Roush is ready for a fight

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Roush is ready for a fight

Team owner gearing up for Toyota's entrance into NASCAR

02:03 AM CST on Thursday, January 25, 2007

By RICHARD DURRETT / The Dallas Morning News

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CONCORD, N.C. – Nextel Cup team owner Jack Roush is worried about Toyota's entrance into NASCAR this season. He's concerned that the new manufacturer to the Cup circuit will outspend everybody and change the financial landscape for team owners and sponsors.

But to Roush, worry and concern doesn't mean he's scared.

"I don't back away from a good fight," Roush said Wednesday during NASCAR's annual media tour. "We're going to war with them and they should give us their best shot. We will not be intimidated by any new team or manufacturer that comes out. Toyota will not find that established teams will wither in their path as they have seen elsewhere."

But Roush is working on obtaining reinforcements for the new season. He said he joined engine programs with Robert Yates Racing, another Ford team, a few years ago to prepare for Toyota, Honda or any other manufacturer that might "buy their way into the sport."

And he's concerned enough about a possible spending spree that he's in negotiations about selling 25 percent to 50 percent of the team to Fenway Sports Group, headed by Boston Red Sox owner John Henry. Roush said if something gets done with Henry it would happen in the next few months.

Roush used his drivers as an example, arguing that if Toyota teams offered to double their salaries, that Roush Racing would have difficulty keeping them. He said that 90 percent of his funding comes from sponsors and prize money and 10 percent from the manufacturers. He said if Toyota contributes 50 percent to its team – a figure Toyota has adamantly denied – it could force Ford, Chevy and Dodge to support fewer teams rather than try to keep up with Toyota's spending spree.

Roush does concede that Toyota will probably struggle in the short term. It took the manufacturer some time to get competitive in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and in CART. And they still haven't won a Formula One race despite spending big money in that series.

Smith wants banquet in Las Vegas: Bruton Smith, chairman of Speedway Motorsports Inc., which owns Texas Motor Speedway, wants NASCAR to bring its annual Nextel Cup banquet to Las Vegas. Smith owns the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and argues that the city would be more fun for drivers, fans and media than New York, where the banquet is now. "[Las Vegas] wants it badly," said Smith, who pulled a few poker chips from the Bellagio out of his coat pocket. "They will pay to get it there." Smith said he made a pitch to NASCAR president Brian France and got a favorable reaction.