at Richmond.
At the June 6 Pocono event, Roush Fenway was completely locked out of the top 10, with Carl Edward’s 12th-place run leading the way for the organization. In fact Roush Fenway’s four cars pulled an average finish of 20.75 that day. Flash forward a month to last weekend, and the team would appear to be headed down the correct path. It moved the average finish up to 9.0, while placing two cars inside the top three and winning the race.
Roush Fenway Fords only averaged better than a 15.5 finish once from the 13-race span from March 29 to July 3. However they have accomplished that feat in each of the last three races, while seriously contending to win all three events at Chicagoland, Indy and Pocono.
“That’s a few weeks in a row we’ve run really well,” said Carl Edwards after this third-place finish at Pocono. “That’s what we needed. It’s cool to see a Ford in Victory Lane, especially with everything that happened this week. I feel like we’re building a little bit of momentum towards the Chase and that’s what we need. We haven’t run the way we’ve run in the last month for a long time, so it’s a good day for us.”
The good news for Roush Fenway is despite peaking late, three of its four cars remain solidly in Chase contention as the ‘regular’ season moves down the backstretch. Matt Kenseth is currently ninth, while Edwards is 10th and Biffle is 11th (the top 12 qualify for the 10-race Chase to the Sprint Cup.)
All three are at least 122 points ahead of 13th place as the series rolls into Watkins Glen this weekend for the second and final road course race of the season. After this weekend, races at Michigan, Bristol, Atlanta and Richmond will decide who makes up the 12-car Chase field; tracks where Roush Fenway has combined for 31 Sprint Cup wins. In fact, Michigan (11 wins) and Bristol (10 wins) are the organization’s two most successful tracks on the circuit. The team will look to build on that rich tradition in the coming months, while looking to lock up multiple berths in the “Chase” for the Sprint Cup.
Roush Fenway Racing is NASCAR’s largest team operating eight motorsports teams. Four in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with drivers Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards and David Ragan; and four in the Nationwide Series with Edwards, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Colin Braun, Brian Ickler and Paul Menard. For more information on any of the Roush Fenway Racing teams, log onto www.RoushFenway.com. Become a fan of Roush Fenway Racing on Facebook by going to http://www.facebook.com/roushfenway and follow us on Twitter @roushfenway.
- Roush Fenway Racing, Press Release
