Longtime Cup owner Rick Hendrick to drive pace car at Brickyard 400

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Rick Hendrick won’t have to out this weekend’s Brickyard 400 qualifying to see who will lead the Cup cars to the green flag Sunday.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials announced Wednesday that the longtime NASCAR owner will drive the pace car for the 30th Brickyard race — and the first on the historic 2.5-mile oval since 2020.

Hendrick Motorsports holds every major team record, including championships, points-paying victories, laps led and, yes, pole wins. The team has won at least one race in each of the past 39 seasons and Hendrick’s driver, Jeff Gordon, won the first Brickyard.

Hendrick will be driving a Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.

“Time goes by fast,” Hendrick said in a statement. “I can’t believe it’s been four decades since we started Hendrick Motorsports and 30 years since Jeff (Gordon) won the inaugural Brickyard 400. I’ll never forget the excitement around that event and the thrill of winning a race at Indianapolis.”

The 75-year-old Hendrick started his career by working on race cars with his father, “Papa Joe,” and rebuilt his first car, a 1931 Chevrolet, at age 14. He traveled frequently to racetracks across the South, often volunteering as a crew member before building a career in retail automotive sales and ultimately following his passion for racing into ownership.

Hendrick Motorsports has 600 employees, who work on his four-car Chevrolet stable that features drivers Alex Bowman, William Byron, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing