TALLADEGA, Ala. --- At 190 mph, David Ragan didn't notice a difference with his engine during practices Friday at Talladega Superspeedway, and that made the engineers at Ford Racing happy.

Ragan and Roush Fenway Racing teammate Matt Kenseth will have the new FR9 engine under the hood for today's AMP Energy 500 as the car company tries to get a jump on its development.

After three years of construction and testing, the new engine will get its first dress rehearsal today on the 2.66-mile superspeedway. Since neither driver is in the Chase for the Championship, they were in position to gamble on the new engine without any significant consequences.

Rain washed out pole qualifying on Saturday. The lineup for today's race (1 p.m., ABC-Ch. 6) was set by the point standings, giving Jimmie Johnson a free pass to the pole position.

Mark Martin will start third, followed by Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, Greg Biffle, Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards, Kasey Kahne and Brian Vickers.

The new engine is supposed to help Ford with its aerodynamics since it has more advanced ways to keep vital parts cool.

That will allow teams to use more tape on the front grille to make the car better navigate the turns.

"This puts us on a level playing field with the rest of the competition and it's something we're excited about working on," said Doug Yates, who helped create the new engine. Right out of the box the engine is really impressive power-wise.

Ragan was the seventh-fastest driver in Friday's final practice session; Kenseth was eighth. They were the two fastest Fords in the field.

"With the new restrictor plate we don't have anything to judge it on," Ragan said. "As a driver, you don't notice a thing, but you'll feel a difference when you get to Homestead or a track like that."

Cars that missed the playoffs will continue to do research and development in the final four races of the season.