DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Last season was a big one for the Hendrick Motorsports engine department.
Not only did Hendrick Motorsports engines win both the Sprint Cup and XFINITY Series championships, the organization – and particularly engine assembler Billy Davis -- was presented with the MAHLE Engine Builder of the Year Award for the 18th time.
Now, the engine department is kicking off 2015 with a bang.
Hendrick Motorsports brought 73 engines to Daytona International Speedway, providing them between the Sprint Cup Series, XFINITY Series and Camping World Truck Series.
It's a result of months of hard work that begins just after the final Talladega Superspeedway race of the previous season.
"For us, late August is when our restrictor plate development really started for 2015," Director of Engine Operations Jeff Andrews explained. "The development part starts about four to five months before we get here and then the production part as far as actually getting parts together and deciding on a package and knowing what we're going to produce -- really you kind of have to have your mind made up and identify all the things you're going to go with around Dec. 1."
In all aspects of the process, STEM – science, technology, engineering and math – plays a huge role.
"The science and technology part of it starts with the design and components of the engine, which all started back in late August and carried on through the winter with all the folks in the engineering and manufacturing group designing and making the parts," Andrews said. "Then it carries over into the production group, who gets the final spec for the engine and puts the engine together with basically the care and the passion that makes that group what they are -- the best in the business."
Once the engines arrive in Daytona, they are distributed amongst the cars in a random order, and for the first race of the season, it is based on the final 2014 points standings. When assemblers are building the engines, they don't know which car will receive the engine, let alone whether it will be for a primary car for the Daytona 500 or in a backup car or a spare engine.
That's something the department prides itself on – the same effort goes in to every single engine.
"Obviously the guys that are part of the assembly group, they're putting their heart and soul into every piece that they build," Andrews said. "They're really building them all with the same TLC, so to speak."
And when one of those engines finds its way to Victory Lane – which Hendrick Motorsports engines have done more than 330 times – it makes it all worth it.