Chevy teams to run new engine

Hendrick Motorsports drivers Casey Mears and Kyle Busch will get the updated engine as well as all three Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and J.J. Yeley.

The R07 engine was designed to be more durable than the current SB2 unit, while using more modern parts and a different plumbing system.

"With the motor we've been running, the block part of it was actually designed in 1955. We've made a few modifications to it, but it would still bolt into a 1955 Chevy Bel Air," said Mark Cronquist, head engine builder for Joe Gibbs Racing.

"The new block has got a lot more technology in it. It's a more updated block than what we've ever had before.

"It's just better all over. There's a little bit of performance advantage. I don't think we've tapped into where we can go with it. We're finally more even with what Dodge and Toyota have.

"It kind of got us back in the same playing field, back in what's considered NASCAR's box. We were outside of the box, actually below the box. We had disadvantages and they finally let us get the same advantages that other manufacturers had over us."

The R07 engine has been in development since 1998 and had its first run in a dyno back in 1999 as the R99. The R03 and R05 versions were also tested but never got the final approval from NASCAR to be used in a race.

Jeff Gordon tested the new engine last month at Darlington, successfully completing 500 laps with it. The engine has not been raced yet but a failed attempt to qualify with it was made by Richard Childress Racing driver Scott Wimmer in Atlanta.

Wimmer is expected to run the new engine again while trying to qualify for Sunday's race at Texas.

The R07 is said to have a 15 to 18 horsepower gain over the current unit and is expected to make a difference at the bigger tracks.

"It's going to be huge. We know we'll get the power and the torque we need. Now it's just making sure we run plenty of miles on it so we don't have any failures or any kind of problems," said Yeley.

"To have that much of a [horsepower] gain right out of the box is a huge difference, especially when it comes time to go back to Daytona or Talladega when two to three horsepower equals one-tenth on the race track and a tenth is the difference between five or six people.

"So that might be the difference between qualifying 10th and maybe being on the pole."

The R07 engine will be raced for the first time in the current specification of car, which will be run again at Texas next weekend rather than the new Car of Tomorrow.