Jack Roush calls himself ``a racing dog,'' and two championships in NASCAR's top stock car series have only increased his enthusiasm.
``If there's somebody that would race a computer and I had the skill set to do that, I'd be there working my fingers to the bone,'' he said.
It took the 65-year-old Roush 17 years to win NASCAR's ultimate prize. Then he won two championships in a row and now, two years later, Roush has his eyes on another one.
``I don't have any less desire,'' the owner of Roush Racing said. ``I'm genetically defective; I'm demented. I don't have any less desire than I did when I was 20 years old. If there's a race, I want to be involved, if I can.''
The surprise last year, after titles by Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch, was that a Roush driver didn't win. All five Cup drivers qualified for the 10-man Chase for the Nextel Cup championship, but Tony Stewart got an early lead in the 10-race playoff and held off Roush drivers Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards for his second title.
Heading into Saturday night's Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway, Roush's chances for another championship appear diminished.
Kenseth, having a solid season, went into the race holding a nine-point lead over Jimmie Johnson in the Cup standings. But the only other Roush entry with any chance at winning the 2007 title was Mark Martin.
Martin went into the race in ninth place, just two points ahead of former Roush driver Jeff Burton. Kasey Kahne is only 32 points behind Martin and hoping to break into the Chase field.
``I'm happy with the season that Matt is having and I think he's got a good chance to win the championship, but I'm going to be very disappointed and sad if Mark doesn't make it,'' Roush said.
Other than Kenseth, who came from behind late last season to battle his way into the Chase, and Martin, a four-time series runner-up in his final full season in Cup, the Roush team has struggled most of this year.
Edwards and Biffle both have had unlucky seasons, running into a variety of mechanical problems and other misfortunes that knocked them out of Chase contention weeks ago. Jamie McMurray, who replaced Busch this season, has had an even worse year and never came close to the top 10.
``I hadn't thought that this would be a building year,'' Roush said. ``The (Ford) Fusion is a better car than the Taurus was, our engines have never been better and the quality of our crew chiefing and engineering ... all those things are at the highest level of efficiency and engineering promise that they've ever been.''
Roush and Biffle both said the team has had some bad luck with wrecks and engine failures, unfortunate problems that Roush forecast for his team at this race a year ago.
``I had a sense of foreboding,'' Roush said Friday. ``If there was a great deal of luck involved and things that happened beyond your control that worked out OK for you, then those things will cycle and you have to give it back. And this year we had to give it back.
``It wasn't unfair. It was just fine. We've had a good year.''
Still, it would certainly be better if Roush can grab another title, even with only one or two of 10 chances.
``I don't feel that our chances of being successful would be significantly diminished with two,'' Roush said. ``I think our odds would still be the same _ one in three. I'll take that.''
