Roush pushing hard in '08 after falling behind in '07

CONCORD, N.C. -- A year ago, Jack Roush stood in front of a roomful of tape recorders, television cameras and microphones in his race shop and basically declared war on Toyota.

One year later, Roush stood in the auditorium of what is now known as Roush Fenway Racing and stated flatly that had Toyota spent its money more wisely last year, it might have fared better in NASCAR's premier division. Roush also apologized to fans of his race team and his own longtime manufacturer, Ford, for what he admitted was an underachieving 2007 season.

Speaking directly to Edsel Ford, the great-grandson of company founder Henry Ford who was in the audience during the final stop on the Sprint Cup media tour hosted by Lowe's Motor Speedway, Roush said: "I hope we get it right this year. We're going to work on it."

Actually, they've been working on it like madmen not only all offseason, but since late May of last season. That was when Roush finally admitted -- first to himself, then to everyone else -- that he and his organization had missed the boat by not bending NASCAR testing rules fully to their advantage in Car of Tomorrow testing.

Asked again Thursday how he could allow it to happen, Roush grimaced and replied: "I've got myself up on the cross here. I said it was my fault. I guess one more spear is not going to hurt."

Director of Ford Racing Dan Davis came to Roush's defense and said Roush wasn't the only one to blame for what happened last season. He said he also misunderstood what the governing body would permit in testing on non-Goodyear tires on tracks that weren't sanctioned by NASCAR. By the time he and Roush realized they had fallen almost hopelessly behind, there was only so much they could do about it for 2007.

"The best thing we could do at that point was to regroup and just go like hell. And, boy, I tell you what: in the last six months my view is that we're really pushing it hard," Davis said. "We're testing everywhere we go and all kinds of vehicles. And I feel like we're all caught up. Sometimes you have to get a little bit behind and maybe get embarrassed a little to get your [stuff] together. I guess I feel like that's where we're at -- and now it's together. So this year, look out."

It's not like Roush Fenway Racing or Ford was totally hapless last season. Their drivers won a total of seven races -- Carl Edwards won three, Matt Kenseth two and Greg Biffle and Jamie McMurray one each -- but Roush said that was "only about half of what we should have won." (Continued)