NASCAR: Matt Kenseth and David Ragan aim to launch new Ford engine at Talladega Superspeedway

Matt Kenseth and David Ragan hope to benefit from the first purpose-built Ford NASCAR engine at next weeks Sprint Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway. The engine is called the FR9.

After a year of promise in 2008 when Carl Edwards challenged Jimmie Johnson until the last lap of the last race Ford powered drivers have been outnumbered and outperformed by many of their rivals. The new engine comes at a crucial time in the Ford Company’s NASCAR career as only two of their drivers made the Chase for the Sprint Cup and stand seven and ninth halfway through the playoffs.

Brian Wolfe, director of Ford North America Motorports said in an statement “this has been a tough year for us and our teams on the track, especially since we had such a strong 2008, and the priority for everyone this year has been solving the on-track performance, which has slowed down the rollout of the FR9.”

Leading the design and development were engine builder Doug Yates and Ford Racing engineer David Simon.

“This puts us on a level playing field with the rest of the competition and it’s something we’re excited about working on,” said Yates, who has been involved with the project since it began three years ago. “Right out of the box the engine is really impressive power-wise.

Car owner Jack Roush commented “We expect the castings to be more durable. We expect the valve seat life and the piston life to be improved and we expect a better result from the drivetrain.”

No timetable has been released for the debut of the FR9 at a non-restrictor plate race track.