Roush Fenway Racing
Roush Racing became Roush Fenway Racing in February 2007, when the Fenway Sports Group obtained a 50% partnership in the team.
One of the NASCAR’s most successful racing teams is undoubtedly Roush Racing. Starting as a small branch of an already successful automotive engineering and road-racing equipment business, it was founded by owner Jack Roush in 1988. His operation is in Livonia, in Michigan, but the cornerstone of Roush Racing is located in Concord, situated in North Carolina, and home to their NASCAR operations.
Since the start of Roush Racing they have only competed in cars that carry the Ford badge. In the Nextel Cup, Roush competes with the Ford Fusion, and the Ford Fusion can also be seen in the Busch Series. For the Craftsman Truck Series, Roush competes with a Ford F-150. Roush Racing is also the proud winner of the Nextel Cup Championship consecutively for two years. Matt Kenseth brought the win home in 2003 and Kurt Busch was responsible for the win in 2004.
It is not surprising that Roush has the biggest Nextel Cup Series operation that includes a part time team and five teams that are full time. When Roush Racing was founded, they had established the company around the ownership of five cars. This does not only benefit the Roush Racing team, but assists other teams with the sharing of information and of resources, including the improvements that are made to performance. A partnership between Robert Yates Racing and Roush Racing led to the 2004 season car being provided with Roush-Yates Engines. This team effort is now known to produce some of the most impressive engines that NASCAR has seen.
Roush Racing’s very first car that raced in NASCAR was their No.6 Stroh’s Light Ford. The year was 1988 and the race was the Daytona 500. After suffering engine failure after 19 laps, driver Mark Martin found himself finishing in 41st place. This unfortunate event did not discourage Martin in any way, and later in the season he had won a pole position and found himself achieving ten finishes in the top 10. In 1989, with one year of experience, Martin and Roush showed the NASCAR world exactly what they were up against by taking six pole positions, increasing their top 10 position finishes to 18 and securing a win at the North Carolina Speedway. In addition to these successes, the championship points put them in third place.
And as the old saying goes: ‘The rest is history’. Roush Fenway Racing is a name that is known worldwide and has grown into one of the biggest success stories of all time. It is a name that has delivered only the best, and has left its mark on NASCAR for years to come.