Jack Roush says Penske has decided to run Roush-Yates Ford engines next season. Penske has said he will not be shutting down the 80-man operation he currently has, but it would seem unlikely that Ford would care for one of its star new players to also continue building Dodge engines on the side. A possible sale of that engine shop to Dodge itself has been speculated as the only logical solution.
Roush: ‘Roger and I will cooperate on things that are in our common interests, and we will compete on things that reflect our need to be independent and justify our space on the race track. We ‘ve done the bulk of the work on the 2013 car; we did invite them to have a look at what we ‘ve done in concert with Ford, and made sure we had their blessing, along with the other Ford teams involved. The indication are ‘ though I don ‘t know if the papers have been signed yet ‘ that he will use our engines. He does have a few things he does different with his cars and the way the engines are mounted; so we ‘ll respect his experience and his package preference. Whether we wind up with the same package for all Ford cars or not is yet to be determined.’
Roush, asked about the possibility of Penske becoming a business partner with Roush and Doug Yates in the engine operations, said ‘There is no plan on the table for Roger for any ownership in the engine program. But I stop short of saying that would never be a consideration going forward.’(MikeMulhern.net)(8-4-2012)
UPDATE: Roush Yates Engines announced that it will provide Ford FR9 engines to Penske Racing beginning with the 2013 NASCAR season. Penske Racing announced earlier this year that it would be returning to Ford Racing in 2013 in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series. ‘It’s truly an honor to provide Penske Racing with Roush Yates Ford engines,’ said Doug Yates, CEO of Roush Yates. ‘I have always admired Roger Penske as a team owner and a respected businessman in our sport and beyond. I am looking forward to many wins, championships, and other successes in supporting the Penske organization.’ Penske Racing fielded Ford entries from 1991 through 2002. ‘Ford has been consistent in its belief that we will be stronger with one engine specification rather than continuing with an independent approach,’ said Tim Cindric, President of Penske Racing. ‘Roush Yates has a proven record and we are looking forward to many successes together.’(Roush Yates)(8-6-2012)
UPDATE 2: Penske Racing will switch to Roush Yates horsepower in its 2013 move to Ford in the Sprint Cup Series, but the team still is exploring ways to keep its 63 engine employees. Penske President Tim Cindric told USA Today Sports that still building motors for Dodge teams in NASCAR’s premier series wouldn ‘t be an option, though. ‘Relative to us, they said they ‘re going in a different direction,’ Cindric said. ‘We don ‘t see there being any more potential on the NASCAR side with Dodge.’ Cindric said Penske has explored sending some of its engine staff to Roush Yates, reassigning others within Penske Racing and perhaps pursuing engine projects in other series with the rest of the employees in a scaled-down engine room. ‘We feel our biggest asset wasn ‘t the (horsepower) but the people,’ Cindric said. ‘That’s a strong group of people we didn ‘t want to break up.’(USA Today)(8-7-2012)
