Catchfence

Doug Yates - Photo Credit: Harold Hinson Photography

DOUG YATES, Engine Builder – Roush Yates Engines – YOU MUST FEEL A GREAT SENSE OF SATISFACTION TO GET THIS FIRST WIN WITH THE FR9 IN A RELATIVELY SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME IT’S BEEN COMPETING ON TRACK, CORRECT?  “Since we’ve been on the track across the board, which is basically Michigan in June, we’ve had some great runs.  We were second at Michigan with Kasey and had a great run going at Loudon and had some problems, and a second at Daytona, second at Chicago and a third at Indy, so you could definitely see the progress and the improvement from the engine and the cars.  Everything is coming together for the whole organization and Ford Racing.  But I tell you what was probably as gratifying as anything is that, as an engine guy, going to Pocono is a real challenge.  Lots of guys always ask when you go there, ‘What’s the key to success at Pocono?’  Obviously, you’ve got to get around the corners, but you’ve got the longest straightaways in NASCAR, so to have the first win for the FR9 engine at a track like Pocono really makes a statement for the engine, and for all the hard work the guys at the engine shop have put in, and for Ford Motor Company that helped develop this FR9.”

GREG BIFFLE SAID AFTER THE RACE THAT THE FR9 GOT THE ULTIMATE DURABILITY TEST AND HE WAS SURPRISED IT WAS STILL RUNNING AFTER THE RACE.  HAVE YOU HAD A CHANCE TO TEAR DOWN HIS ENGINE AND SEE HOW IT HELD UP?  “We’re processing it as we speak and we’re real anxious to see how it looks.  Every week on a regular basis we have a meeting on Thursday to go over and review all the parts of all the engines.  Greg has run a lot of races and won a lot of races, so he knows to what extent he used the engine, so I’m anxious to see if his feedback was accurate.”

YOU GUYS STRIVE FOR 100 PERCENT DURABILITY, BUT WAS THERE ANY MORE SATISFACTION IN THAT IT WAS GREG THAT WON ON SUNDAY, ESPECIALLY AFTER HE HAD AN ENGINE ISSUE JUST A COUPLE OF WEEKS EARLIER?  “The life of an engine builder is difficult some days and the days that you have a failure are heartbreaking.  The thing I was proud of was we stayed the course.  There was a conversation of going back to the old engine or changing course and we said, ‘Listen, we’ve got to stick to it and we’ve got to work through our problems.’  So to come out and win, and to win with Greg and the 16 team, is very satisfying because you want to prove to the guys on the team, and the sponsor, and the driver, that we’re behind them and working hard and we’re giving it our best effort.  We’ve had a couple of problems here, but we’re competing at such a high level that you can’t leave anything on the table.  You can’t back off and just get through the race to be okay.  We go there every week to win and to give our best effort, and we kept pushing forward and pushing through and that’s what I’m very proud of – everybody from the race team for keeping the confidence within the engine shop, and the engine shop itself to not back up and not back down.”

- PCGCampbell for Ford Racing, Press Release