GM says Roush-Fenway poised for success
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By NICK DETTMANN
West Bend Daily News
HARTFORD, Wis. (AP) — Like many teams in NASCAR, Roush-Fenway Racing has spent the past five-plus years playing catch up to Hendrick Motorsports.
Robbie Reiser, an Allenton native and Roush-Fenway’s general manager, said he believes teams have closed the gap, especially at the Roush- Fenway shop. Thus, history could be in the making at Roush-Fenway, not at Hendrick Motorsports.
‘‘This season here, we have put a lot of effort into it,’’ Reiser said. ‘‘I would like to say we put more effort into it than any other year, but that’d be wrong. We put the effort in every season. But this year, to get our company turned around and to have the season we’ve had, not only from the (Sprint) Cup side, but the Nationwide side has been spectacular.’’
Reiser spoke at a recent induction ceremony for the Southeastern Wisconsin Short-Track Hall of Fame where his late father and Reiser Enterprises founder, John Reiser, was honored.
In 1994, Reiser formed Reiser Enterprises in Denver, N.C., as a venture into NASCAR with the hope his son, Robbie, would drive the car. In 1997, the team hired Matt Kenseth. It was Kenseth’s break into NASCAR and six years later he won the then-Winston Cup championship with Robbie Reiser as his crew chief. John Reiser died of cancer in 2005.
‘‘It really would’ve meant a lot to him,’’ said Robbie Reiser about his father’s honor. ‘‘It really means a lot to the family. I miss him every day.’’
Roush-Fenway Racing is on the verge of winning two series championships in NASCAR this season. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. leads the Nationwide standings, while Carl Edwards leads the Sprint Cup standings with two races remaining in the season. Stenhouse leads Elliott Sadler by 17 points, while Edwards leads red hot Tony Stewart, who has won four of the eight Chase races so far, by three points. One car owner has never won a Nationwide and Sprint Cup championship in the same season. Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports, won the Sprint Cup and Craftsman Truck Series title in 2001.
‘‘For all the employees, the people that work at Roush-Fenway Racing, they’ve done one hell of a job for us to be standing where we’re at,’’ Reiser said. ‘‘Last year, we weren’t competitive in any of the series’. This year, we’ve got the chance to bring all the championships home. Great effort from everybody.’’
Roush-Fenway hasn’t won a Sprint Cup championship since Kurt Busch won the 2004 title. In 2007, Edwards won the Nationwide championship for Roush-Fenway. Hendrick Motorsports has owned the championship-winning car in each of the past five seasons, specifically Jimmie Johnson.
In 2003, Reiser was the crew chief for Kenseth when he won the Winston Cup championship for Roush.
‘‘The ‘03 season is special because it was done the Earnhardt, the Petty, the Yarbourgh way,’’ Reiser said. ‘‘You had to race all year long. Being that was the last Winston Cup, it’s got its own meaning. But when the world changed and we went to the Chase, this has been a different type of championship. Getting ourselves prepared and ready to run these last 10 races, I believe our company has learned how to do that now. I think we’ve really put together a quality effort this year and should have an opportunity to bring this thing home.’’
Roush-Fenway had struggled the past couple years. Between 2006 and 2010, Roush-Fenway won 31 Sprint Cup races out of a possible 726 starts. Hendrick has won 53 races, while Joe Gibbs Racing has 41 victories. This season, Roush-Fenway has won 16 races between the Nationwide and Sprint Cup series.
‘‘We’re racing against our own cars,’’ Reiser said. ‘‘That’s pretty exciting. We’ve got a lot of great things going on. We’ve got a lot of great opportunities to run like this for years.’’
But it hasn’t been all good for Roush-Fenway. Most notably for Kenseth who is currently without a sponsor for the 2012 Sprint Cup season. His current sponsor Crown Royal announced earlier this year it wouldn’t return. Reiser said he and the team aren’t overly worried about getting Kenseth a sponsor for next season.
‘‘The business side of stock car racing is always tough,’’ Reiser said. ‘‘We will deal with that every year. But we’ve got a lot to sell with what we’re doing right now. There’s a lot of upside to what we’ve got going on.’’
