Jack Roush, a former Ford Motor Company employee and founder of the performance engineering firm Roush Performance, had built a successful motorsport resume before entering NASCAR, competing in drag racing and sports car racing since the mid-1960s, including the NHRA, SCCA Trans-Am Series, IMSA GT Championship, and the 24 Hours of Daytona. Early drivers in his road racing programs included Tommy Kendall, Scott Pruett, and Willy T. Ribbs.
The NASCAR program was founded in 1988 and based in Concord, North Carolina. The team was initially a small branch of Roush's broader automotive engineering business based in Livonia, Michigan, before becoming the company's central enterprise. From 2001, after years of operating from separate facilities, all Cup teams were consolidated into a single shop in Concord to improve communication and performance.
The team grew to five full-time Cup entries — Nos. 6, 16, 17, 26/97, and 99 — a number unmatched by any organization including Hendrick Motorsports or Richard Childress Racing, which have operated as many as four. The team made NASCAR history in 2005 when all five cars qualified for the Chase for the Nextel Cup simultaneously.
The championship years mark the team's competitive peak. Matt Kenseth won the 2003 season title — the final year branded as the Winston Cup — and Kurt Busch followed with the inaugural Nextel Cup championship in 2004. Both championships were won with Roush-prepared Ford equipment and engines supplied by the Roush-Yates engine program, a joint venture with Doug Yates of the now-closed Yates Racing that was formalized in 2004 and has since become the primary engine supplier for most Ford teams in NASCAR and ARCA.
Following a NASCAR order after the 2009 season, the team reduced from five Cup entries to four, then to three after 2011, and to two after 2016. For 2025, the operation expanded back to three cars for the first time since 2016.
The Xfinity Series (originally Busch, then Nationwide) operation began in 1992 with the No. 60 driven by Mark Martin. The program accumulated numerous driver's championships: Greg Biffle in 2002, Carl Edwards in 2007, Chris Buescher in 2015, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in both 2011 and 2012. An owner's championship came with Carl Edwards in 2011. Roush's Xfinity program was closed after the 2018 season.
The Truck Series program ran from 1995 to 2009, featuring drivers such as Kurt Busch, Greg Biffle, Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, and Ricky Craven. Greg Biffle won the 2000 Truck Series championship. The series operation tallied fifty wins before Roush shut it down and sold remaining equipment to Kyle Busch, who used it to establish his own truck team.
For many years, Roush recruited developmental drivers through an elimination-style competition called The Gong Show, first held in 1985 for road racing and adapted for stock cars from 1999. The process began with thousands of applications, then narrowed through tests of driving skill, public relations ability, and personality assessment, culminating in on-track evaluation in Truck Series vehicles. Winners of the program include Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, and David Ragan. The 2005 Discovery Channel series Roush Racing: Driver X documented the competition.
On February 14, 2007, the Fenway Sports Group — owners of the Boston Red Sox baseball franchise, Liverpool F.C., and the New England Sports Network — purchased a 50% stake in the team, creating the entity Roush Fenway Racing. It was among the first instances of a major North American professional sports franchise crossing into NASCAR ownership. Jack Roush retained day-to-day operational control.
After several months of speculation, Roush Fenway announced in July 2021 at the NASCAR Hall of Fame that Brad Keselowski — the 2012 Sprint Cup champion — would depart Team Penske to join as both driver and co-owner, replacing Ryan Newman in the No. 6. The restructured entity, renamed RFK Racing in 2022, currently fields the No. 6 Ford for Keselowski, the No. 17 for Chris Buescher, the No. 60 full-time for Ryan Preece (brought up from the Xfinity Series in 2024), and the No. 99 part-time for Corey LaJoie.
Roush-Yates Engines, co-operated with Doug Yates, provides engines to most Ford teams in NASCAR and ARCA, including Wood Brothers Racing, Team Penske, Rick Ware Racing, Haas Factory Team, and Front Row Motorsports. Roush also maintains a road racing program through Roush Road Racing, competing in the IMSA Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge and the Pirelli World Challenge with Ford Mustangs. The organization's exclusive Ford alignment, engineering depth, and developmental pipeline have made it a defining institution in the NASCAR Ford camp for more than three decades.