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BENTON: Roush Fenway hitting home runs

Published July 11, 2007 at midnight

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Roush Fenway Racing seems to have regained its swagger.

Five Roush cars finished in the top 12 on Saturday in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

Two Roush drivers, third-place Matt Kenseth and sixth-place Carl Edwards, currently are eligible to compete in the Chase for the Cup, and a third, Jamie McMurray, is on the bubble to make the Chase in 13th place. In 2005, Roush Racing drivers compiled 15 wins and had five of the 10 drivers in the Chase.

Roush had two Chase drivers last season and owner Jack Roush admitted to falling behind this year on testing the Car of Tomorrow.

But he had a warning for other teams after the Pepsi 400.

"I was maybe complacent about the mile-and- half stuff we had in the past, thinking it was good enough and at the same time got behind doing things, that say, the Hendrick organization was doing to its advantage as related to the testing of the Car of Tomorrow," he said. "We're not caught up on that yet, but we're certainly on the path and we'll be heard from more before the year is over."

There are eight races left until the Chase begins and McMurray is 49 points behind Dale Earnhardt Jr., who is in the 12th and final Chase eligible spot.

"I think everybody in the top 15 thinks they are going to make the Chase," McMurray said. "If you're within a couple hundred points, you feel like you can make that up. We're running well enough to make it but you can't make any mistakes or have any failures."

In 2005, Kenseth was 16th in the standings and 202 points out of the Chase with eight races remaining before the cutoff. He earned a spot by putting together six top-10 finishes, including a win. He finished seventh in the final standings.

Home cooking

This weekend will be a homecoming of sorts for Tony Raines, driver of the No. 96 Chevrolet.

He grew up in LaPorte, Ind., which is a 90-minute drive from Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., the site of Sunday's USG Sheetrock 400.

But LaPorte is only 2 1/2 hours from Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where the July 29 Nextel Cup race will be held, and three hours from Michigan International Speedway, which hosts two Cup races.

"There are probably more people at Chicagoland that I know than at other racetracks, but I don't know if I'd call it a 'home' track," Raines said. "I didn't grow up going there because it wasn't built yet.

"I don't know if Indianapolis Motor Speedway is my home track, but I do think out of all the racetracks I run in the Midwest, I get up the most for Indy because I enjoy driving it. It's a tough track and there is a ton of history at Indy. It's like playing golf at Augusta. It's just the place to be."

Pit stops

• McMurray, coming off a disappointing 2006 season, won his first race in five years Saturday night at Daytona. It was one of 10 races out of 18 this season that have ended with victory margins of less than 1 second.

McMurray's .005 of a second triumph over Kyle Busch tied for the second-closest since the advent of NASCAR's electronic timing and scoring in 1993.

The Busch brothers have been losers in two of the three closest races.

McMurray's win tied Dale Earnhardt's victory over Ernie Irvan on July 25, 1993, at Talladega. The closest win was March 16, 2003, when Ricky Craven edged Kurt Busch by .002 of a second at Darlington Raceway.

• There was a mixed blessing for NASCAR regarding television ratings. The 4.1 rating for TNT's July 1 race at New Hampshire was down from 4.8 for the same race on the same network a year ago. However, the race was the most viewed sporting event of the weekend.

• This is the part of the schedule where hot weather can take its toll on drivers.

Jimmie Johnson likes to get prepared by riding a bike as much as he can.

"Cycling is great," he said. "I can get probably 80 to 100 miles in a week on a cycle, and it really helps for the duration of time that you find yourself in a race car and also with the heat and hydration aspect. It's great training."

• Reed Sorenson, David Stremme and Juan Pablo Montoya, three drivers for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, will watch the San Francisco Giants play the Chicago Cubs on Monday at Wrigley Field. All three will sing Take Me Out to The Ball Game and Sorenson will throw the ceremonial first pitch.

"I threw the first pitch at Wrigley Field a couple years ago and I didn't make it to the plate," Sorenson said. "Needless to say, I got booed and laughed at. I'm hoping to redeem myself this time around."