The Auto Racing Journal: Hendrick Motorsports

When I first got into racing in the 1980s, Geoff Bodine was driving for, I think, Rick Hendrick.

Geoff wound up driving other numbers later in his career, so other guys got their shot in the 5. Terry Labonte won 12 races driving the 5, and he picked up the second of his two Cup championships in the 5 in 1996.

Kasey Kahne later drove the 5 for Hendrick.

Drivers have started 1,568 races and won 45 of them driving the 5. Hendrick drivers have posted 38 wins in the 5; sadly, the 5 hasn't been in use in Cup since 2017.

Bonus trivia: Kellogg's famously sponsored the No. 5 Hendrick team from 1994-2004, and those cars carried some of the most notable paint schemes in series history.

Related posts
The 1 was not a lonely number in Cup racing
The 2 has been a winning car Number in NASCAR

Earnhardt made the 3 an intimidating number
The 4 was a good number in the Daytona 500

EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com TWITTER: EDITORatWORK

More entries from TARJ

• Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr.

(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)

• Then Junior Said to Jeff...

(the book of great NASCAR stories)

• My best day as a sports writer

• Jeff Gordon's milk toast to Dale Earnhardt

• Wayne Auton: A life in racing

EDITOR@WORK blog entries

• You really DO need an editor

• Reminders for would-be novelists

• What I charge (it's a deal) and what I edit

• What I do when I'm editing

• Slogging through the Internet

• J-school: More eyes on your stories

• J-school: Go out and learn•

Entries from The Dog Blog

• Katie cried

• Growl and pull

• 12 years with my dog Lady

• ... said the spider to ...

• The Dog Diary (2014)

• YIP! YIP! The stereo-sound huskies

• What Lady and Michael Jackson had in common

More blog entries by Tom Gillispie

• Resume for a writer and editor

• An editor's views on powerful writing

• Advice for be and would-be novelists

• Links to TG's stories online

• Favorite quotes

• What I do when I'm editing

Anecdotes by Tom Gillispie

• Wipeout at Death Valley

• Days with rainbows

• A desperate writer working in the dark

• Yer outta there!

Dale's quotes

"I woke up this morning, and I still don't believe I won the Daytona 500."

The Auto Racing Journal

Thursday, November 13, 2025

LOOKING AT WILLIAM BYRON

Thursday, March 23, 2023

Links to 2023 NASCAR PENALTIES

Thursday, January 30, 2020

Terry Labonte was the winningest driver in the 5 car

Dale's quotes

Racing sites

More quotes