Can This Be the Year a Roush-Fenway Car Can Get To Victory Lane in Indy?

In the 17 years of the Brickyard 400, Roush Fenway Racing has a total of zero wins.  With all the talented drivers that have driven a Roush Ford, you would have thought by now one of them would have landed in victory lane.

It's not like they've been off or had bad luck, they just could never get over the hump toward the end of the race.

You can blame it on a number of factors.  The main one, I think, is Roush cars always tend to start in the middle of the pack or toward the back.  It's no secret Fords don't usually qualify well at Indy.  Chevrolet has dominated qualifying day for the Brickyard 400 since its inception.  Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson always start in the front, and they're hard to get by.  In a 400-mile race where passing is a hard task, track position is key.

This year is probably the best year for a Roush car to end up in victory lane after 400 miles of racing at the Speedway.

The team as a whole comes in on a high.  Carl Edwards comes in as the Sprint Cup Series Points Leader and has run very well recently at the Brickyard.  David Ragan is trying to fight for a ride next year with Roush and secure his UPS sponsor for next season.  What better way to secure a Chase spot and a sponsor than winning at Daytona and Indy in a one-month span?

Then you can look at Matt Kenseth.  He's always quiet in Indy but always gets the job done.  He's made 11 starts in the Brickyard 400 and has six Top 10 finishes and four Top Fives in that span.

Last but not least, there's Greg Biffle.  After a recent crew chief swap he's looking to grab his first win of the year.  Biffle is the only one of the four Roush boys to not win this season.  What better track than Indy to snag your first win of the year?  Don't forget Biffle sits on the outside looking in right now if the Chase were to start.  He's desperate to get a win and get in the fight for a wild card spot.

Let's also not forget that Biffle, Edwards and Ragan have a combined zero DNFs in the Brickyard and have completed every lap of every race they've been in at Indy.  Kenseth, the other Roush Fenway driver, has only one DNF, and that came back in 2001 on the second lap of the race.