CONCORD, N.C. -- Hendrick Motorsports engines have a long history of powering cars to the checkered flag. Below are some fun facts about how that success comes to fruition every week.
1) In 2016, Hendrick Motorsports engines will fuel 19 full-time programs and two part-time programs. That includes 12 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams, five NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) teams and two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series teams.
2) The Sprint Cup engines weigh approximately 525 pounds each.
3) Hendrick Motorsports has 13 engineers who handle the design and manufacturing of engine components.
4) In a typical year, the organization will build between 730 to 750 engines.
5) Every engine must be tested on a dynamometer (dyno for short), which is a machine that measures the power of an engine. In 2015, a total of 964 engines were tested on a dyno on the Hendrick Motorsports campus.
6) The busiest time of year for the engine department is from the first week of December through the last week of March.
7) There are a total of 2,500 parts in one of our engines.
8) One Cup engine flows approximately 70 gallons-per-minute of water at 9,000 RPM.
9) Each team that uses a Hendrick Motorsports engine takes three engines with them to the track every weekend. A Cup team will go through approximately 45 engines a season, while an NXS team will go through about 38 engines.
10) A Hendrick Motorsports employee travels with each engine sent to the tracks every weekend and is responsible for everything involving that engine.
11) Each Sprint Cup engine has a six-gallon oil tank. Each car will typically use about 18 gallons of oil per race weekend, including oil for practice, qualifying and the actual race.
12) Once engines are returned after a race, the rebuild process can take anywhere from 90 to 100 hours. The engine will spend 60-plus hours in the shop and about 35 to 38 hours in assembly.
13) From start to finish, an engine will pass through 13 sets of hands as it makes its way through the build process.
14) Every weekend, each engine goes through 1.8 million cycles. One cycle is equal to one revolution of the crank shaft, which is what moves the connecting rods and pistons up and down, determining the speed of the engine.
15) In 2015, Hendrick Motorsports earned the MAHLE Engine Builder of the Year Award for the 19th time after powering five of the top 12 finishing teams at the end of the season, including two of the top three.
16) Every year, Hendrick Motorsports and Hendrick Automotive Group team members join forces for the Randy Dorton Hendrick Engine Builder Showdown, racing against the clock -- and their teammates -- to see who can assemble the 358-cubic-inch Chevrolet engines the fastest.