The Carl Edwards era at Roush Fenway Racing will soon come to a close.
This morning, the team announced that Greg Biffle, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and the incoming Trevor Bayne will make up its driver lineup for the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season – and that Edwards, who has won 23 Cup races and a Nationwide Series championship (2007) for the team, is moving on.
Biffle and Stenhouse will continue driving their No. 16 and 17 Fords respectively, while former Daytona 500 champion Bayne will make his full-time return to Cup in the No. 6.
“I will always be thankful for Carl’s contribution and the role he played in many Roush Fenway wins and championships,” team owner Jack Roush said in a statement.
“We wish him well for the future. In the meantime, we are excited about continuing our quest for a championship with Carl and the No. 99 team in 2014.”
Additionally, with Edwards’ exit, longtime No. 99 sponsor Fastenal will now become the primary backer for Stenhouse starting next year.
Edwards currently sits sixth in the Sprint Cup standings and is currently the lone Roush driver to have locked himself into this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup by virtue of his two wins at Bristol and Sonoma earlier this year.
He now officially becomes the biggest free agent in the Sprint Cup garage. For months, the Missouri native had maintained silence on his contract situation with Roush and on what his future may hold. However, Edwards has been heavily linked to a new, fourth car at Joe Gibbs Racing for 2015.
As for the team he’ll be leaving behind, Roush Fenway has an interesting mix of drivers in the stable for next year.
Biffle has been with the team since 1998 and has won championships for the team in both the Camping World Truck Series and the Nationwide Series. But now, he’ll be the team’s lone elder statesman, so to speak, while the younger Stenhouse and Bayne continue to come into their own at NASCAR’s top level.
Stenhouse will be entering his third season of Cup racing in 2015, while Bayne will be shifting to a full-time Cup ride after several years of running a full Nationwide schedule for Roush and a part-time Cup schedule for the Wood Brothers.
“The focus of our leadership is going to be with Greg Biffle and the things that he does for the race car and the leadership he provides for the engineering initiatives we’ll take,” Roush said to reporters this morning.
“We had that split with Carl and Greg together this year, so that will be a little different this year. But Ricky is ready to step up, and Trevor’s a Daytona 500 winner and he drives his car with great enthusiasm in the Nationwide Series.
“We’re not going to be in a bad place next, it’s just going to be a little different.”
