Hendrick Motorsports

Template:NASCAR Owner Infobox Hendrick Motorsports is a group of NASCAR racing teams started by Rick Hendrick in 1984 under the name "All Star Racing." The company sponsors both Nextel Cup and Busch Series drivers. All cars are made by Chevrolet. The List of Hendrick Sponsors gives information about sponsors of Hendrick Motorsports. The team is based in Concord, North Carolina, which is near Charlotte.

The team

Car #5 History

The orginal part of Hendrick Motorsports debuted in 1984 as the #5 Northwestern Security Life Chevy driven by Geoff Bodine. Running all 30 races, Bodine and the team won three times and finished 9th in points that year. Bodine and Hendrick did better in 1985, finishing 5th in points despite not winning a single race in a car sponsored by Levi Garrett. The team also briefly became a two-car team when Dick Brooks drove the #1 Exxon Chevy at Charlotte Motor Speedway, finishing 10th. Moving to a multi-car team full-time in 1986, Bodine won twice and posted an eighth place finish in the points standings. His little brother Brett raced as a teammate to him at the World 600 that year, finishing 17th. Bodine went winless again in 1987, finishing 13th in points. Bodine won one race apiece over the next two years, before leaving for Junior Johnson in 1990. Ricky Rudd took his place, winning once and finishing 7th in points. For 1991, the team recieved sponsorship from Tide as part of the car's merger with Darrell Waltrip's old team. Winning one race that year, Rudd finished a career high second in the points standings. The most notorieous part of that year was at Sears Point Raceway, when on the final lap, second-place Rudd spun out leader Davey Allison on the last turn and went on to win. NASCAR penalized the team for rough driving and awarded Allison the win. Rudd kept his streak of one win a year over the next two years, then left to form his own team, taking Tide with him. His replacement was 1984 Winston Cup champion Terry Labonte, and the car recieved the Kellogg's Sponsorship. Labonte held his own, winning three races in 1994 and 1995, and defeated teammate Jeff Gordon for the 1996 Winston Cup championship by 37 points. After that Labonte's win total lowered to one win per year for the rest of the decade.(Although he won The Winston in addition to his win at Texas in 1999). 2000, was a very difficult year for the team as two long streaks that defined Labonte's career came to an end. In the Pepsi 400, Labonte crashed his car and broke his leg. At first, it appeared that Labonte could be able to drive a couple of laps in the start of the race to earn points, but after an accident at New Hampshire International Speedway damaged his inner ear, Labonte was not capable of driving, and he ended up missing two races, bringing his streak of most consecutive races to an abrupt end. Todd Bodine and Ron Hornaday subbed for Labonte. The other streak broken was his 6-year winning streak, as he failed to visit victory lane at all that year. After a couple of low-key years, Labonte regained flashes of his old self in 2003, when he finished 9th in the points standings. More importantly, Labonte finally revisited victory lane after a 4-year draught, winning what turned out to be the final Southern 500 at Darlington. The already-popular victory became even more memorable when the flagman dropped the checkered flag on the racetrack for Labonte to wave around in his victory lap. After slipping to 26th in points in 2004, Labonte announced his semi-retirement. He would drive a limited schedule for two years before retiring offically after 2006. Hendrick tabbed Kyle Busch as his replacement. So far, Busch has one pole position and eight top-10 finishes to his credit, and is leading the battle for NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year.

Car #24 History

The #24 Car has known one and one driver only. His name is Jeff Gordon. Not only that it has know just one sponsor, DuPont. All three debuted in 1992 at the 1992 Hooters 500, qualifying 21st and finishing 31st following a crash. Almost symbollically, that race was the last for 7-time champion Richard Petty. The team went full-time in 1993, armed with crew chief Ray Evernham. Gordon won the pole position at the fall race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, had eleven top-10s, and finished 10th in points, winning rookie of the year honors. In 1994, Gordon lived up to his promising amateur season, winning the Coca-Cola 600(he was so excited after this victory he cried in victory lane), and the inagural Brickyard 400. When that season was all said and done, Gordon improved to eighth in the points. Despite all of this, Gordon struggled with DNF's, mostly due to crashes. 1995 marked the Gordon could offically be called a legend, as he won seven races and was crowned that year's champion. He followed that up with ten more wins in 1996, but finished runner-up to teammate Terry Labonte for the championship. Around this time, fans began booing Gordon constantly at the racetrack because of his dominance. Others booed him for being open about his Christianity. Nevertheless, Gordon won back-to-back championships in 1997 and 1998, typing Richard Petty's modern era record for most victories in a season with 13 in the latter year. But 1999 marked the one of the toughest seasons he ever had to endure. He started out in typical style, winning the Daytona 500, but the team struggled with concistency, and would seemingly have a great finish one week, then would have DNF's or other struggles the following week. In September of that year, long-time crew chief Ray Evernham, who had guided Gordon to so many victories and championships, shocked the sport when he announced he was leaving the team to help develop Dodge's return to NASCAR. He was replaced by Brian Whitesell. To the surprise of many, Gordon won the first two races after Evernham's departure at Martinsville and Charlotte. At the end of the season, Gordon, in addition to signing a lifetime contract with the team that gave him part ownership, had seven victories and was 6th in points. In addition to his post-Evernham victories, Gordon's most impressive win came at Sears Point, when he was able to complete the greuling track despite feeling quite ill. For 2000, Whitesell moved to a new position with the orginization, and he was replaced by the long-time crew chief for Petty Enterprises, Robbie Loomis. The chemistry was not evident at first, as Gordon went winless for a long time before picking up his 50th career victory at Talladega. Gordon won two more races that season and was 9th in points at the end. He bounced back in 2001, when he picked up 7 victories and won his 4th championship. 2002 brought about some big changes, he became car-owner for Jimmie Johnson's team. But even more importantly, he filed for divorce from his wife Brooke, and it led to a nasty dispute. Since then Gordon has stayed a bachelor. He went winless the entire season until the Sharpie 500 at Bristol in August. Despite just three wins, he finished 4th in points. In 2004, he won 5 times and would have won his 5th championship if not for the new Chase for the Cup points system. In 2005, he has won thrice, but is outside of the points barrier for the Chase for the Cup.

Car #25 History

Car #25 was owned for many years by Hendrick's father, "Papa" Joe Hendrick. It debuted in 1986 with the Folger's sponsorship and Tim Richmond driving. Richmond (teamed with veteran crew chief Harry Hyde) won 7 times that year and finished 3rd in points. He missed the beginning of the 1987 season which he said was pneaumonia (it was really AIDS). Benny Parsons and Rick Hendrick himself filled in. Richmond returned midway through the season, and won twice, but it was obvious he wasn't going to get better anytime soon. For 1988, Ken Schrader took over the ride. He won two pole positions, won the Talladega Diehard 500, and finished 5th in the points. He won 4 more poles in 1989, and picked up a victory at the fall race at Charlotte. He didn't win in 1990, but he won the pole for the Daytona 500 for the third year in a row. He won two more races in 1991, and finished 9th in points. His only highlight after that was a career-best 4th in points in 1994. After that year, Budweiser replaced Kodiak as the sponsor. After 1996, Schrader left the team, and was replaced by Ricky Craven. He missed two races in 1991 after suffering a concussion at Texas.(Jack Sprague and Todd Bodine filled in his place.) Despite this he won the Winston Open and finished 19th in points. In 1998, he realized he returned to the sport too soon when he was diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome. He sat out several races with Randy LaJoie and Wally Dallenbach filling in. He turned at his hometrack at New Hampshire and won the pole, but he struggled, and was soon out of the car. Dallenbach replaced him full time. Dallenbach had a career year in 1999, putting together 6-top finishes and was 18th in points at the end of the year. But early in 1999, Hendrick tabbed Jerry Nadeau to drive the car, with Michael Holigan Homes as sponsor. Nadeau had an impressive year, finishing 20th in points, posting 5 top-10s, and winning the season-ending race at Atlanta. He had ten top-10 finishes and improved three positions in points the next year, this time with the UAW-Delphi sponsorship. After 11 races in 2002, he was replaced by Joe Nemecheck who posted three top-five finishes. Nemecheck won at Richmond in 2003, before leaving for MB2/MBV Motorsports at the end of the year. Rookie Brian Vickers took over the next season getting sponsorship from GMAC and Ditech, earning two poles and finishing 25th in points, runner-up to Kasey Kahne for Rookie of the Year. During the year, "Papa" Joe passed away, to the sadness of many fans. Vickers has come close to winning several times this year, and many believe it's just a matter time before he goes to victory lane.

Car #44/60/84 History

What is now the #44 car debuted in 2003 as car #60 with NetZero as sponsor, and David Green driving. The car was orginally formed as a partnership with Gene Haas and his Haas/CNC Motorsports team, but the team evolved into Hendrick's R & D team. It debuted at the Pepsi 400, qualfying 21st and finishing 32nd. Green ran one more race that year, before Brian Vickers ran it at the fall Charlotte race. Kyle Busch took it over the following season, this time as the #84 CarQuest Chevy. He made his debut at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, qualifying 18th but finishing 41st after being involved in an accident on lap 12. Despite failing to qualify for several attempts, he made my five more starts that year, his best finish was 24th at California Speedway. In 2005, Busch and Terry Labonte switched rides, with Busch moving to the #5 and Labonte moving to Busch's old ride, which changed its number to 44. Gettings sponsorship from Kellogg's and Pizza Hut, Labonte will drive the car in a limited schedule over the next couple of years, before retiring.

Car #48 History

The Car #48 began in 2000 before it even hit the track. Hendrick signed Jimmie Johnson to drive a car. At the time Johnson was a first-year Busch Series driver driving for an underfunded team. He made his debut at the fall race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in the #48 Lowe's Chevy, qualifying 15th and finished 39th after crashing on lap 193. After two more races, Johnson moved full time in 2002, winning 3 times and runner up to Ryan Newman for Rookie of the Year, even leading the championship standings at one point. He won three more races in 2003 and finished second to Matt Kenseth in the championship standings. He led most of the 2004 season's points, but some inconsistency towards the end of the year, costing him the championship. He's led most of the 2005 season, but lost it after the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard when he suffered a hard crash. He has won two races this year.

Aviation Tragedy

On October 24, 2004, ten people associated with Hendrick Motorsports lost their lives in a plane crash while en route from Concord, North Carolina, to a small airport near the Martinsville Speedway. The plane crashed in heavy fog into Bull Mountain, seven miles from the Blue Ridge Regional Airport in Spencer, Virginia. While NASCAR officials learned of the crash during that day's Subway 500 race in Martinsville, they withheld that information from drivers until the end of the race. Hendrick driver Jimmie Johnson won the race.

All ten aboard the Beechcraft King Air 200 died:

• John Hendrick, president of Hendrick Motorsports; Rick Hendrick's brother
• Ricky Hendrick, Rick Hendrick's son
• Kimberly and Jennifer Hendrick, John Hendrick's twin daughters
• Jeff Turner, general manager of Hendrick Motorsports
• Randy Dorton, chief engine builder
• Joe Jackson, DuPont executive
• Scott Lathram, pilot for NASCAR driver Tony Stewart
• pilots Richard Tracy and Elizabeth Morrison

For the balance of the 2004 season, Johnson and Jeff Gordon drove cars with pictures of the ten Hendrick members on the hood.

Current Nextel Cup Drivers

• Jeff Gordon, #24 Chevrolet sponsored by Dupont and Pepsi at the Aarons 499 atTalladega Superspeedway and Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway
• Jimmie Johnson, #48 Chevrolet sponsored by Lowe's
• Kyle Busch, #5 Chevrolet sponsored by Kellogg's
• Brian Vickers, #25 Chevrolet sponsored by GMAC and Ditech.com
• Terry Labonte #44 Chevrolet sponsored both by Kellogg's, Pizza Hut, and GMAC

Curent Busch Series Drivers

All drivers are part time, the #5 team is sponsored by Lowe's and runs the entire schedule with several different drivers.

• Kyle Busch #5 Lowe's Chevrolet & #57 Chevrolet
• Boston Reid #5 Lowe's Chevrolet
• Blake Feese #5 Lowe's Chevrolet
• Kyle Krisiloff #5 Lowe's Chevrolet
• Jimmie Johnson #5 & 48 Lowe's Chevrolet
• Brian Vickers #57 Ore-Ida Chevrolet and Pizza Hut Chevrolet

Former Nextel Cup Drivers for Hendrick Motorsports

• Geoff Bodine
• Ricky Craven
• Wally Dallenbach
• Jerry Nadeau
• Tim Richmond
• Ricky Rudd
• Ken Schrader
• Darrell Waltrip

Former Busch Drivers for Hendrick Motorsports

• Dale Earnhardt
• Ricky Hendrick
• Jack Sprague

Former Craftsman Truck Drivers

• Ricky Hendrick
• Jack Sprague

Nextel Cup Championships

• 2001 Jeff Gordon
• 1998 Jeff Gordon
• 1997 Jeff Gordon
• 1996 Terry Labonte
• 1995 Jeff Gordon

Busch Series Championships

• 2003 Brian Vickers

Truck Series Championships

• 2001 Jack Sprague
• 1999 Jack Sprague
• 1997 Jack Sprague

Sources

• Racing Reference