Hendrick Motorsports passed Petty Enterprises on NASCAR‘s all-time wins list for team owners Sunday night, with Kyle Larson breaking the tie by providing the organization‘s 269th Cup Series victory, a Coca-Cola 600 triumph at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Rick Hendrick, 71, celebrated at the 1.5-mile track located nearly the same distance away from his team‘s sprawling campus, a hometown venue where his team has now won 21 times. The Charlotte-based automotive mogul and businessman took the top spot from the Pettys, one of the first families of NASCAR who formed one of stock-car racing‘s earliest powerhouses.
Ties between the two organizations still bind them together. Hendrick Motorsports launched as All-Star Racing in 1984, the same year that Richard Petty scored the last of his record 200 wins. Hendrick was enshrined in the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2017, preceded by four inductees who made up the core of Petty Enterprises — father-son drivers Lee (2011) and Richard Petty (2010), crew chief Dale Inman (2012) and engine builder Maurice Petty (2014).
Both teams also share common ground in the way their win totals accumulated, with two drivers each amassing the primary share of their victories. Patriarch Lee Petty netted all 54 of his Cup Series wins for the family-owned team, and Richard Petty contributed all but four of his 200 wins overall. Twenty drivers — including all four on Hendrick‘s current roster — have added to Hendrick Motorsports‘ record tally, but two standouts lead the way. Jeff Gordon‘s 93 wins rank third on NASCAR‘s all-time list, and Jimmie Johnson‘s 83 wins are tied with the legendary Cale Yarborough for sixth.
— NASCAR.com —
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“I am proud to congratulate Rick Hendrick and all of Hendrick Motorsports on breaking the all-time wins record for a NASCAR Cup Series race team, long held by the legendary Petty Enterprises team. With nearly 40 years of excellence, Hendrick Motorsports has set the gold standard for race team success. Rick Hendrick has already cemented his legacy as a NASCAR Hall of Famer, and now adds another incredible accomplishment to an exemplary NASCAR career.” — Jim France, NASCAR Chairman and CEO
