Hendrick Motorsports is an American professional auto racing organization that competes in the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series. The team was founded in 1984 as All-Star Racing by Rick Hendrick. Hendrick Motorsports has won a NASCAR-record 324 Cup Series races and 15 Cup Series owners and drivers championships to go with three Truck Series owners and drivers titles and one O'Reilly Auto Parts Series drivers crown. Additionally, the team has 33 O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race wins, 26 Truck Series race wins, and seven ARCA Menards Series race wins.
Hendrick Motorsports fields four full-time Cup Series teams with the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1; the No. 5 for Kyle Larson, the No. 9 for Chase Elliott, the No. 24 for William Byron, and the No. 48 for Alex Bowman. The team also fields the No. 17 Chevrolet Camaro team full-time for Corey Day in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series. Hendrick Motorsports also fielded several trucks in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, most recently for Elliott in 2013. The team has fielded cars in the past for many NASCAR drivers, including Hall of Famers Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Terry Labonte, Darrell Waltrip, Benny Parsons, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, and others such as Geoff Bodine, Tim Richmond, Ricky Rudd, Ken Schrader, Ricky Craven, Jerry Nadeau, Joe Nemechek, Kyle Busch, Casey Mears, and Kasey Kahne. Hendrick Motorsports maintains an in-house engine shop, with the team leasing some of its engines to technical partners such as Haas Factory Team, Hyak Motorsports and Spire Motorsports.
History
What is now Hendrick Motorsports was founded prior to the 1984 season by Rick Hendrick, a Charlotte, North Carolina–based car dealership owner who currently operates a network of dealerships called Hendrick Automotive Group. The team was formed with crew chief and car builder Harry Hyde as All-Star Racing.Hendrick Motorsports' Humble Beginnings - 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup The team, renamed Hendrick Motorsports in 1985, was involved with the GM Goodwrench IMSA GTP Corvette and twin-turbo V6 engine development effort and competed in the IMSA GTP series from 1985 through 1988 with drivers Doc Bundy and Sarel van der Merwe. Hendrick Motorsports and GM ceased the project in 1988.
Hendrick Motorsports expanded its NASCAR efforts to two full-time cars in 1986, three in 1987, and four in 2002. It was one of the first teams in NASCAR to be successful operating multiple entries, partly based on the model used at the Hendrick car dealerships. The team has also been credited for innovations in engine construction and pit crew training. In 2020, Hendrick Motorsports partnered with AdvoCare in its performance and fitness teams.
Hendrick Motorsports (as All-Star Racing) won its first race in 1984 at Martinsville with the No. 5 driven by Geoff Bodine. At the 2021 Coca-Cola 600, Hendrick Motorsports became the winningest team in NASCAR Cup Series history when it won its 269th race with the No. 5 driven by Kyle Larson. This eclipsed the record held by Petty Enterprises at 268 wins, which had held the record of the winningest team in the series since 1960.
In 2023, Hendrick worked with NASCAR, Chevrolet, and Goodyear Tires to enter the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a modified version of the current NASCAR Cup car, in conjunction with the 75th anniversary of NASCAR.
NASCAR Cup Series
NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Hendrick Motorsports fielded in-house entries in the Busch Series from 1984 to 1990, and again from 2000 to 2007, primarily the No. 5 entry. Following the conclusion of the 2007 racing season, Hendrick Motorsports and JR Motorsports (owned by then-Hendrick Motorsports driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.) officially combined Xfinity Series operations. The No. 5 Chevrolets began running full-time under the JR Motorsports banner in 2008, and the team received engines and technical support from Hendrick Motorsports, with several of its employees moving to JR Motorsports. Rick Hendrick is an equity partner in JRM and continues to be listed as car owner of the No. 5 team.
Car No. 0 history Part-time with Tim Richmond (1984) In 1984, the team fielded the No. 0 car for Tim Richmond at Charlotte. He started from the pole position and finished 5th.
Car No. 0 results Year Driver No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Pts 1984 Tim Richmond 0 Pontiac DAY RCH CAR HCY MAR DAR ROU NSV LGY MLW DOV CLT SBO HCY ROU SBO ROU HCY IRP LGY SBO BRI DAR RCH NWS CLT5 HCY CAR MAR
Car No. 5 history Part-time (1985–1986) The No. 5 car debuted in 1985 with Brett Bodine ran twelve races. The younger Bodine brother would win three races for the team. Geoff Bodine ran four races in the No. 5 car. Bodine won the season opener Goody's 300.
In 1986, Geoff Bodine drove the No. 5 for one race at Bristol. He won the pole and finished sixteenth.
Ricky Hendrick (2002)
The current No. 5 car debuted as the No. 14 of JG Motorsports in 2000, with Rick Hendrick's son Ricky Hendrick finishing 39th in the season finale at Homestead.
The number was switched to No. 5 when the car began competing full-time in 2002. After Ricky Hendrick was injured in a wreck at Las Vegas, Ron Hornaday Jr. took over for the next six races before Hendrick returned at Richmond. Toward the end of the season, Hendrick suddenly announced his retirement from driving due to lingering effects from the crash, but he remained as car owner until his death in 2004. David Green finished out the season for the team.
Brian Vickers (2003) Ricky Hendrick selected 19-year-old Brian Vickers to drive the No. 5 car in 2003. Vickers won three races and the Busch Series championship, finishing just 14 points ahead of Hendrick test driver and former No. 5 team spotter David Green.
Kyle Busch (2004) When Vickers moved up to the Cup Series, Kyle Busch became the No. 5 car's driver after he had run seven races the previous season. In his rookie year, Busch won five races and was runner-up to Martin Truex Jr. in points. He moved up to the Cup Series after the season, but he continued to drive the No. 5 Busch Series car part-time for several more years.
Multiple Drivers (2005–2006) Adrián Fernández drove the car for six races in 2005, finishing tenth at Autódromo, his only top-ten finish of the season. Hendrick development drivers Blake Feese, Boston Reid, and Kyle Krisiloff also periodically drove the No. 5 car, running a combined fifteen races. Busch, Vickers, and Jimmie Johnson ran the rest of the schedule, with Busch winning at Lowe's while also scoring one top five and two top tens and scoring a pole at Bristol while Johnson scored only one top five and a pole at Darlington while Vickers in his only start at Watkins Glen finished in third. Fernández had only one top-ten with his tenth place finish in Mexico City along with an average finish of 31.8 and had 3 DNF's. As for Feese, Reid, and Krisiloff, the three drivers driving the 5 car combined for zero top tens with the best finish being a seventeeth by Reid at Nashville along with a combined average finish of 30.5 and had a combined seven DNF's. The season was so bad, all three drivers were released and Rick Hendrick shut down his driver development program until 2008 when he merged with Dale Earnhardt Jr's team JR Motorsports. Feese continued to race sporadically in ARCA and the Truck Series before not racing again after 2011. Reid ran 21 races from 2006 to 2007 in the Truck Series. Kyle Krisiloff ran part-time in the Truck Series in 2006 for Billy Ballew Motorsports before returning to the Busch Series doing a full-time season in 2007 for Carl A. Haas Motorsports and then running 6 races for Chip Ganassi Racing in 2008 before retiring at 22 years old. All three never made a start in the Cup Series.
In 2006, Busch drove 34 of 35 races, winning at Bristol and finishing seventh in points. Justin Labonte drove for one race at Memphis.
Part Time (2007) In 2007, Busch ran the No. 5 on a part-time basis, sharing the ride with Mark Martin, Landon Cassill, Casey Mears, and Adrián Fernández, running a total of 26 races. The car carried a number of different sponsors including Lowe's, Delphi, Spectrum, and Hendrick Autoguard. Busch drove the car to victory lane four times in 2007, while Martin finished second twice in three races.
JR Motorsports (2008–2018)
The No. 5 team moved to JR Motorsports in 2008, and featured eight drivers, including Johnson and Earnhardt Jr., and four primary sponsors in its first year. In 2009, the No. 5 car ran a part-time schedule due to sponsorship limitations. Fastenal, Unilever and GoDaddy.com sponsored seven different drivers over the course of the season. A variety of drivers ran the car in subsequent NASCAR Xfinity Series seasons until it was shut down for the 2019 season.
Car No. 5 results Year Driver No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 Pts 1985 Geoff Bodine5Pontiac DAY1* CAR3 HCY BRI16* DAR32 Brett Bodine MAR1 SBO4 LGY DOV CLT4 SBO3 HCY2 ROU IRP25* SBO LGY HCY9 MLW BRI1* DAR8 RCH NWS ROU CLT9 HCY CAR1* MAR27 1986 Geoff Bodine DAY CAR HCY MAR BRI16 DAR SBO LGY JFC DOV CLT SBO HCY ROU IRP SBO RAL OXF SBO HCY LGY ROU BRI DAR RCH DOV MAR ROU CLT CAR MAR 2002 Ricky HendrickChevy DAY27 CAR21 LVS37 RCH15 NHA15 NZH30 CLT22 DOV25 NSH15 KEN8 MLW15 DAY20 CHI21 GTY24 PPR22 IRP7 MCH23 BRI29 DAR33 RCH17 DOV27 KAN38 20th 3475 Ron Hornaday Jr. DAR15 BRI38 TEX12 NSH22 TAL29 CAL17 David Green CLT5 MEM9 ATL14 CAR4 PHO5 HOM42 2003 Brian Vickers DAY42 CAR8 LVS13 DAR7 BRI14 TEX25* TAL23 NSH9 CAL19 RCH16 GTY4 NZH2 CLT14 DOV5 NSH10 KEN6 MLW2 DAY7 CHI3 NHA4 PPR29 IRP1 MCH19 BRI7 DAR1 RCH4 DOV1* KAN32 CLT4 MEM5* ATL31 PHO3 CAR6 HOM11 2nd 4637 2004 Kyle Busch DAY24 CAR7 LVS15 DAR17 BRI3 TEX2* NSH6 TAL4 CAL7 GTY5 RCH1* NZH10 CLT1* DOV5 NSH17 KEN1 MLW16 DAY11 CHI12* NHA25 PPR17 IRP1 MCH1* BRI3 CAL9 RCH5 DOV9 KAN29 CLT5 MEM14 ATL2 PHO2* DAR33 HOM3 2nd 4943 2005 DAY32 LVS11 TAL40 CLT1* DAY27 CHI36 BRI38 RCH14 DOV37 KAN8 26th 2955 Boston Reid CAL22 NSH30 PHO39 NSH17 NHA36 GTY25 Adrián Fernández MXC10 CAL28 CLT40 TEX43 PHO28 HOM42 Blake Feese ATL23 BRI28 TEX37 KEN34 PPR37 IRP29 Jimmie Johnson DAR23 RCH25 DOV5 Kyle Krisiloff MLW42 MCH40 MEM19 Brian Vickers GLN3 2006 Kyle Busch DAY25 CAL23 MXC7 LVS19 ATL40 BRI1 TEX4 NSH30 PHO12 TAL3 RCH9 DAR6 CLT23 DOV6 NSH31 KEN13* MLW24 DAY16 CHI42 NHA16 MAR20 GTY8 IRP21 GLN37 MCH14 BRI7 CAL11 RCH12 DOV7 KAN3 CLT12 TEX32 PHO10 HOM41 7th 4018 Justin Labonte MEM22 2007 Kyle Busch DAY37* CAL3 LVS2* ATL3* BRI3 NSH TEX7* PHO37 TAL39 RCH5 CLT8 DOV NSH KEN MLW NHA DAY1* CHI5* GTY IRP CGV BRI4 CAL2 RCH1* KAN1 CLT2 TEX2 PHO1* 9th 3896 Adrián Fernández MXC9 Mark Martin DAR2 MCH14 HOM2 Casey Mears GLN8 Landon Cassill DOV18 MEM20
Car No. 15 history Part-time (1984–1990)