Roush-Fenway Racing has withdrawn its five-car Nextel Cup team from today's "Goody's Cool Orange 500" at Martinsville Speedway. In an impromptu, 8 a.m. news conference in the infield Media Center, Roush announced that his five cars – driven by Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards, Jamie McMurray and David Ragan – were being withdrawn from today’s race due to a dispute with NASCAR officials over interpretation of the new, Car Of Tomorrow rulebook. Roush refused to comment specifically on the dispute, but said he had no choice but to pull the cars from today's race. He will meet with team officials and sponsors early next week to determine the future of his NASCAR operation.As he spoke, Roush-Fenway crewmembers silently packed up their toolboxes and loaded racecars into their transporters. NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said that if Roush's five cars do not appear on the startiing grid, the race will be run with 38 starters. In his words, "It's too late for any adjustments to be made to the field, since the teams that failed to qualify on Friday have left the speedway and returned to Charlotte. It's unfortunate, but at this point, the matter is out of NASCAR's hands."
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