“If Somebody’s Barn Burned”: Rick Hendrick Discloses Firm Morals Behind 40 Years of NASCAR Dominance

Hendrick Motorsports has been around for a fairly long time. Rick Hendrick founded the organization in 1984 and the team made its Cup Series debut that year at the Daytona 500. Since then, it has become a massive juggernaut in the NASCAR Cup Series scene, and it is easy to see why.

The team has won 14 Cup Series titles, between 1995 and 2021, along with one Xfinity Series championship and three Truck Series titles. Along the way, Rick Hendrick and his company produced a fair few drivers who became legends in the sport. Chief among them are 4-time champion Jeff Gordon and record-breaking 7-time champion Jimmie Johnson.

Recently, Hendrick spoke to Kelley Earnhardt about the legacy that he has built in NASCAR and the work culture that he has instilled within the organization. Safe to say, his policies have yielded rich rewards, and he also acknowledged that he highly values loyalty.

Rick Hendrick traced everything back to how he grew up

Hendrick told Kelley Earnhardt on the ‘Business of Motorsports‘ podcast by Dale Jr. Download, “I’ll go back to growing up on the farm. You never had everything you need, you counted on your neighbors. If somebody’s barn burned, you help them. I just had that relationship with people, and my folks taught me that you can never have everything you need. You need other people, and so when I went to Venice, I recruited 3-4 people to go with me. If they’re alive, they’re still with me to this day.” Raised on a tobacco farm in Palmer Springs, Virginia, Hendrick learned about values very early on in his life by observing the people in his community. He carried on these values of always helping people in his life as a team owner.

Hendrick added, “Looking at taking care of people, I’ve always said people first. If people don’t think you care about them, they’re not going to care about you.” Such morals lead to healthy organizations and successful environments. And that is exactly what Hendrick Motorsports is. The champion team is run based on these principles and with someone as wise and successful as Rick Hendrick preaching, you can rarely go wrong.

His strong morals not only come from a place of empathy but also knowledge The HMS boss took to the time to analyze why some organizations aren’t able to keep up and figured out that it is all about the people.”I studied companies that failed, rather than companies that are successful and most of the time there’s a big difference between the leadership. I want to do things for my people because I want to give them insurance, retirement.”

Rick Hendrick’s loyalty paid dividends

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According to Rick Hendrick, his best business decision has to be keeping his company as a private organization. As he explained, “One reason I like being private is I can do things for people, I don’t have to answer to a board. It’s not profit first, it’s people first.” Representing 131 franchises and 25 manufacturer nameplates, Hendrick Automotive Group is the largest privately held automotive retail organization in the United States.  His loyalty to his employees paid dividends when the world was hit by COVID-19.

“During Covid, I paid all my people, didn’t lay off anybody and I asked my CFO and said ‘ How long can I do this?’ and he said ‘ I think we can do it sixty days maybe 90 days’, 30 days later we get the team together and business came back and we were successful.” This isn’t something that Hendrick did just in 2020. This is his way of life and taking it back to 2016, Hendrick maintained the same stance when Stewart Haas Racing switched from Chevrolet to Ford.

Hendrick admitted in 2016 that the decision “kind of caught me by surprise” but despite the financial strain, Hendrick said, “We’re going to take a little bit of a breather, and I’m not going to lay off anybody or get rid of any people. All of my folks got jobs because we’ve got plenty to do” Hendrick had the last laugh in the end as Stewart Haas Racing announced its closure this year with little success after switching to Ford. Meanwhile, HMS won championships in 2016,2020 and 2021 with Jimmie Johnson, Chase Elliott, and Kyle Larson, respectively.

Rick Hendrick is a man of his word and sticks to his principles. Despite many successful organizations being cutthroat in their handling of employees, Rick believes in patience and trust. He added, “You take care of the [employees], they’ll work harder, stay longer you’ll end up making more.” Well HMS certainly has been making more and more with every passing year. As per Forbes in 2020, HMS is the most valuable organization in NASCAR with a team value of $315 million. Do you think HMS is the best-run organization in NASCAR?