For one NASCAR Cup Series team, things appear to be going well despite the absurd season. At the Indianapolis 500, Kyle Larson—who was eager for vengeance following his botched Double effort in May—picked up Hendrick Motorsports’ eighth trophy of the year. This is an endeavor that might not materialize in 2025. Rick Hendrick was ecstatic as hell. And it might have been related to something other than the victory.
For the following two weeks, NASCAR drivers will ditch their fire suits for (maybe) their bathing suits as the series heads into the Olympic break. The same is occurring within the Hendrick fold, but with added emphasis, as an insider revealed.
Rick Hendrick places a high value on his time off.
Based on the last five months of racing, HMS is clearly the most powerful squad in the NASCAR garage among all the Cup Series teams. And that means NBC will concentrate on its coverage of the Games when everyone takes a long, martini-drinking, sun-bathing holiday as the two-week Olympic break approaches. The No. 5 crew chief, Cliff Daniels, spoke about the strategy Rick Hendrick’s team has implemented for the upcoming few weeks during an appearance on the July 24 episode of Dale Jr. Download.
“What we’ve done really well as a company is identify how to structure the workflow for the road crew guys being off for some of this time. And what it’s going to look like when they come back, how does the shop need to be?”
Daniels also added the good progress they saw in their rides. “So a lot of our cars are in really good shape. Like the Richmond cars are actually in fantastic shape right now, which is great.” With the Cup Series returning to Richmond on the weekend of August 11, HMS has already planned ahead. Daniels continued,
“So we’re kind of hitting it heavy this first week of giving folks the time off, which we could do because of the last month and a half, two months, we have built our schedule forward. Our company is actually going to be closed Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of this week. Full shutdown, no emails allowed, which is awesome. We have structured ourselves that way. And you know, big thanks to Mr. H for approving that.”
The Cup Series has pulled through a taxing 22 weeks of competition, and almost 300 days before this break after NASCAR announced this year’s schedule last October. But as Cup teams get this rare breather, Daniels revealed HMS isn’t planning on spending all two weeks away from their shop, “The second week, we’ll have a little bit of shop flow to going to help keep us ahead, and when we come back for the week of Richmond, it’s gonna be game on.”
Keeping ahead is what Rick Hendrick’s team has done this season. Can you imagine Kyle Larson, despite missing the Coca-Cola 600, is first in the standings, 10 points ahead of his teammate Chase Elliott? He’s also the only driver to have won four races this season. Here are a few other things HMS must be happy about heading into the Olympic break:
- All four drivers have at least one win to their name, guaranteeing a spot in the playoffs
- The team has 9 wins in 22 races, compared to the 6 it had at the same point in 2023
- HMS has gone no more than three races without a win
- All four drivers are in the top 10: Larson (1st), Elliott (2nd), William Byron (6th), Alex Bowman (10th)
Speaking of the drivers, even they’re on board with this two-week break for everyone in the Cup Series. Before the racing action kicked off in Indianapolis, Chase Elliott said, “I think [the break is] extremely important. So often, I think we forget just how much of a grind it is for everybody… It can certainly wear on you. People have families, they have homes and things to tend to, and certainly, I think we all recognize the responsibility when we sign up to come do this.” Alex Bowman, on the other hand, revealed his plans for the break rather hilariously.
“I think I am going to throw my phone in the lake,” he said. Considering Mr. H’s rule about a full shutdown – which includes no emails – Bowman may not have to throw his phone away. But he certainly is looking forward to spending time away. “Turn it off for sure. Spend some time with my friends, and disconnect a little bit,” is how he put it.
The other teams on the grid are looking to cool off, too, similar to Rick Hendrick’s fold. For instance, Team Penske allowed its employees to plan their vacations beforehand. Then Richard Childress Racing is giving the shop time off beginning Wednesday and going through Tuesday. Trackhouse Racing will do a split week of closing down from Thursday through Monday.
However, some teams deflect from this trend and will continue the grind. This is due to a lack of direct policy, which one team owner tried to establish.
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