Toyota, Chevrolet, Dodge and Ford all submitted new engine designs for next season’s Nextel Cup tour. Rivals suspect that Ford’s withdrawal may be to pressure NASCAR to rethink the other manufacturers’ designs. But NASCAR’s John Darby, the Nextel Cup tour director, insisted that Ford’s move won’t affect NASCAR’s thinking about the other three engine designs.

“Toyota had to build an engine because it currently doesn’t have an engine that’s acceptable in Cup,” Darby said. “Chevrolet and Dodge are just updating their architecture; I don’t think that has anything to do with Toyota.

“Ford has withdrawn, feeling it wants a little longer to get it right before putting it onto the playing field. Ford is fairly confident its parts and pieces won’t put it at a disadvantage in 2007.”

However Ford’s Jack Roush complains that NASCAR changed the engine rules in midseason: “In February we were encouraged (by NASCAR) to do a new engine block but not to do new cylinder heads. In May we were told that others were submitting new heads as well as new blocks but that blocks were all anyone was going to get. The first of August we were told that others were getting new heads to go with the new blocks and if we had anything to put on the table they would consider it.

“We were misled.”

Winston Salem Journal