Director of Marketing at MAHLE Aftermarket Inc. Ted Hughes (L) presents Sam Vernatter of Hendrick Engines with the 2015 MAHLE Engine Builder of the Year Award during the 2015 NASCAR NMPA Myers Brothers Awards Luncheon at Encore Las Vegas on December 3, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/NASCAR via Getty Images)

Each year, Mahle Aftermarket Inc. presents their Engine Builder of the Year award to the top-performing engine builder in each of the three NASCAR series; Sprint Cup, Xfinity, and Camping World Truck. The award is presented to the top engine builder who accumulates the most points, based on qualifying performance, laps led, and finishing positions recorded over the entire race season.

In the Sprint Cup series, Hendrick Motorsports’ Sam Vernatter took home the prize from Mahle, based on the season’s performance of the No. 4 Budweiser/Jimmy John’s Chevrolet driven by Kevin Harvick, who earned 456 points over the course of the season.

“It’s a huge honor to accept Hendrick Motorsports’ nineteenth Engine Builder of the Year award. We have one of the top teams in this sport and we’re thrilled to be recognized like this,” Vernatter said. The award marks Hendrick Motorsports’ fourth consecutive time winning the Mahle Engine Builder of the Year for the Sprint Cup Series. Hendrick Motorsports provides engines and chassis to Stewart-Haas Racing, the team owner of the No. 4 car.

In the Xfinity series, Joey Logano’s No. 22 Penske Ford Fusion earned 459 points, earning Doug Yates of Roush Yates Engines the Mahle Engine Builder of the Year award in that venue.

” Engine Builder of the Year is an exceptional accomplishment,” said Yates. “We are delighted to again be recognized as one of the top engine builders in the sport.”

And in the Camping World Truck Series, Mark Cronquist of Joe Gibbs Racing accepted the Engine Builder of the Year award for the powerplants used in the No. 4 ToyotaCare/Dollar General Toyota Tundra
driven by Erik Jones, which accumulated 303 points over the season.

“It is a tremendous honor to bring the Engine Builder of the Year award back to Joe Gibbs Racing,” said Cronquist. “Many thanks to MAHLE for consistently providing quality products that continue to outperform every year.”

Award rules are as follows:

• Points will be awarded for qualifying and finishing position.
• Qualifying points will be awarded based on qualifying position.
  • The points are as follows: 1st – 5 points, 2nd – 3 points and 3rd – 1 point. If an ineligible team (one that does not run the decal) finishes among the top three, such team will NOT receive the qualifying points and the qualifying points will “roll over” to the next eligible team.
• Engine builders for each of the top 15 finishing teams will receive points based on finishing position as follows: 1st – 15 points, 2nd – 14 points, 3rd – 13 points, etc., down to 15th place, which receives one (1) point.
  • There is also a 5-point bonus for the team that leads the most laps. In the event an engine builder prepares engines for more than one team, the points will be accrued by the team and may not be combined. In the event an ineligible team finishes among the top 15 positions, such team will NOT receive the finishing points and such finishing points will “roll over” to the next eligible team.
• At the conclusion of the season, in the event there is a tie for first, the engine builder whose team has the highest NASCAR season-end point total will be the recipient of the award.