When open-wheel star Jeff Gordon moved to the Cup Series in 1993 after two years with Bill Davis in what is now the NASCAR Xfinity Series, a fourth car came to fruition.
That era produced nine victories for Richmond and nine wins for Waltrip, including the 1989 Daytona 500. Gordon collected 93 victories and four championships, including five Brickyard 400 wins and four Daytona 500 triumphs before his retirement in 2016.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. joined the organization in 2008 and logged nine victories before his retirement in 2017.
The best of all Hendrick Motorsports drivers may be Jimmie Johnson, who will retire at the end of this season. Johnson has won seven Cup Series championships and amassed 83 victories, including two Daytona 500 wins and four Brickyard 400 triumphs.
These days, Hendrick fields cars for Johnson, William Byron, Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott.
Hendrick knew the day would come when Johnson would step aside. He’s seen drivers leave so many times since forming the team and knows it is part of the process.
“He’s done so much for us and for the sport,” Hendrick said. “If you just said I’m going to make a list of what the perfect driver would be, from the talent to the ability to working with sponsors and being an athlete, he’s just raising the bar for our company. From fitness to charity, it’s unbelievable how perfect he is. So, whatever he wanted, I wanted for him. I told him that this year; I said we’re not on a clock, you tell me what you want to do, and we’ll make it work. I thought he deserved that from our company.”
Johnson and Gordon continue to lead the Hendrick organization.
Elliott, a six-time Cup Series winner with Hendrick Motorsports, feels Gordon has contributed greatly to helping get the organization back to consistently winning races.
“Especially the way I came in, he was stepping out,” Elliott said. “He had a very large role in me getting started, the role that I was playing coming in. Jeff has been a good asset to Hendrick behind the scenes, doing some new things, bringing some new life to some different areas, which I think has been good. Yeah, hopefully, he’ll stick around and keep trying to help.
“(Johnson) is a great teammate also and he’s become a great friend of mine,” Elliott continued. “Any time someone who has had his level of success in this sport has something to say, you definitely want to listen. I’ve enjoyed having him around. I hate that he’s going to be gone. I feel he brings a really important piece to our dynamic at this company — and I hate to see that go.”
Byron, in his third season with Hendrick Motorsports, is considered a rising star with great potential.
“We have to go win more races, be more consistent and just be a little more competitive than we were last year,” Byron said. “Last year, we had a lot of hot streaks that were really strong and then I kind of fell off at the wrong times and had some bad days that we didn’t need. If we can just go be more consistent and more competitive consistently, I think that’s what we need to go do.
“Jeff (Gordon) still spends a ton of time with the race team,” Byron added. “Obviously, he’s super involved and that’s been great to get to learn from him and lean on him. Obviously, Jimmie (Johnson) has a ton of experience and he’s a little bit more immediately accessible at times to lean on. But Jeff is really good to have as well.”
Forty-five drivers, including Hendrick himself, who ran a road course race at California’s Riverside Int’l Raceway, have started NASCAR Cup Series races for Hendrick with 20 claiming victories.
In addition to Johnson’s seven titles and Gordon’s four, Terry Labonte won the championship for Hendrick Motorsports in 1996.
The team also has 26 NASCAR Xfinity Series victories, 26 Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series wins and an Xfinity Series championship.
From simple beginnings to an auto racing giant, Hendrick Motorsports will always be a championship cornerstone of NASCAR Cup Series competition.