Texas Motor Speedway Equals Roush Fenway Spark

 

If the past indeed is prologue, Saturday’s Samsung Mobile 500 is going to be a very big race for Roush Fenway Racing.
The team is an eight-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series winner at Texas Motor Speedway, more than double the victory total of its two closest rivals Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports – six combined.
Matt Kenseth is the defending winner of Saturday night’s event. His victory, by more than eight seconds over Clint Bowyer, broke a two-year RFR winless streak at the Fort Worth track.
The drought didn’t just end in Victory Lane. Kenseth’s two teammates, Carl Edwards and current points leader Greg Biffle, finished fourth and fifth, respectively. The organization repeated its top-five domination in the track’s fall Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup™ event: Edwards was second to winner Tony Stewart, while Kenseth was fourth with Biffle again fifth.
All three RFR drivers have Texas wins. Edwards boasts three victories, including a sweep in 2008; Kenseth has two and Biffle one. Roush drivers have two season sweeps in 2008 and 2005.
RFR’s performance over the season’s first six races gives every indication the team again will field the cars to beat in the Lone Star State. Kenseth won the Daytona 500; Biffle heads the points and Edwards ranks 11th with a trio of top-10 finishes.
"Texas gives us several lines to race on, so it’s just turned into a place where drivers can take the high line or the low line when it comes to racing for position," said Kenseth. "Texas is just a great fast track with the challenge of relatively flat straightaways and high-banked turns. So it’s a place that can be challenging, but I always look forward to racing there twice a year."
The week’s schedule – practice Thursday and Friday, the latter session followed by qualifying – figures to challenge teams to be ready for a race that begins at 7:30 p.m. EDT (live on FOX).
"We only have one practice (Thursday) that will be around the same time as the race starts, so we’ll spend time on race trim since track conditions should be similar to Saturday," said Jimmy Fennig, crew chief for Kenseth’s No. 17 Ford. "Last November, our car got loose as the race went on and the track rubbered up so we’ll work on those similar situations this weekend in practice."