Jack's Year; Midway through the Cup season, Jack Roush is lucky to be alive and his cars are on the comeback trail.(NASCAR personality)(Brief Article)

The unmistakable fingerprints of Jack Roush are all over the first half of this NASCAR season. That's in marked contrast to the 2001 midpoint, when Roush Racing was mediocre at best. And just think, the man overseeing the comeback should be dead.

After 16 races last season, Roush Racing's four Ford entries looked like monkeys trying to dribble a football. Matt Kenseth was 12th in points, Mark Martin was 13th, Jeff Burton was 15th and Kurt Busch was 23rd. All told, Roush Racing's teams had earned two poles, one win, seven top fives and 19 top 10s in a combined 64 team-starts.

Compare that to this season's first half: Martin is second in points, Kenseth eighth, Busch ninth and Burton 12th. In 64 team starts through June 23 at Sears Point, the Roush stable has only one pole, but its drivers have combined for five wins, 19 top fives and 34 top 10s.

The Roush revival is among the lead stories during the first 16 races of the spring and early summer. Among the others: the emergence of the under-30 drivers; some notable calls and no-calls; the uncharacteristic troubles at Richard Childress Racing; and an earlier than usual silly season.

But nothing comes close to Roush's second chance. The veteran team owner got it on April 19 because a retired Marine trained in water rescue was in the right place at the right time. Larry Hicks was nearby when Roush, on his 60th birthday, flew into power lines and plummeted into a small Troy, Alabama, lake. Hicks rushed to the scene in a small boat, went down several times and brought Roush to the surface. By the time rescue personnel arrived, Hicks had revived Roush and prepped him for transport to a Birmingham hospital.

In less than two weeks, he was well enough to return to his home in Michigan. He rejoined the circuit in Dover the first weekend in June, no worse for wear. He knows he's lucky to be alive because he wouldn't have survived a ground crash. Truth be told, he wouldn't have survived the water crash if Hicks hadn't been nearby, reacted in precisely the right manner and been perfectly trained for the task at hand. Typically, Roush doesn't over-analyze his team's improvement. To him, it's nothing more complex than circumstances turning his way. Parts and pieces that failed last season are going the distance this season. Engines that occasionally struggled last year are strong and reliable this season. Wrecks that went looking for Roush cars last season are staying away.

Two Roush drivers are among the under-30 gang making an impact. Kenseth, barely 30, has three ...