This Week in Ford Racing: Busch Series

With one race remaining in the 2001 season, Ford Racing is about to celebrate its best season in Busch Series competition. Even with the retirement of Mark Martin, the all-time winningest Busch Series driver, the addition of Greg Biffle and ppc Racing teammates Jeff Green and Jason Keller, have more than compensated for this loss with Ford drivers piling up 12 wins, equaling its single-season best set in 1995. In this weekend's race at Miami-Homestead, full-time series competitors Greg Biffle, Jason Keller, Jeff Green and Elton Sawyer will be joined by Jeff Burton and Ryan Newman as Ford is poised to win its 13th race of the season and raise the standard in which future seasons will be compared.

A quick look at Ford Racing's 2001 statistics:

Wins: 12 (Biffle, 5; Green, 4; Keller, 1; Burton, 1; Newman, 1)
Poles: 12 (Newman, 6; Biffle, 2; Green, 1; Burton, 1; Pruett, 1; Lepage, 1)
Wins by Busch Series regulars: 10 (Biffle, 5; Green, 4; Keller, 1)
Wins by rookies: 6 (Biffle, 5; Newman, 1)
Poles by rookies: 8 (Newman, 6; Biffle, 2)
Positions two through five in the point standings (Green, 2nd; Keller, 3rd; Biffle, 4th; Sawyer, 5th)
Rookie-of-the-Year (Biffle, unofficial)

If Elton Sawyer can maintain his current fifth-place position in the Busch Series point standings after this weekend's season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the 18-year NASCAR veteran will go on to record one of the best seasons in his career. Sawyer, who is scheduled to make his 389th Busch Series start in the GNC Live Well 300, has two previous fifth-place finishes in the point standings --1998 and 1999-- and can equal that mark by maintaining his 69-point lead over Tony Raines. With his start in Saturday's race, Sawyer will only be 28 starts shy of equaling Tommy Houston's all-time Busch Series record of 417 starts, a feat easily attainable in the 34-race format for 2002. Sawyer talked about his performance this season and how his team's lack of sponsorship may affect may his plans for 2002.

ELTON SAWYER-98-Starter Ford Taurus-IF YOU CAN MAINTAIN YOUR CURRENT POINTS POSITION, YOU WILL EQUAL YOUR BEST FINISH, YET YOU JUST ANNOUNCED THAT YOUR SPONSOR WILL NOT BE RETURNING IN 2002. "Obviously, we're a little disappointed in that, but a lot of times, when one door closes another door opens, and that may leave us with a better opportunity in the future to have another sponsor involved. We hate to see the Starter people leave, but on the other hand, we've had really good performance and our cars have performed well. We want to end up on a good note with a competitive run in Miami and win the race, and I think the sponsorship stuff will kind of take care of itself. It's a slow time and with all of the things that happened on September 11th, it's just got people a little gun-shy right now, but automobile racing will be here and it's a great marketing tool and we feel like we have a great program. We're optimistic that we're going to be OK. It's a lot easier to find a sponsor after the season that we've had because it's not like we had an off year. We ran well all year and performance speaks volumes when it comes time to find a sponsor."

HAS THE SPONSORSHIP ANNOUNCEMENT BEEN A DISTRACTION FOR YOU OR YOUR TEAM? "These guys are human just like I am and not having our program in place and not knowing exactly what is going to happen in 2002 is a little bit of distraction, but Michael Kranefuss and Marty Gaunt and all of our management people have told us that it's going to be fine and we're going to keep the 98 running next year. We're trying to put that behind us and just concentrate on making the cars fast and being competitive on the race track. That's what we have direct control over and that's what we've been telling everyone. Let the marketing people worry about getting the sponsor, and if we all do our jobs, it will all come together."

DID YOU HAVE A GOOD INDICATION THAT STARTER WAS GOING TO RETURN BEFORE THE SEPTEMBER 11TH ATTACKS? "Starter basically gave us an indication back in August that they were coming back. We all had a meeting and a dinner and they said that they would be back in 2002. We didn't have anything signed, but I think that what happened on September 11th, it changed everything. They hadn't signed the contract and had the option then that they didn't have to come back. They made that choice and it put us in a pretty bad situation, but this race team has been through a lot the last four to five years, and we'll battle back again and get sponsorship and we'll be ready for Daytona."

AS IT STANDS NOW, YOU'LL FINISH IN THE TOP FIVE WITHOUT A WIN. WILL THAT TAKE AWAY FROM THE SUCCESS THAT YOU HAD? "There are teams that have won one or a couple of races this year, but I wouldn't change our season for theirs. We've been very consistent and our cars have performed well. It's just that circumstances have kept us out of Victory Lane. We're hoping that everything will work out this weekend; we'll go there and have a great qualifying effort, and I think we have a really fast car. We had a pretty good test down there a couple of weeks ago, and the car that we tested, we ended up losing it at Phoenix, so we're carrying a different race car, but I still feel very confident that it'll be a good weekend for us."

NEXT SEASON, YOU SHOULD ECLIPSE TOMMY HOUSTON'S MARK FOR ALL-TIME BUSCH SERIES STARTS. DO YOU VIEW THAT AS A SIGNIFICANT MILESTONE IN YOUR CAREER? "It's something that I don't put a great emphasis or much thought into. My main focus is just to be competitive and have an opportunity to win races and win a championship. Just over the years, the number of starts has increased and accumulated, so it just goes to show that I've been fortunate to be with good race teams and around good people to have been around this long. Our goals haven't changed. We still want to win races and we still want to win championships, and that's our main goal for 2002. To be able to pass Tommy in the number of starts is certainly an honor and something I feel good about, but on the other hand, winning races and winning championships is more important to me."

YOUR TEAM HAS GONE THROUGH A LOT OF CHANGES THIS YEAR THAT INCLUDED A SWITCH TO COSWORTH MOTORS AT THE START OF THE SEASON AND A CHANGE IN OWNERSHIP IN MAY. "I feel really good about where we are if you consider the changes we've had from the new engine program to a change in ownership in mid-season. To go through what we've been through and to still be competitive on the race track, that just goes to show how good of a race team this is and how committed these guys are to performing on a weekly basis, and not letting that kind of stuff be a major distraction to them. To be going into the latter months of the season and still be unsponsored, yeah, that's another obstacle to overcome, but it seems like when our backs are against the wall and the chips are down, it seems like that's when we've been at our strongest. I can't wait for Miami."

HAS MICHAEL KRANEFUSS INDICATED TO YOU THAT HE WILL RUN THE 98 CAR UNSPONSORED NEXT SEASON? "Basically, we've got to look at it that we may go into January or even February unsponsored, but the economy is going to turn around and racing is not going to go away, and this is a program that deserves a sponsor. I feel like we can give them what they need on the race track as well as off. This team will have a sponsor, I feel very certain. It may not be before Christmas, but we will have one."

THE SECOND HALF OF YOUR SEASON HAS BEEN MARKED WITH GREATER CONSISTENCY THAN THE FIRST HALF. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT MOMENTUM WILL CARRY INTO NEXT SEASON, OR IS THAT SOMETHING THAT JUST CARRIES OVER FROM RACE TO RACE? "First of all, anytime you have success, you gain momentum. If you look back since 1998 at where this team has been, each year we've gotten better, but the competition has gotten better. I feel that with the top 10s that we've had and if we can leave Miami on a positive note, whether that's a win or a top five, that will carry us through the winter months. We are feeling a little bit of pressure to get back to Daytona to run at least 120 laps next time. This past race we only got six laps into it with a really fast race car, so those guys haven't forgot that and we want to get back down there and perform well at Daytona."