CHARLOTTE, N.C. – It was a dramatic end to the 2024 Randy Dorton Hendrick Engine Builder Showdown presented by Valvoline, a competition held yearly on the campus of Hendrick Motorsports and named in the honor of the legendry NASCAR engine builder.
Danny Emerick, a long-time engine assembler for Hendrick Motorsports, and his Hendrick Automotive Group partner Shane Flake, both of Charlotte, North Carolina, captured the 23rd edition with a winning time of 24 minutes, 2.44 seconds. The team of Hendrick Motorsports’ Scott Vester and Hendrick Automotive Group’s Joe Gagatch, clocked in a build time of 24:33.08 to finish second.
It was the second time Emerick and Flake had teamed up in the competition, bettering their runner-up finish from 2021. The victory placed Emerick No. 1 on the all-time victory list with his seventh build championship, overtaking Vester who has six.
“We were really hungry,” said Emerick, who secured second with a time of 25:39.54 after being in the first qualifying build of the week. “We had to sit and watch all the other builds. (Shane) was so up for this challenge. I can’t tell you how excited we are to win this one. My family is here, my parents are here. This was a big one.”
“Danny helped a lot,” Flake added. “I feel like I (was) really good at the bottom end (of the engine). I followed Danny’s lead and had a lot of fun.”
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The event pairs the top 12 Hendrick Automotive Group Certified Master Technicians with 12 of the best engine assemblers from Hendrick Motorsports. The teams are solidified through a blind draw on opening night, competing over a two-day period. Six separate qualifying rounds determine the two quickest teams, which compete for the title and a brand-new NAPA toolbox filled with tools for the winning team.
The goal of the competition is to piece together a 243-part R07 Chevrolet NASCAR V8 engine in the quickest amount of time with the least penalties. While it was an efficient build, Emerick and Flake still incurred a single, 30-second penalty for a loose valve cover nut. A mistake Emerick recognized as soon as the final build was complete, adding to the post-build drama.
“I know we had a loose bolt in there somewhere,” Emerick noted.
While Emerick and Flake came out on top, the duo was a bit behind over the first half of the build, placing the oil pan and flipping the engine – a point roughly halfway through the competition - approximately two minutes behind Vester and Gagatch. Undeterred, Emerick and Flake made up quite a bit of time in the second half, attaching parts such as the valve cover, headers, and fuel injection system in an extremely efficient manner.
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It was the second-consecutive year the two Hendrick Motorsports engine assemblers had gone head-to-head in the finale, with Emerick winning both times.
The week started out well for Vester and Gagatch, as they scored the quickest build of qualifying with a time of 23:06.19.
“I felt the bottom end (of the engine build) went really well,” said Vester, who also incurred a 30-second penalty. “Then we made some major mistakes on the top side, areas we had to back off (our pace) and pull the valve cover off and fix. We did change a few things from our qualifying build because we were waiting for each other to finish. It went better the second time, but we just had too many mistakes. Joe did a fantastic job both days.”
“I knew something was wrong, but didn’t know exactly what it was in the moment,” Gagatch said, who was able to grab the valve cover mid-stream to make the adjustment. “He was great at instructing me on what to do there.”
This weekend was an emotional one for Vester as well, as he’s moving over to Hendrick Automotive Group to manage the company’s Florida facilities.
“This was Scott’s last build and I wanted to be a part of it win, lose or draw,” Emerick said. “He’s been an amazing teammate and an inspiration for me to get better.”