Roush has built dynasty of dominance in NBS

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- When talking about dominant teams in NASCAR, the word dynasty is rarely used.

Maybe Petty Enterprises in the 1960s and 70s, Junior Johnson & Associates in the 1970s and 80s and Richard Childress Racing and Hendrick Motorsports in the 1990s could be considered dynasties.

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But that's in NASCAR's top series. In the Busch Series, there is only one dynasty: Roush Racing.

"That's a good word: dynasty," Jack Roush said.

And it's accurate. Even tough Roush Racing has won only one Busch Series championship, Roush-owned cars have won 64 times, including last weekend's Diamond Hill Plywood 200 at Darlington Raceway. That's more than twice the amount of the No. 2 owner on the all-time list, Jack Ingram with 30.

At Darlington, where Roush had a 1-2 finish with Greg Biffle winning and Jeff Burton finishing second, Roush Racing has won 13 of the 43 Busch races held there. Ed Whitaker is a distant second with four victories.

	Jeff Burton won five races for Roush in 2002 alone. Credit: Autostock

"The guys have had good notes," said Roush, deferring credit to his teams. "Brad Parrott was (Biffle's) crew chief (Saturday), and he was crew chief for Jeff Burton here. ... There's a lot of history in the Ford Busch team that Roush runs out of Mooresville. They had a good combination with both guys being up front."

Good combination? That's putting it mildly. Biffle and Burton combined to lead nine times for 93 of the 147 laps and all but intimidated the field.

"Those guys will be good here forever and ever," third-place David Green said. "That's a drivers dream to have that kind of support. Greg Biffle will tell you he's lucky to have that situation."

VIDEO CLIPS Greg Biffle holds off his teammate, cruises to victory Play video Biffle wins at IRP in 2002 Play video Jeff Burton takes Las Vegas in 2002 Play video Biffle clinches the 2002 Busch Series title Play video

Kyle Busch, whose older brother drives for Roush's Cup team, wanted to drop in behind Biffle and Burton to try to learn as much as he can.

"I knew those guys were going to fly," Busch said.

But Busch couldn't keep up. Of course, no one could Saturday.

One might think that such a strong performance would be a boost to Burton, who has struggled the last couple of years in Cup. But Burton has won 16 Busch Series races, so finishing second isn't what he wants.

"We did run real strong," Burton said. "We just didn't make the right call at the end, and that falls on my shoulder. I told them what to do with the car, and we didn't do the right thing."

Biffle's team did and was a tenth of a second quicker down the stretch.

"When you don't make the right call, it needs to hurt," Burton said. "And it does hurt.

"I hate to sound like a spoiled brat, but the last four races we've run here - the last three I won except for today. I'm a little disappointed that we didn't win."

	Mark Martin leads the Busch Series with 45 career wins.

But at least he got beat by a Roush teammate. That might sooth the pain a little bit.

For Roush, Biffle's victory soothed the pain of losing his father last week. Charlie Roush died Tuesday morning, and Jack's mind was elsewhere most of last week.

"I lost my father on Tuesday of this week," Roush said. "The Roush family has got a big hole in it right now. To all the folks in Adams County, Ohio, this is for you guys."

And it's a credit to the crew members and leadership of Roush Racing's Busch Series program.

"We have great people that have been with us a long time," Roush said. "We have young drivers that have come in with great potential like Greg and Mark Martin a few years ago, and Jeff Burton, and, of course, now Kurt Busch and Matt Kenseth. We've had just a continuum of people that were incredibly talented that have brought their energies and their potentials and they have basked in the sunshine that the folks that they were sharing space with brought and the ones that preceded them."

And what has it equaled? A dynasty.