Matt Kenseth is the only Roush driver who will return in 2007 with the same crew chief. Credit: Autostock

Lack of stability at Roush a concern heading to '07

Kenseth, Reiser only pair to remain together after recent shakeups

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Matt Kenseth would feel better about his chances of winning a second Nextel Cup championship if everything was more stable at Roush Racing.

Team owner Jack Roush announced on Friday that four of his five teams will have new crew chiefs in 2007, with Robbie Reiser and Kenseth the only pair planning to stay intact.

	Pat Tryson will move over to head the No. 16 team with driver Greg Biffle. Credit: Autostock
	TRYSON ON MOVE •   Roush shakeup: Tryson moving to lead No. 16 team Garage PassRoush reshuffles crew chief Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

Pat Tryson will leave the No. 6 car, in which David Ragan will replace Mark Martin, and replace Doug Richert on Greg Biffle's team. Carl Edwards will reunite with Bob Osborne and Jimmy Fennig will leave the Busch program to work with Ragan.

Wally Brown, expected to leave for Joe Gibbs Racing, will finish the season with Jamie McMurray with his full-time predecessor undetermined.

That leaves Richert, who helped Biffle win six races a year ago, either with McMurray or another team outside the organization.

"I don't know what the heck is going on at Roush Racing to be honest with you," said Kenseth, who enters Sunday's race at Phoenix International Raceway 17 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson. "I'm trying to get through the next two weeks and I'm going to worry about that.

"Right now, it seems in somewhat of a mess. We'll see what happens. As a group, Roush Racing hasn't been nearly as strong as it was last year. If we were, we probably would have a better shot at this championship."

A year ago, Roush Racing was NASCAR's premier organization with five cars in the Chase and 15 wins in 36 races. Kenseth and Martin are the only contenders this season, with Martin out of contention in ninth place and 253 points behind with two races left.

The organization has only five wins, Kenseth with four and Biffle with one.

"It started off early in the year with crew chief changes and moving stuff around," said Kenseth, referring to the inaugural shuffle of Osborne and Brown. "It just hasn't been where it was last year, obviously. You can look at the numbers and figure that out.

"I don't know what the heck is going on at Roush Racing to be honest with you." - Matt Kenseth

"I don't know exactly how to fix something. Let's get through these two weeks and then worry about it."

Roush, with the Car of Tomorrow another factor, felt he had to move now. He started by promoting Max Jones from general manager of his Truck and Busch Series programs to GM of his Cup teams.

He followed that with the shuffle of the crew chiefs.

"So for more than a month now I've been having discussions with the drivers about what they think they would need to be better next year than they are this year, or with the case of [Kenseth] to maintain their competitive posture," Roush said.

"As I worked my way through that, it's become clear that there was an opportunity to do some personnel changes around [Biffle]."

Tryson will be allowed to take as many of his crew necessary to make Biffle, who has been dubbed the new leader of Roush Racing with Martin leaving for MB2 Motorsports, a championship team.

	Mark Martin says Jamie McMurray needs a crew chief who will boost his confidence. Credit: Autostock
	Inside the Numbers McMurray in 2006 and 2005 Category 2006 2005 Wins 0 0 Top-Fives 3 4 Top-10s 7 10 Avg. Start 25.1 21.4 Avg. Finish 22.8 16.8 Laps Led 154 39 DNFs 5 4 CREW CHIEF SHUFFLE •   Roush swaps crew chiefs for Nos. 26 and 99 cars again Press PassKenseth talks about Phoenix and the championship battle Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

"He was off a little this year in terms of the technical side and certainly we had some engine problems and we had some crashes," Roush said of Biffle.

"But technically, if we'd been as competitive as we had been in 2005, I believe that some of the issues that we had -- hitting the wall and doing some other things where he's trying to get more out of the car than it could do -- we could have avoided those."

Martin was hoping Tryson would be paired with McMurray, who is 23rd in points in his first season as Kurt Busch's replacement.

"Jamie needs someone that will give him a lot of confidence," he said. "That [Tryson], I believe, would have been the answers to Jamie's struggles."

Richert has had discussions about joining McMurray, but nowhere in the Roush releases or comments was his name mentioned. He said there is a chance he could go to another organization even though he has one year left on his contract.

"There have been several teams that have approached me," he said when asked if Toyota's Team Red Bull had approached him. "I'm in a situation with Roush that has to be rectified before anything."

Richert felt he was unfairly blamed by some for Biffle not making the Chase.

"I don't think I'm done yet," he said.

Martin said Tryson will make Biffle "king" in 2007.

But he admitted the shuffle, not just among crew chiefs, has affected overall performance at Roush Racing.

"The effort has been as good," he said. "The result hasn't, obviously. [Kenseth] has had as good or better result, but they have had less turnover in their team than most teams and they've been able to hang onto it better.

	Doug Richert's future is still unclear, either with Roush or another organization. Credit: Autostock
	BIFFLE CROWNED KING With Mark Martin leaving Roush Racing after 19 years, Jack Roush has labeled Greg Biffle his new team leader.  •   Complete story, click here NASCAR TodayPit crew changes at Phoenix Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

"For the rest of us, we've had to deal with shuffling. Our tools maybe haven't been quite as sharp as they were last year."

Kenseth said the struggles of the organization have kept his team from showing championship form during the Chase even though he's finished no worse than 14th with two top-fives in the last four races.

"Mostly [we've] been pretty strong," he said. "But really, with everybody else kind of struggling and as a group not running as good, it's taken a while, but it's finally caught up to us."

Kenseth said the chemistry on his team has been better than ever, but the overall chemistry at Roush Racing has not.

"It's OK, but it's been different," he said. "There's definitely some different things going on. After 19 years I didn't think we'd ever see Mark Martin leave. That's a big blow to the organization.

"There's been a lot of things that have happened. As a group it's not nearly as strong as it was."

Roush hopes the changes will improve that, saying five cars in the Chase a year ago was not a direct reflection of how the team performed.

"We had run well, but not well enough to have all five in with comparison to the strength and the capability of all the other teams," he said. "But many of the other teams were at the bottom of their cycle and they've rebounded with a vengeance this year.

"Of course, if you're on top, which we were, the conservative nature and the conventional wisdom here is that you want to be slow to make changes because if you fix something that's not broke, it may not work as well as it was before you fixed it."