Rare Roush renaissance at Daytona positive for team

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- In the final restrictor-plate race for the current chassis at Daytona, Jack Roush's crew saved the best for last.

When Jamie McMurray won Saturday night's Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway, it marked the first win for a Roush Fenway Racing Ford at Daytona in four years.

And with all five Roush cars landing in the top 12 at the conclusion of the race, it was the first time Roush had at least three top-10 finishers at Daytona since Greg Biffle's victory in July of 2003.

Lap-by-Lap

Jamie McMurray overcame a penalty to battle through the field for his last-lap victory at Daytona. Read how he did it.

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No wonder the Cat in the Hat was all smiles in Victory Lane, especially when it came to the emotional display by McMurray and crew chief Larry Carter.

"The re-birth of this team, to do what we're doing with it this year, is Jamie first, at the center of it, and Larry second," Roush said. "My hat's off to them for doing such a great job. I'd like to think that everybody within our organization has got the skill sets for their job, they've got the skill sets to do what anybody else can do.

"But the human energy that chemistry brings between a crew chief and an engineer today and a driver is just remarkable. It's necessary to get more out of the people and out of the skills than some of the parts. And to do that, Larry was a godsend to us."

Carl Edwards was a threat to win as well, finishing fourth behind the brothers Busch. He had a bird's eye view of the thrilling finish.

"I was pushing [Kyle Busch] and then [teammate Greg Biffle] was pushing Jamie and a gap opened up, and I thought, 'Well, three Roush cars are better than two,' so I stuck it up there," Edwards said. "I thought about going around and going to the outside, but I thought, no, I'd be a lot better off just pushing him, and he was in a position to win. I'm so glad he won."

Roush said he subscribes to the "driver's code" -- race others the way you want them to race you. But on the last lap, the last turn, he admits that there are no team orders.

"It's every man for himself," Roush said. "The only thing that I've told the guys, the only orders are that you should make an effort to be respectful and to not exacerbate somebody else's problem by causing him to wreck, except for the last corner of the last lap. Then all bets are off. They can do whatever they want."

Biffle wound up sixth, while Matt Kenseth was eighth and David Ragan 12th, the best effort by Roush Fenway since Jeff Burton and Kenseth joined Biffle in the top 10 in the 2003 Pepsi 400.

Still, Roush admits his team is behind when it comes to the Car of Tomorrow. However, Roush Fenway is closing the gap, according to the boss.

"I'd say with the Car of Tomorrow and thinking about the things that we would do and trying to catch up with the seven-poster and agonizing over whether we were going to buy somebody else's tires and go test them like the other guys were doing, those things really had me busy, so we kind of got behind," Roush said. "We didn't run as good at some of the mile-and-a-half tracks as we'd like to, and I think that we're back on track there.

"About five weeks ago, I hired six people and dedicated a tractor trailer and we've been to Iowa and I think we went to Milwaukee four times in the last month, and we've been to Atlanta and to VIR in preparation for Sears Point, so maybe we were complacent. ... We're not caught up on that yet, but we're certainly on the path and we'll be heard from more before the year is over."