Ray Evernham Reveals the “Key Person” Behind Hendrick Motorsports’ NASCAR Dominance

Ex-NASCAR team owner Ray Evernham has shared his thoughts on the real driving force behind Hendrick Motorsports’ success.

Ray Evernham Reveals the “Key Person” Behind Hendrick Motorsports’ NASCAR Dominance

Rick Hendrick, Ray Evernham and Kyle Larson (Via IMAGO and charlottemotorspeedway.com)

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With over 320 Cup race victories and 15 championships to their name, Rick Hendrick’s Hendrick Motorsports is the most dominant team in the stock car racing history. They have fielded cars for some of the biggest names of the sport like Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, as well as being the pioneers of inventions that changed the sport.

So, who or what is the key to their success? Ray Evernham seems to have an answer. The ex-crew chief and current consultant at HMS recently sat down with John Roberts for Kenny Wallace’s YouTube channel, to talk about the state of the industry, The ex-team owner asserted that the key behind HMS success is the HOF boss Rick Hendrick as the veteran’s vision and commitment is unparalleled.

The key person that’s always been there with the vision is Rick Hendrick. What he’s done, his vision, his commitment, and his ability to put people together and keep that drive up for as many years as he can is pretty amazing.

Ray Evernham said via Kenny Wallace’s YouTube channel.

The leadership quality from Hendrick plays significant role in the team always having the right drivers and crew chief to lead the operations. For a team that has the likes of Jeff Andrews and Jeff Gordon, and Chad Knaus in the leadership roles, finishing second isn’t an option and that’s played a significant role in their success.

It’s a difficult thing to accomplish what they’ve done, but it’s easy for me to understand why after spending time around guys like Rick Hendrick and Jeff Andrews and Jeff Gordon, and Chad Knaus. You look at that group there and, man, second is just not an option for them.

Ray Evernham added.

Ray Evernham gives a major update on IROC’s future

In the same conversation Evernham shared his how he and business partner Robb Kauffman are working on revitalization of the Internation Race of the Champions, the iconic series that once saw legends from different motorsports racing each other. He confirmed they are already working on the 2026 season, after the successful event at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Ray Evernham
Ray Evernham (Via IMAGO)

We’ve located about 65 original IROC cars around the world. We had a tremendous show at Rolex Monterey with Jeff Gordon and Bobby Labonte, Mark Martin, Ken Schrader, Dario Franchitti, Scott Pruett, Bill Elliott…So, a great, great group of drivers. And we’re already working on 2026.

Ray Evernham said.

He revealed that the series will have Heritage events in April at the Charlotte 1010 Motor Club track/ They partnered with the likes of Rick Hendrick and Marcus Smith to make it happen. Evernham also confirmed the return to Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion at Laguna Seca next season.

We’re going to have our next event on April 9th, 10th, 11th at the Heritage event at the new Charlotte… the 1010 Motor Club track that Rick Hendrick and Marcus Smith have partnered up on. So, and then again, we’ll be back at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion at Laguna Seca in August 2026.

Ray Evernham added.

The comments from Ray Evernham shows the IROC fans can keep their hopes high for the future of the series. It would be interesting to see how everything is going to playout for the iconic racing championship in 2026 and beyond.

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