Replacing Carl Edwards will be a challenge for Roush Fenway Racing

Carl Edwards is leaving Roush Fenway Racing, something known for a while but only confirmed when Jack Roush announced his 2015 driver lineup Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

None of the principles involved would say where Edwards is going next year. Roush said he didn’t know nor did he ask his soon-to-be former driver where he was headed, while Edwards declined to say.

It is expected Edwards, 34, will join Joe Gibbs Racing, which will start a fourth car and team him with Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin. When Edwards does make it official, it will be a coup for JGR. The team will then field a lineup consisting of four drivers who realistically could win a championship, with only Hendrick Motorsports having as deep a roster.

The same certainly can’t be said of Roush Fenway, which will consist of Greg Biffle, Trevor Bayne and Ricky Stenhouse. It’s not a lineup inspiring confidence that Roush Fenway’s 10-year championship drought will end anytime soon.

Biffle, 44, is a winner of 19 Sprint Cup races and still regularly competes for victories, but 2015 presents a new challenge for the veteran, who will be Roush Fenway’s sole team leader. In the past, Biffle shared the role with Edwards and Kenseth, who himself left the organization in 2013 to join JGR.

As for Bayne and Stenhouse, each possesses talent but neither can be expected to immediately replicate Edwards’ production, which includes 23 victories and two runner-up championship finishes.

Outside of a rousing 2011 Daytona 500 victory, Bayne has struggled in limited Cup starts. Driving for Wood Brothers Racing, which shares a technical alliance with Roush Fenway, Bayne has ran a total of 54 races, recording three top-10s and crashing out seven times.

Equally as erratic is Stenhouse, 26, a back-to-back Nationwide Series champion (2011-12) tabbed to fill Kenseth’s shoes. Stenhouse entered Cup last year to much fanfare and after a slow start, gradually improved. He ended the season strongly with five finishes of 13th or better in the last 11 races en route to Rookie of the Year honors.

This season, however, Stenhouse has regressed. Through 20 races he is ranked 27th in points and his average finish has risen nearly six positions from 18.9 to 24.2.

But Roush Fenway officials have great confidence in Bayne and Stenhouse, believing each is ready to take the next step once the team sorts out its competitive issues. They see Edwards’ leaving as just the latest evolution for team that has undergone significant transformations previously.

“It doesn’t look different than when Mark Martin stepped away and we were left with Greg and Carl to go forward,” Roush said. “We’ve been in this business, as I said, for 27 years counting and we have made it our habit, our practice, our preference to bring drivers in. We’ve brought in 23 drivers that had never been part of NASCAR before and 19 of them are still in this sport and 17 of them have won races, so we’re pretty much on time.”

Roush is right that the team bearing his name has persevered through high-profile defections before, whether it was Kurt Busch, Martin or Kenseth. This time is different, however.

When Busch bolted a year removed from winning a championship, Martin, Biffle, Edwards and Kenseth remained as bedrocks. Biffle, Edwards and Kenseth were all still in the fold when Martin left at the end of the 2006 season. When Kenseth left two years ago, Biffle and Edwards remained to pick up the slack. Now, it’s just Biffle along with two youngsters who have yet to fully proven themselves.

Seeking a way to help bridge the gulf that Edwards leaving has created, Roush has brought back Martin to be a driver coach. In his role Martin will be tasked with helping Bayne and Stenhouse maximize their potential along with a bevy of developmental drivers in the Roush Fenway pipeline.

“Nobody does a better job at developing young talent than Jack Roush,” Martin said. “Roush Fenway has an abundance of young, talented drivers and I’m looking forward to working with each of them going forward. I am very proud of what Jack and I were able to accomplish together and I am excited to expand on those accomplishments.

“We have a great crop of young drivers in Ricky and Trevor, as well as with the (Nationwide Series) rookies Chris Buescher and Ryan Reed and of course the veteran leadership with Greg Biffle. It will be a key part of my job to help them develop their skills behind the wheel and get the most of their exceptional ability.”

Long-term, Stenhouse and Bayne may be the lynchpins representing a new era of Roush Fenway dominance. For now, they are giant question marks as is the viability of a once great team in danger of sliding towards irrelevance.