Dropping team sure to be tough for Roush Fenway

LAS VEGAS -- Five doesn't divide into four evenly. So if Roush Fenway Racing has to pare one team from its stable of five cars before the start of the 2010 season, which one will it be?

That's the quandary facing the team as it juggles driver and sponsor contracts over the next two seasons. Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle are in the final year of their current contracts but team president Geoff Smith expects both to return.

David Ragan's sponsor, AAA, is leaving at the end of the season but the driver remains under contract. Matt Kenseth's primary sponsor, DeWalt, is signed through 2009. And Crown Royal has a long-term deal with Roush, but not necessarily with Jamie McMurray.

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So what could be purely a business decision for owner Jack Roush and Smith would be a tough one to swallow for someone like Edwards, who has been a fixture in the Roush camp since making his Cup debut at Michigan in 2004.

"I've been fortunate," Edwards said Monday during testing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. "I don't think I've been fired from too many jobs in racing. If that were the case, the deal is just do the best you can. I think anybody in that position would understand that hey, it's what Jack and those guys have to do.

"My personal relationship with Geoff and Jack is always that they've been 100 percent honest with me. They're unbelievable to work with and have been great friends. I'm sure they'd work something out for me."

Roush and Smith would rather spin off a team to Yates Racing, which has entered into a partnership with Roush Fenway. However, that two-car team is struggling to find sponsorship for 2008 -- and even a veteran presence might not be enough to make a difference.

"Right now, the No. 1 thing for those guys over there, to me, appears to be getting sponsors," Edwards said. "You have to keep the morale up in the shop. Everybody has to know there's some security there so you can get everything in place."

If he were to opt for free agency at the end of the season, Edwards would be a prime target for a top ride with another team. However, he said loyalty has been -- and will remain -- one of the major factors in his career decisions.

"With 100 percent certainty, I can say Jack is one of my friends," Edwards said. "Geoff Smith's the same way. So that's a huge deal, the idea that they ran me with a blank car and took all that risk on me, that's a big deal."

"We get along really well. That's the truth. I'm very fortunate. I've had good owners, like Mike Mittler and I got along like that. That makes a big difference, I think."

For now, Edwards would rather concentrate on what's happening on the track instead of what might happen off it.

"I'd rather not comment on my contract stuff," Edwards said. "I just don't want to start anything. All I can do is drive my [butt] off and see how it works out."