Ford has problems with new engine?
Rivals say that the delay apparently means that Ford won't be giving the new motor in any of its championship contenders this fall. And they're calling Ford's delay "strange," since the company could easily put the new engine in the cars of men clearly not making the chase and not risk any title contenders.
The man in charge of the project, Doug Yates, wasn't at the track over this weekend to discuss the issues.
Jim Covey, a top General Motors/Chevrolet race engine designer, says he knows how difficult it can be to get a new NASCAR up and rolling.
Covey won honors as 2007 race engine designer of the year for his work on the now-standard Chevrolet R07 engine, which is dominating the NASCAR tour this season. "One thing we at Chevrolet had going for us, in the development of the R07 was we had four different teams working on it, and the competition helped us," Covey said. "Now not every one of those teams got all it may have wanted in the new engine, but the competitive effort helped the overall project." More at MikeMulhearn.net