Roush missing from Pocono, but still in action

LONG POND, Pa. -- This weekend at Pocono Raceway isn't the first time team owner Jack Roush has been absent from a Cup Series venue as an event opened, but he's not disconnected from what's going on with his Roush Fenway Racing.

And for sure he's not far from the hearts and minds of his four teams and their dozens of members here for Sunday's Sunoco Red Cross 500.

Missing Jack

Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and Jeff Burton explain how Jack Roush will be missed and how they feel about the owner.

• Watch video

"Really, our focus [Friday] is on Jack and we're all wishing him a speedy recovery," Carl Edwards said. "It sounds like he's doing very well considering the circumstances, so that's all of our focus [Friday] -- Jack."

Roush, 68, is still a patient at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., following a crash while landing his private jet in Oshkosh, Wis., Tuesday. He underwent surgery for facial injuries Wednesday.

• CNN: Watch video of Roush exiting crashed plane

At a typical race weekend, Roush generally prowls the garage and motor home lot, meeting with his lieutenants, reading spark plugs and alternately offering counsel or critiques, as needed.

Edwards, who drives Roush Fenway's No. 99 Ford, laughed when he was asked how much he'd miss Roush this weekend.

"I won't miss Jack yelling at me, telling me what to do," Edwards said. "But Jack is a guy who can drive a race car, he can tune the engine, he can build anything, he can help the crew chiefs with setups -- so we're definitely gonna miss him here at the race track."

Max Jones, president and general manager of Roush Fenway Ford affiliate Richard Petty Motorsports and a former Roush Racing sports car driver and stock car manager, had real emotion on his face and in his voice when he said how much he missed not having Roush at the track, but he was also realistic about the circumstances, which also happened in 2002 when Roush was critically injured when he crashed an experimental lightweight aircraft..

"This has happened before, and everyone on the [Roush Fenway] organization is real good at stepping-up and making sure everything is handled," Jones said. "And you know Jack is not going to get too far out of touch with things. From what I understand he's already been on the phone with some of the guys."

Steve Newmark, Roush Fenway's senior vice president of business operations who's at Pocono on Friday and Saturday, said there was no one who could simply step into Roush's shoes and cover his role at the track, but that didn't mean the organization would lose ground, either.

"There's no question Jack is the heart and soul of the organization," Newmark said. "But he's done a great job of establishing the organization to be in a position where it can operate self-sufficiently whether he's around or not."

Newmark said Robbie Reiser, RFR's general manager who day-to-day runs the competition department, wouldn't arrive in Pocono until Sunday due to the suddenness of Roush's absence. But moving forward, until Roush returned, Newmark said Reiser might spend more time at the track.

"I'm definitely not going to be standing in Jack's shoes," Newmark said. "I'm clearly on the business and corporate side helping out from the media perspective but the bottom line is, I don't think it will be a lot different from most weekends, with the crew chiefs and engine guys getting the cars ready -- and if there are any issues I'm sure they'll be in touch with Robby.

"Essentially, from our perspective Robbie and his team, along with the crew chiefs, are primarily responsible for making sure that the cars are fast and reliable. [Reiser] works that during the week and then essentially passes the baton to Jack, who takes over in support of the crew chiefs when he's on the ground at the track.

"Of course, Jack is the most visible and in Jack's temporary absence from the track I think you'll see Robbie come and play that role -- but it's been fairly seamless between those two."

Edwards also said he expected that to occur sooner rather than later.

"I have a feeling as tough as Jack is and as dedicated as he is to all of this and all of us -- and all of you [media] guys for that matter -- just the whole sport," Edwards said. "I think he'll be back real soon. I don't see him missing too much time at the race track."

It seems, for sure, he'll be wearing out his men and women's cell phones.

"I'm not sure when he began doing that," Newmark said. "His family is with [Roush] and I assume he would be in touch with Evan Lyle, the president of Roush Industries, but our focus has been on making sure [Roush] has the support that he needs and when you step back I think everyone in the Roush Fenway family is pretty relieved that, under the circumstances, there were no life-threatening injuries."

Edwards, who also has his pilot's license, said viewing video, though somewhat gruesome of Roush's Beechcraft Premier, which was broken in half in the crash, was the biggest relief he had in the incident.

"I haven't spoken to Jack," Edwards said Friday morning. "That was the greatest thing in the world to see him walk out of that airplane. It's like they say, 'any landing you can walk away from is a good landing,' so we're just glad he's OK.

"I have flown into Oshkosh a couple of times in my jet and it's amazing. They get more planes in and out of there than anywhere I've ever seen, so it's very tight quarters and there are a lot of planes stacked up -- one behind the other, all at varying speeds -- so it's a high-pressure situation for the guys controlling from the ground and for the pilots."

Edwards, as many of his fellow athletes did Friday, said the accident would not affect his aviation future.

"Flying is inherently dangerous -- you're defying gravity and it's complex," Edwards said. "But I think until we really know what happened -- I mean, I don't know what happened. I've flown in [to Oshkosh]. I'm as close to the situation as anyone. I'm a pilot and I still don't understand exactly what happened.

"I think it'll be really interesting to see what Jack has to say and how what went down, went down. You've got to take safety really seriously. The Cessna Citation that I fly is serviced by the Citation Service Centers. We make sure that everything is up to snuff all the time, but it is a reminder, I think, to all of us.

"All of us fly on private planes at one point or another and we're all going all over the place, and it's a reminder that safety is more important than being there on time or any of the things we usually worry about."

His teammate, Greg Biffle who also flies airplanes and helicopters, agreed.

"Guys are gonna race just to race," Biffle said. "I think we all have to travel. We all know what we go through and take as many precautions as possible. The planes are much safer today than when we had the last tragic plane crash in the sport, just like our race cars are.

"You can almost compare it to that because the planes have proximity ground warning systems and lots of things, so our aircrafts are a lot safer. You look at [Roush's crash] and I think it's an isolated deal. I think the situation just arose and things can happen in a hurry. I'm a pilot and things can happen in a hurry."

Related:
• Roush transferred to Mayo Clinic in Minnesota
• Roush remains hospitalized after plane crash