CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Pro Motor Engines will again appear in the championship round as they take on Hendrick Motorsports in the 11th annual MAHLE Engine Builder Showdown Thursday afternoon.

Mike Maiwald and Scott Vester of Hendrick Motorsports will face off against Pro Motor Engines – 2009 showdown champions – but with two new teammates for 2010 – Josh Hypes and Matt Jackling. This is the fourth consecutive year a team from Pro Motor Engines has made an appearance in the championship round.

The finale of the MAHLE Engine Builder Showdown will be held at 5:30 p.m. tonight during “NASCAR Rev’d Up,” an event during NASCAR All-Star Week. It will be held on the side stage between 3rd and Mint Streets in Uptown Charlotte, N.C.

Former NASCAR Crew chiefs Jeff Hammond and Larry McReynolds will host the finale of the MAHLE Engine Builder Showdown, which is a tiered, three-round competition designed to recognize the knowledge, skill and speed of professional engine builders who assemble special performance engines for NASCAR teams.

In Tuesday’s second round in which teams had to build a complete Chevrolet R07 race engine in the fastest time and successfully run it for one minute, Hendrick Motorsports (19 minutes, 28 seconds) defeated the Roush-Yates Engines Team – 2009 runner up – by only 22 seconds to advance, while Team Pro Motor edged out the competing Penske Racing Engine team with a record-breaking time of 18 minutes, 11 seconds.

“The MAHLE Engine Builder Showdown is always an exceptional event to watch,” said Bill McKnight, team leader – training for MAHLE Clevite. “And this year it will be interesting to see if the Pro Motor Engine team can keep up the momentum in the final round, or if Maiwald and Vester from Hendrick Motorsports will rally to win the title and become the 2010 MAHLE Engine Builder Showdown champion, win the cash prize and have their names engraved on the prestigious Randy Dorton Memorial Trophy.”