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Roush Fenway Racing will be a four-car team again, at least for the Daytona 500, as Nationwide champ Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will run the 500 in the No. 6 car.
The team does not expect to run the unsponsored car for the full season but is locked into the first five races based on owners points from 2011 when the car was driven by David Ragan. The only race confirmed for now is the Daytona 500. The team currently does not have a sponsor for the race, team spokesman Kevin Woods said.
Ragan was let go from Roush Fenway when UPS moved to Carl Edwards as an associate sponsor and there was no funding for the car. The car is guaranteed a spot in the Daytona 500, so Stenhouse will not have to worry about qualifying on time.
The move also means that there is now one fewer set of owner points available for the Great American Race. According to NASCAR, teams don't officially "buy" owner's points, but points swapping has become a common occurrence to make sure that teams have a guaranteed starting spot for the 500 (and the next four races after that.)
With Roush's intentions to run the No. 6 in the 500, there are now three guaranteed spots stilll available via the No. 33 at Richard Childress Racing (Clint Bowyer moved to Michael Waltrip Racing) and the two Red Bull Racing cars. Because of the move to MWR, Bowyer's team is looking for owner points — discussions between MWR and Red Bull have been reported — and Stewart-Haas Racing is looking for points for Danica Patrick. However, that's an easy internal switch for the team, as Tony Stewart is guaranteed into the first five races as a past champion.
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