Rick Hendrick’s Infamous Garage 56 Entry Makes Wild Appearance Hours After HMS Boss Revisited Le Mans Triumph

While the action reached the gates of Charlotte for the 2nd playoff eliminator, NASCAR nation got a spectacular surprise with the organization’s official Le Mans entry doing a round around the 2.2-mile part-oval, part-road course circuit. The Garage 56 car that ran the French track earlier this year in 24 hours of Le Mans, finishing at an impressive 39th spot, has now a made special cameo at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

2023 is indeed a special year for NASCAR and HMS. Celebrating its 75 anniversary, for the first time ever the organization rolled out a car to mark its entry into one of the toughest races in the world. The result was phenomenal—the Garage 56 car did more than it intended to.

It did more than just hang in there with the GTE class cars, the Cup Series car passed some of the best cars in the tournament, making a strong impression. Reliving the glory, Rick Hendrick went back in time, revisiting some of the memories hours before the Chevy did a lap around Charlotte Roval.

NASCAR’s Le Mans car makes an appearance in Charlotte as Rick Hendrick revisits the memories

Commemorating its anniversary, NASCAR for the very first time in its 75 years rolled out a Cup Series Chevy, marking its official entry into the 24 hours of Le Mans. The Garage 56 car, which was a joint effort from HMS, Goodyear, GM, and NASCAR really made an impression on the big stage. The glorious V8 sang its tune, speeding down the French straights with the spectators glued to the Racey Blue Chevy.

The project was more than just a publicity stunt, in fact, the Cup Series car proved all its detractors wrong, passing the GTE spec cars in style and finishing the endurance race 39th in the 62-car field. Now coming to the playoff eliminator in Roval. The Garage 56 made a special appearance going around the 2.2-mile for a spin with the crowd getting a closer look at the car.

Mr. H went down memory lane to France as he revisited the 24-hour grueling race. Hours after his comments, the HMS-powered car made a visit to Charlotte, gracing the community with its presence. Speaking to Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass, Hendrick opened up about the French extravaganza. Denouncing the dark joke that echoed around the field that day, the boss man recalled the epic scene, seeing a Cup car passing the endurance race cars, saying, “It shocked a lot of people but you know we just kind of have the mantra that whatever it takes, we’re gonna go with this car.” 

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With the playoff action yet another eliminator in Charlotte at the infamous Roval, HMS camp got a piece of bad news as the #5 driver, Larson slipped at the 2.2-mile track. The HMS car suffered substantial front-end damages when it kissed the wall during practice. The infamous makeshift road course once again tested one of its best drivers, besting him in Saturday’s session.

Larson will now start from the back, unable to post a qualifying time on Saturday. Reacting to his driver’s bump, Mr Hendrick said, “It’s going to be a tremendous amount of pressure because everything is going to be changing, every 10, 15 laps and stages and all that so we just go the best we can, this is the way it works.” 

Whereas Larson according to NASCAR shared how he got loose entering turn 8, saying, “I just got loose entering (Turn) 8 and over-corrected and got the right-front into the wall,” just kinda gets bouncy over there and just stepped out on me.”

READ MORE: Kyle Larson Mistakenly Lets Slip Hendrick Motorsports’ Unfortunate Condition Hours Ahead of ROVAL