Jack Roush discussed engines and testing near the end of the afternoon session on day two of testing from Daytona International Speedway Friday afternoon.
Jack Roush, owner Roush Fenway Racing – HAVE YOU RECOVERED FROM THE DISAPPOINTMENT OF LAST SEASON YET? “Well, I don’t like short jokes much. We only missed one spot and the tie breaker is what got us.”
THERE IS A LOT GOING ON WITH THE ENGINE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A LONG TIME AND NASCAR IS TRYING TO GET THIS TWO-CAR TANDEM TO BREAK UP A BIT. HOW IS EVERYTHING GOING? “Well, it is to be determined. We still don’t know exactly what is going to happen. Right now our Ford engines are only good for about 9100 RPM and it looks like with what we are seeing today we need 9500 to make it work. So that sends us back to work on it unless they change the gear rule. I have to have a conversation with John Darby before I leave today. I can’t be here tomorrow but before I leave today I have to find out what I should be working on. If the gear rules go open then we know to leave the engine alone. If they bring the chip and/or keep us with the gears we’ve got then we’ve got a lot of work to do on the engine.”
ULTIMATELY THOUGH, IF YOU DO HAVE TO DO WORK ON THE ENGINE, DO YOU THINK TO THE BEST OF YOUR UNDERSTANDING THIS TWO-CAR TANDEM WILL STILL BE THE THING TO WIN THE RACE OR WILL IT GET IN LINE WITH THE PACK RACING? “NASCAR has seemed pretty determined to break up the two-car thing but as long as the tire is as good as they are and the cars have as much down force as they do and the cars handle really good and you don’t really upset the car when you get together. It becomes of you wind up controlling them by making the engines so they can’t operate in a range when they push like that or do they come back and do it with the cooling system. They’ve got one of those things to work with and my guess is there will be some serious compromise based on the fact that someone is going to complain that their hardware is not right for the rules they are given.”
Ford Racing
