Dodge Charger

Yesterday Roush Yates announced that Penske Racing will use its FR9 engine in the Ford Fusion cars it will be campaigning in NASCAR next season.

It’s quite a switch for Penske Racing, which has traditionally built and maintained its own engines. Now it will be using the same engines as other Ford teams.

“We are very pleased that Penske Racing has decided to use Roush Yates’ FR9 engines as they re-join Ford starting in 2013,” said Jamie Allison, director, Ford Racing. “This aligns well with the spirit of One Ford; having a unified One Ford engine program in NASCARallows us to apply all of our technical resources into one program benefitting all Ford teams. We believe the FR9 has proven to be a strong engine and by taking the input from our teams and drivers at Roush Fenway, Penske Racing, Richard Petty Motorsports and the Wood Brothers, we know that input, along with the knowledge and technical skills of Ford and Roush Yates, led by Doug Yates, will only make our engine program even more competitive in the future.”

Jack Roush and Robert Yates used to be direct competitors but they combined forces in 2004 to make engines available to all Ford teams; so it was probably only natural for Penske Racing to participate. Nowadays Roush Yates supply engines to teams in numerous racing series.

In other NASCAR news, SRT Motorsports announced today that it would not compete in NASCAR next season. Coincidence? Not really.

Back in March, Penske Racing revealed it was switching from racing the Dodge Charger in the Sprint Cup series to the Ford Fusion next season. This left SRT Motorsports, as Chrysler’s racing division is now named, without a top team for next season. Robby Gordon was the only other team running a Dodge this year and he has only competed in a handful of NASCAR events.

It’s a real blow to NASCAR, which has suffered from a decline in spectators and TV audience this year, as it was hoping the new closer-to-production-looking cars that will debut next season would revive interest. Now we will only see the Ford Fusion, Chevrolet SS and Toyota Camry on the track. Ironically NASCAR approved all the aerodynamic packages, created by the teams, last week. The Dodge Charger was also approved but now it will not be seen on the track in competition. It’s a museum piece already.

Penske Racing’s No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger may still be without a driver for the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, following the abrupt dismissal of Kurt Busch on Dec. 5, but the team has at least solidified its crew situation. Penske announced that Todd Gordon has been promoted to the crew chief role for the car. He replaces Steve Addington, who announced he was leaving Penske prior to Busch’s departure. Addington has since signed on with Stewart-Haas Racing as Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart’s new crew chief.

Gordon ran Brad Keselowski’s No. 22 NASCAR Nationwide Series car this year – his first with Penske – and the combo scored six wins and six pole positions.

“Our first priority is always to look within the walls of Penske Racing when making personnel decisions,” said Roger Penske. “We want to reward success. The path we are taking with Todd mirrors what we did with Paul Wolfe who led the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge to a Chase berth in 2011. We think Todd can get the job done in the same manner.”

Gordon joined Penske Racing in January of 2011. He and Keselowski quickly developed a driver-crew chief rapport that resulted in another successful season, helping make the No. 22 Dodge one of the premier entries in NNS competition.

“I can’t thank Roger and everyone at Penske Racing enough for this vote of confidence,” said Gordon. “It’s an honor to step into a race-winning team. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but this is an organization full of talented people who know how to get the job done. I look forward to getting the Shell/Pennzoil Dodge back in Victory Lane.”

The team said that it “continues to evaluate drivers to fill the seat” of the Shell/Pennzoil Dodge.