The Dale Jr. Download - Dale Earnhardt Gave Jeff Gordon This Game-Changing Advice

Episode Date: August 26, 2026

Jeff Gordon joins Business of Motorsports with Kelley Earnhardt Miller to talk about the business lessons, relationships and decisions that shaped his career beyond the racetrack. Gordon opens up about his unique relationship with Rick Hendrick, becoming an equity partner in Hendrick Motorsports, negotiating a lifetime deal and the advice he received about controlling his likeness and rights. He also discusses his transition from driver to broadcaster and executive, the importance of investing in people, Hendrick’s approach to developing young talent and what he sees ahead for NASCAR. From merchandise and licensing to driver development, media rights and the future growth of NASCAR, Gordon offers a behind-the-scenes look at the business side of one of motorsports’ most successful organizations. Check out Dirty Mo Media on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DirtyMoMedia Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This episode of Business and Motorsports is presented by Arby's. Don't forget about Arby's new meat and three box. Get more meal for your money at Arby's. We have the meats. Dirty Mo Media. This is the production of Dirty Mo Media. Thanks for joining us on Business of Motorsports. Now, he did talk me into buying a bow.

Again, he forgot to tell you about the money part. Yeah, but he forgot to tell me about the money part. I think people would be shocked if they saw what my driver contract looked like. There was no guarantees. Welcome to Business of Motorsports, Jeff Gordon, Vice Chairman and co-owner of Hendrick Motorsports. I'm so excited that you're here. I know we've been trying to make this happen for a few months maybe between both of our schedules. Yeah, right.

Well, I appreciate it. It's an honor to be on the show. I've watched a few of your episodes and they're great. And you and I have gotten to know one another a lot more of the last few years on the business side and have had some of those conversations. So, yeah, this should be fun. Yeah, I'm excited. So obviously, very established on track accomplishments that speak for themselves.

There's a, yeah, I know you spent some time with Dale on his podcast and going through those things. So we'll try to focus, you know, largely on business and your role now in Hendrick Motorsports. But we'll go back to that a few, few times because I want to, I knew you as the driver and I knew you as, you know, kind of this, on track with my dad, obviously, coming into the sport. Yeah, I want to hear more about this. I want to hear more about your perspective of this. No, you know, I'm watching the same way most other people were watching. You know, my dad, Lord, he's, he had me working and business and everything else.

But, you know, for you, because we did your product and licensing and all that through sports image and all those things back in the day, what you got into race them very early, where did you, did you get exposed to business? where did you get, you know, where did you start building your business acumen and those kinds of things, even back then? Yeah. I mean, you know my stepfather, John Bickford. You know, so he and my mom, I mean, they had their own business, right? So not that I was paying a whole lot of attention to, to the details of it, but I wouldn't be in racing if it weren't for them and that small business that they started and that they grew, watching them, you know, going to an office, working with

family and employees. And my dad, he can make anything. He's a, you know, machinist, a creator and just, you know, obviously wanted to go racing with his stepson. And that, you know, turned into its own kind of business. But I don't think that that really took off other than the marketing and promotion and making phone calls, trying to get sponsors and car owners to, you know, pick you up until I got down, you know, to North Carolina and started, you know, the NASCAR portion.

I guess maybe the first one, we did have T-shirts in the open-wheel sprint car world that, you know, you just hang at the back of the trailer. Yeah, that's how we still do it. Yeah, you work on the artwork and you buy your own stuff and have inventory, not too much, not too little. And so some of it maybe started there, but it really took off, obviously, when I came to cup. But my stepdad was a big part of that. And, you know, I was always curious and interested. So I never, like some drivers like to shy away from it. Hey, I only want to focus on driving,

driving, driving. And I don't think I was ever that. I've always been a curious person, want to know more about it. I only have a certain amount of capacity, where others have a much broader capacity. And, you know, I think just being around the sport for so many years, and being, you know, a business owner that handled a lot of licensing, worked in that merchandise space, and then, you know, being with Rick Hendrick, right? And having him as a mentor on the car dealership side of things as well as the motorsport side. But I can promise you, it's ramped up like this in the last five or six years. Well, you talk about your stepdad.

I worked for your stepdad for several years, consider him a mentor as well. And it's interesting, too, what you say about drivers and whether they want to be involved or not be involved, you know, because everybody takes their own path. But you were involved in the days of sports image and action, and when your dad, when I worked for your dad at the time, and my dad was very involved, right?

I mean, he pretty much gets the credit for, you know, the boat of licensing and having your own trademarks and your name and everything. He's the one that taught me that. Exactly. You had a great on-track rivalry, but you guys worked in the background on different business opportunities, different opportunities and that kind of thing. Do you have a story that, you know, you might remember a piece of advice or something of that nature? I don't remember exactly the timing of it.

And it was a – things were just different then, right? The race weekends look different. the amount of testing that we did and traveled to tracks was different. We would, if we were all going to one location and, you know, maybe we'd take a group of guys on Schrader's plane or Rusty's playing or Dale's playing. I didn't have a plane at that time. And so, you know, you had more opportunity to spend more face-to-face time.

And usually we didn't want to talk about the race cars, right? You know, and so we mainly talked, and I guess it was just maybe Rusty, and Dale would talk about things. They knew that I was a driver. They knew that I didn't come from that kind of background, so we didn't talk about geometry and upper and lower control arms and springs and things. But I do remember it was one trip. I don't remember if we're on a plane or at a test.

And I think that I was close to a renewal of a contract after my rookie contract. And I think I don't remember if I just had heard him talking about licensing merchandising, but I believe I brought up, hey, y'all, I'm probably going to be signing a new deal. What should I be focused on? And he didn't skip a beat, you know, likeness, you know, control your rights, and if you can manage it, manage it. And so I was like, ooh, okay. He didn't say anything about money, right?

Because I think at that time, he was making far more on the merchandise side than he was on the driving side. And so that was where a lot of the focus was. So that's what I did. I went back and made sure that was in my deal. Rick was like, I don't care about the merchandise and business. I've lost too much money in that. So you go right ahead.

And that was probably one of the best things that I ever did. And then, you know, he and I owned some property across the street from Charlotte Motor Speedway, which that one was unique. I mean, I didn't see that coming. That kind of came through my dad. Yeah.

You know, they were looking for a piece of land to put the action performance building, and there was a piece of lamb, but they didn't need all of it. And so somehow, you know, he found out that Dale might be interested, and we went into partnership and it was an awesome deal. It was an awesome deal. You know, something I was very proud of. That's cool.

Sometimes you just get drug along and things turn out to something that you didn't expect or be surprised about, right? 100%. Now, he did talk me into buying a boat. which I, you know. And maybe that was good. Maybe that was bad. Well, it was good on the same reasons why he told me I should buy a boat,

which is you're going to have the most fun you'll ever have, you know, the piece that you have and just, you know, you work so hard. Again, he forgot to tell you about the money part. Yeah, but he forgot to tell me about the money part. That seemed to be a theme. All right. So you sign up with Hendrick in 92. You're rolling through there seven years in.

you become an equity partner with Hendrick Motorsports. What do you think that you and Mr. Hendricks saw in each other that seven years into a relationship like that, that you'd still be here today? I mean, thinking about that back then. Yeah. That doesn't happen. I've tried to think about, it really doesn't. I tried to think about other driver and owners throughout my career in this sport, and it's not a lot of that, you know?

Yeah, and listen, it puts chills in my spine right now thinking about it. because of the relationship that I have with him, and it's so special. And I don't take that for granted. You know, you got to remember I, you know, I won the first championship for Hendrick Motorsports. We had a tremendous amount of success very early. And then, you know, Ray got the opportunity to go to Dodge. Rick was at home sick at that time. He, you know, was understanding kind of the dynamic.

of what was happening. I went to visit him at his house, and I said, hey, you know, I'm sorry to bring this up, but I want to talk to you face to face about, you know, what Ray's doing. My main focus is more of who's my crew chief going to be, right, and what's the team going to look like? And I relied on race so much, and we were so close, but I also respected his opportunity. And I think at that time, I'm not so sure that Rick knew exactly where I stood. I think he was like, hmm, is Ray and Jeff going to Dodge?

Yeah, what's he asking? Which I never had any intentions of that. As much as I loved Ray, I was like, no, no, I want to stay with Rick and Hendrick Motorsports. So I had that conversation with him of, hey, you know, Ray's leaving. I know I want to be here. I want to be here, you know, forever. And he said, great. Well, let's do a lifetime deal.

And I was like, seriously? And he's like, absolutely. He goes, I don't want you to go anywhere. And I said, well, man, that was easy. Of course, what came along with the lifetime deal was trying to structure, you know, how do you do a lifetime deal with- In 1999? Yeah, with 1990, with many years left. You're still driving and you don't know what it looks like. And honestly, I look back, and I think this is why he and I are so close, is because I didn't ask for a whole lot, but I did bring up equity. and he said, oh, sure, half of nothing is still nothing, so go right ahead. I mean, he jokes about that. But no, I think, you know, we structured a very fair, I think people would be shocked if they saw what my driver contract looked like. Like everybody, there was no guarantees, right?

We work in this world of guarantees, got to have this, got to have that. I have no guarantees. If the car did well on track, if. If the car did well with sponsorship, then we, you know, I did well. I participated in that. And luckily that was the run that we went on until I retired, honestly. So, and I think that we both understood that it was something we did together. We made it work for both of us.

And I was, you know, honored to be an equity partner. I mean, equity partner. That piece of it sat there for a long time. Yeah. Yeah, because a couple years later, you become car owner of Jimmy Johnson. So I'm thinking, in my mind, what's the difference, right? Yeah. Equity owner versus becoming a car owner on the 48 car.

So what did that look like? So that's when things changed a little bit. Hendricks, a big company, right? Engine department. A lot of things were under different LLCs and LPs and all those things. And so mine was pretty much the 24. and then and then when the 48 came along and I was pushing for Jimmy and the fourth team, you know, he said, okay, well, you know, are you going to play a role in this?

And I said, yeah, let's put it under the same LLC. He's like, fine, you know, you know, then you are going to be responsible for it. And I said, absolutely, I get it, which was probably dumb for me to say. Now looking back, understand how difficult sponsorship is, right? How difficult it is to, you know, to make money. racing and so luckily right after that we made that happen

brought the 48 so it was a 2448 LLC and then we got Lowe's and kind of the rest of history right? We had DuPont that eventually became Exalta and we had loads so we had great sponsorship and then Jimmy... You had so much good stuff just going on in Hendrick at the time. And Jimmy

crushed it you know so and you know the meteorites deal had just gotten improved in 2001 with Fox in NBC and then, you know, Jimmy was doing extraordinarily well. We were doing well. And so, yeah, it was a really good deal. Yeah. I think it's interesting you bring that up just from a business perspective for people that own their own businesses that are not even in racing, is that you can have all of the different compartments for people to participate in. Like,

you participated in the 24 or the 48, and they were separate to allow you to build a business that's part of a bigger ecosystem, you know, and sometimes people may not. think about that opportunity if you want to bring someone into your business, you know, that you can structure it in a way that works to still keep what Mr. Hendrick has built in the biggerness of Hendrick Motorsports, but have people participate in different ways. And also, you know, Rick has learned so much from the car business, right? That's, I mean, Hendrick Motorsports is what it is today because of Hendrick Automotive Group. But Rick also sees the value of people.

And so if there's a general manager at a store, he, you know, brings them in as an equity partner. Hey, let's ride this out together, you know. And if you put in the right time and effort and you have the loyalty to, you know, the business and the folks and the company, then, you know, he wants you to be rewarded. And so I think that's kind of the way he looked at it. Yeah, the biggest thing I've learned coming in in 2008 together was people. I mean, people are the backbone for him, the investment in people. and taking care of people. I mean, just incredible.

He's amazing. Nobody better. Incredible. So you retire in 2015 and then I'm sure there's discussions, you know, about what that looks like and then what your next role is, thinking that you're going to be an executive within Hendrick Motorsports, but you also, you take a broadcast opportunity with Fox. Were there conversations about what that was going to look like?

And maybe Hendrick wasn't ready for that position yet or your role yet? I never forget to come. I'm saying there's only been a like I've talked to I'll go to Rick's house you know I'll see him at the race shop the racetrack I only go to his office at Hendrik Automotive group super important maybe like four times that I can think of at that at that point and and this was one of them yeah I wanted to sit down with them and just talk about you know what what his vision was what my thoughts and I did and again this is we just have a special and unique relationship where I feel like you know I can always be transparent and open and honest with him and same, you know, back to me. And we just,

we just have that kind of unique relationship. And so I just sat down with them and I said, you know, I really think I'm not ready. I think I need something. And I, you know, this is talking to Rusty and Mark and Dale Jarrett and guys that had left the sport before me and just picking their brain about what would they like about it, what didn't they like about it, what would they do different? And they all said, man, I wish I was still a little more active, not as a driver, full-time driver, but just still active in the sport because I love the sport. And so I just felt like I wasn't ready to completely step away from the competition side of it. And that broadcasting was a way to stay connected to it. It's you're part of a team.

You prep in a similar way as a race team does go into a racetrack and it's live. So there's pressure and excitement. You might not, you know, hoist the trophy and see the checkered flag every weekend, but I still felt like that that would fill a lot, fulfill a lot of that. And it really did. I loved it. And so I had the conversation with Rick, and he's like, yeah, he goes, listen, I think it's a great opportunity. You get to learn more about the business. You, you know, from broadcasting, the media rights partners, the team dynamic was tough, you know, because I'm, sometimes I'm coming to the debrief on Monday at Hendrick Motorsports and I'm broadcasting on Sunday, and they didn't always like

what I had to say. I didn't have their back, maybe as much, you know, or about another competitor. But so that was a little bit challenging. So I felt like I was, you know, and then the second half of the year, right, that's first half of the year with Fox, the second half the year, I was pretty much full-time, you know, at Hendrick Motorsports. And I just, I felt like, I knew I wanted to do. do it at least three years. And so I was like, let me just try this out three years. And it was

fine. And then it came to renew that. And I was like, man, I like it. But I think I want to start planning a little bit more for the next role at Hendrick. But I realized that I can't do the Hendrick, you know, the vice chairman role or, you know, that role I was in at that time. I can't do it the way I wanted to do it. I couldn't do it 100%. You got to be there day in and day out, you know, people have to know that you've got their back. You got to, you know, they need to know that you're aware of the things that are going on. You know, what am I telling you? And so, so I ended up doing the TV deal for, what, five, six years, and it was perfect.

It was great. And it was tough to go tell Eric Shanks, you know, that I was not going to renew and going to go full-time injury. But I think it was perfect. You know, I think I learned a lot. It opened my eyes up a lot to the sport in different ways. I think it brought value. What did you learn from broadcasting maybe that you didn't realize from driving? Very much about just like what I'm learning about the race teams and the depth and the complexity of what it takes and the effort that it takes to, you know, make a race team go around in circles every weekend.

And in the hundreds, 500 plus people at Hendrick, same thing at Fox. You know, the number of people that are putting the effort in to bring that broadcast to life and the team effort, was massive and very complex. And their commitment is huge and how much I appreciated it. I probably didn't appreciate it enough when I was driving because you're just so laser focus on driving. Same as I probably didn't fully appreciate on the Hendrick Motorsports side of how many people there are and what exactly they're doing.

Just seeing a bigger ecosystem of everything. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. So, you know, I just, and also I think, you know, now everybody makes fun of me of, oh, you're drinking the Kool-Aid, you know, of just how important the personalities and the storytelling and the, you know, it's got to be more than just the on-track product. It does. It does. But you don't get those things until, and again, in any business, you don't get those things until you experience the various areas of business, you know, if in your business, whether you know about HR, whether you know about accounting or whatever, IT, whatever it is.

I mean, you kind of have to know. I always joke with my staff here. because the IT department will ask me for something, and I'm like, I don't understand that. So I think I just have to say yes. Because I don't understand what you just told me. Yeah. But what you do is you rely on a team of people that do understand it, right? You can't know it all.

No, absolutely. I'm far from that. Absolutely. But I think in our sport and to see things grow and transition, you know, understanding that big picture, like you said, you come from the race car and race team mindset. you go into broadcasting, you see it through the lens of all of those people putting it on, your advertisers, your fans, you know, everything that's going on and then come to the team,

and you see a whole another set of structure. So there's a lot to it for sure. How did you, when you stepped into Hendrick Motorsports as this executive, understanding you had been there, you have relationships with a lot of people, but how did you build rapport and respect through the lens of being an executive? executive within the company versus just Jeff Gordon the driver. Yeah, I think, I don't think people realize how much I like to work. You know, I don't think they realize, you know, how much I put into my driving career and

the effort that went into it. And so they saw me maybe from a distance of, you know, the guy that goes and gets in the race car every weekend and works three days a week, you know. Coming to the things that you're supposed to. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And so, you know, I love to be a part of something. that I feel like I can make a difference at, that's something I help build, and that, you know, I feel welcomed, and I want to then go improve myself. And so to me it was just presence, you know, just being there, being in every department, you know, being more face-to-face with, you know, our folks, not just the drivers and crew chiefs, but the, you know, the whole campus. And, you know,

it's, I mean, administration and HR and, you know, 500 and some people, right? There's a lot of people and just, there's a lot of people and just getting to know them much better and making sure that they know that, you know, I'm fully invested in being here and helping in any way that I possibly can. Yeah, I think that's super important that people seeing you putting the work in, like you said, and understanding that that's what you want to do. What is there experience that you've taken from your racing career into,

the business side to be successful? A hundred percent. I mean, I think everything that comes along with a race team and being, you know, the driver of a race car, especially, you know, I mean, you're going to have success, but you're going to have the ups and the downs and the challenges. And, and we always say you learn a lot more on those years than you do in the winning years than 100%. But I think, yeah, I just think it's such a team sport, you know, in my,

role was when the time came to put it on my shoulders that I have the confidence to be able to do it and yes you know I felt like I did but I didn't have it without an entire team to get me prepared and ready for that moment and and when when it's on their shoulders then I just want to be there supporting you know them I always had this this kind of philosophy of of you know never wanting to be the weak link I just always wanted to be a link that they could count on that was strong and that was, you know, a part of the overall chain. And so that's how I am now. You know, I just, I just want to take the course, being a part of the competition at that level,

it does give me an advantage to understand what the team goes through, what the drivers are going through, what the crew chiefs are going through, what it takes to make a car go fast, and what it's like when things don't get executed properly, right? It's not about pointing fingers. It's about coming together. Yeah, finding solutions. Finding solutions, right? I feel like we're just constantly problem solving.

Without much math. Got to be good at that. But, yeah, so I bring all of that, you know, and I guess I look back on it. I was kind of thinking about, you know, what are we going to talk about today? And, I mean, I've been racing a car since I was five and a half years old. And I've been, you know, now and about every position in a way other than maybe a crew chief, right? I've been in every position or helped understand about every position of the business from the competition side.

And then through my dad, you know, my mom learning the business side through Rick Hendrick. But, you know, that is still something that I'm evolving through because now I'm getting that experience. But everything came through racing. Yeah. You know, every single thing. And I love that. I love that because I'm super competitive.

You know, I love to see people thrive. but what I've learned from Rick and what he's a master of is is reading people and reading, you know, whether or not a team is jelling or not or how to step in and be calm and, you know, and say the right thing. I mean, gosh, he drives me crazy. He comes in and just always says the perfect thing. And I don't know that I'm there yet, but I strive for that all the time and I admire that. But I'm learning, you know, from that. But he also knows when to put the hammer down if he needs to as well.

One of the things that I have seen firsthand with you on the licensing side, and particularly, you know, when Dale drove alongside you at Hendrick, we managed a lot of the licensing and for all of it, all of the Hendrick Motorsports licensing. And then after he retired, you guys, you know, have since taken that over under the Hendrick Motorsports umbrella. I mean, that's something you're really passionate about at. And y'all've grown. I know that that's been very important to you. You've grown that recently remodeled the team center, the museum, all of those things. So talk a little bit about that. I know that's going to open here in, what, October?

Yes, I know. We're very excited. We don't have an exact date, but when the October race happens, we're going to be open. It better be done. And we expect it to be. And we're very excited about that. And we can get into some of the complex, you know, the, the, the, infrastructure and investment that Mr. Hendricks making in our complex. And I think our,

our campus is one of the greatest tools that we have. You know, it's, it's amazing. And still expanding, growing. But yeah, I mean, yes, the licensing thing ever since your dad, you know, made me aware of how important it was. And you saw the business side of that, how it grew. I was always interested in them. And, you know, it was obvious with day, His merchandising was monstrous, right? Especially when he came to Hendrick. So it made all the sense in the world for whoever's the leader in that to control it or to manage it, which you guys did an amazing job. You know, when Dale stepped away and, you know, we brought other drivers in.

And then I got into the role. It just seemed to make a little more sense, you know, to get. And I honestly, we had a couple people at Hendrick that I just believed in, Dan Guffey and some of you know. And I just think he's super strong and has a lot of knowledge and can build a team. And he did. But, you know, with that comes, hey, how do we plan and look ahead? And I don't think that we were putting enough effort into our store or our store-on-er-complex. And Dan turned that around and created exclusivity of, you know, products and race-day parts

and, you know, limited items and things. And it's been fun to see that grow. and I can't wait for the new museum and store to open up, as well as the different distribution channels. So I will say that right now where NASCAR is at, it's exciting. It is. I was going to say the same thing. It is.

I know the numbers, you know, maybe. Yeah, they don't match up necessarily, for sure. And I feel like that was a trendy thing, right? That was just exploding. But you look at the distribution channels and where we were getting product into, and I'm seeing that happening right now, which is, which is exciting. Of course, I'm enjoying the vintage side of it, too. I think that, you know, when I drive down New York...

Be gotten into collecting anything? Come on now. Are you... I'm not collecting as many... Baseball cards. Yeah, my son loves Pokemon cards, loves it. I like collecting a few different things, but not sportsmen, other than my own stuff. I mean, I've got helmets and uniforms and gloves and things like that. But yeah, no, I'm excited.

about, you know, where the business is at, where it's heading, and the team that we have that is focused on. I'll be honest, I feel like my, my, my, you know, time spent, right? I mean, we've been struggling a little bit on the racetrack, so I've been, I've been more focused on that. Of course, we've had some driver announcements, and so there's been a lot of focus on that side of it, too. But it shifts, right? If, if we've got a renewal coming up, you know, we try to look a couple years out. Yeah. then we might be, you know, talking to CEOs and seeing where the business is at, where we're at on that.

You know, if we're struggling on the racetrack, then we might be, you know, I might be spending more time on the competition side of it and what do we need. It's all the things that Rick is. It's all the things that, yeah, priorities first, but it's all the things that I look back on and go, gosh, Rick has been doing this for so many. And by the way, he's super active still. Yeah. He's not ready to slow down anytime soon.

But, you know, he just would shift his focus on where it was needed most. And so that's kind of what I do, which is also what keeps it really exciting. Yeah. Because every week, maybe every day. Something different. Every week is different. It does not get monotonous at all. Let's see.

So you talk about some announcement of drivers. Let's talk about a few things. Let's talk about driver development first because you've been very engaged in that. We talked about Jimmy Johnson, Kyle Larson coming over, Corey Day coming over into the fold. and you guys have announced Connor Zillich in 28. We'll get to that. But I want to talk about kind of that recruitment process. What do you pay attention to when you're looking at drivers?

Yeah. And listen, we don't really per se have a driver development program. Never have. Mr. Hendricks said you get them when you need them. Yeah. So this has been a little bit of a departure. But I think, again, it's unique to the circumstances, right? As we talk about, let's say, Corey Day.

You know, Jeff Andrews and I, we grew up in California, loved sprint car racing, always have. We get Kyle Larson on board. It just only strengthens our kind of short track and sprint car, you know, watching it on flow and all the other channels. And so all of a sudden we start seeing this kid, Corey Day, who's, you know, racing wheel to wheel with Larson, beating him at times. And so I remember going to Kyle and I said, hey, man, is this kid for real? He's all, man, he's really good. And I knew his dad, Jeff Andrews and I both. I wouldn't say I necessarily raced with Ronnie Day, Corey's dad, but a little bit.

But I knew him from California and great family and everything I saw in Corey I was just, you know, impressed with. And so that really just led to, hey, Mr. Hendrick, you know, we see a lot in this kid. and we're like he doesn't have the traditional kind of path. And should we be thinking about this non-traditional? Because Larson was, and Larson got involved, which is fun too, but he's like, just put him straight in an O'Reilly car. Don't do all that other stuff. And we're like, huh, what? You know, that's not been the way that we've done it.

And so because it was non-traditional, I mean, we've had so much success with JRM and seeing guys, you know, like Chase Elliott and William Byron and others come through your system, which is a great one. But we felt like in this one, this guy is going to need a lot more nurturing to get up to speed faster and having him in our debriefs with our drivers listening and learning, having an in-house car,

which is not just developing him, it's crew chief, it's mechanics. It's, you know, other engineers, right? It's others as well. So, you know, this has been unique. I don't know that this is something that we're going to do forever, but it's working well for,

for Corey. Yeah. And I think we got a great path for him. He's developing, I feel like he's on, maybe ahead of schedule, but, but he's on path to do exactly what we had hoped, which is. He got in our late model one time and one. I mean. He's a wheel, man.

Yeah. But he also still has a lot to learn. Because, because of, you know, I mean, he's so new to, you know, pavement racing. I remember I took him for the very first, he'd never driven a manual transmission car ever until we went to Ron Fellows driving school. And the first day, I was like, ooh, I don't know. I was low and sure. And so I had to leave.

Day one, it was me and him on the track. And then Larson came in for day two. And so I left and I called Larson the next day after they were done. I said, well, how'd it go? And he goes, oh, man, he's fast. I was like, really? He could barely shift. Yesterday when I left.

He's like, I don't know what he learned overnight. He's like, but he was everything I do, keep up with him. He's all over my bum. And I think, again, that was one of those things where we realize when you're driving 900 horsepower plus sprint car on dirt, you're capable of kind of maybe skipping a few steps. The decision making that you have to make. I mean, just watching Wyatt, my 14-year-old son, you know, the decision-making has to be quick. Your reaction has to be quick. You know, you've got to react to what the track's doing.

You know these things. I mean, with the dirt and all of those different things, you know, reacting to what's going on. You've got to be able to adjust fast. I think it's a great tool. But you don't want somebody that's in it too long, too much. I've seen that over the years, too. I think you've got to get into as many different types of cars with as many different types of tracks, competitors.

And I think the key to Corey was young. When we started talking to him, he was 18, 17. And so we knew we had to jump on it quickly so that you don't get stuck into, I want to drive this thing like a dirt sprint car all the time. But yeah, we don't really have a development program. We have with Mr. Hendrick, he sees a talent. He's like, I like that guy. You know, where is he at?

What's his deal? And I guess that's where you could probably, you know, talk about Conner's Village because he was here at J.R.M. And, you know, he immediately saw that talent was like, man, you know, would we be able to get him in a Hendrick car? And he had a contract, you know, at the time. So we couldn't start talking until we figured out, you know, what the opportunity was.

Right. I know, you know, obviously on-track performance is just key, right? We don't, you don't succeed without it. But what other things do you, you know, mentor with these drivers like a Corey Day in terms of, you know, social media presence, partnership? I know when we first started at Hendrick, we went through several seminars and leaderships and a talking one I remember that I loved, which is very important to Mr. Hendrick. You know, you guys have a whole leadership. philosophy. Right, the NBS and the Kovie, is it Franklin Kovie, or there's one of them that, something that he, like a Carnegie. Yeah, yeah. So how does that fit into the program? We have wise optimization that Josh Wise and his program do

that our drivers go through. You know, there's other parts of it. Talk about that a little bit. Yeah, you know, there's definitely a fit. I think that we're looking forward to start with. But if you have the talent and you know, you want to be a team player and it's not about you. It's about, it's about, you know, what you bring to the team, but it's a team effort.

Then we know you have the potential. Then the next thing is just, you know, we take everything very professional. I mean, this is a big organization with a lot of people that, you know, we, that make it all go around. And if you're not willing to be a part of that, then you're going to have a tough time. You're probably not going to fit in. And so then we have huge companies that you represent, right? We have a brand and fans and there's a lot there.

You know, there's certain types of content. We want guys to show their personality. We want them to grow their personality a little bit too, along with how they're growing their skills on the racetrack. So, you know, I wouldn't say we necessarily have just some dedicated team. It's just we have different departments, just like the competition side and the engineering side that help them develop on the racetrack.

We have the same in the marketing and PR side. Hendrick Automotive group, obviously with the MBS and some of the training that they have. I've talked about that a lot on my business of motorsports. Yeah, it just teaches you about personalities and how you work with people. How you work with people. And again, you said, you know, like it's people first.

It's team. How do we do it together? And, you know, Hendrick Motorsports, the focus always has been, always will be that it starts with a race team that can, you know, focus on winning races and championships. Everything else about the business revolves around that. Yeah. And if we're doing that part well, we feel like it enhances everything else. That's exactly right. And brings more great people to us, great partners and all those things. So, yeah, I think we get a bad rap, honestly, about, oh, you know, the vests and, you know, the black slacks and all those things.

There's certain standards, but it's only because of... We were introduced to those standards when we brought Dale Jr. over and the tuck shirts. Well, but he also helped loosen us up a little bit, you know, and I think Larson is doing that, Chase is doing it. I mean, I think we're in a place today where, you know, we want guys to be themselves, but both, But we also want them to understand the level of professionalism that's required at this stage. Yeah, absolutely. Nothing wrong with the standards, for sure. Nothing wrong with that. All right, everybody. The 2026 NASCAR season is officially here. And you know what that means? New rides, new paint schemes, and another year of unforgettable moments on the track. And if you want to bring all that action home, you've got to check out Lionel Racing, the official die cast of NASCAR.

They've got the largest selection of officially licensed NASCAR.com, from race wins to the newest cars hitting the track this season. These things are incredibly detailed with the same paint, same sponsors, same attitude that you see on race day. There must have for collectors and fans alike. Right now, to kick off the season, Lionel Racing is offering free domestic shipping when you use promo code Download 26. That's free shipping just for the fans of the Dell Jr. download. So head over to Lionelracing.com, grab your favorite driver's latest dockast, and start the 2026 season the right way. That's download 26 for free shipping only at Lionelracing.com. All right, let's transition into the future.

One thing that you guys have been involved in a lot of projects, Garage 56, you've done the IndyCar program with Kyle the last couple years, you've introduced an athletic campus complex to your, which I need to get over and see to the campus there. Because your pit crew members are being trained there. I know, every day. I know, I know. So who spearheads those initiatives? That athletic center is a big deal, which Hendrick was also one of the first to do the pit crew combine and bring the athletes in and all of that kind of stuff too.

So a lot of first there. Yeah. I'm trying not to make this go too long. But so where our museum is at, and Kelly, you've been around the complex long. That used to actually be the 25 team, if you go way, way back. with Schrader. And then it became the chassis department that built all the chassis when we were building their own chassis.

When the chassis business went away to the new car, the Gen 7 car, then our working relationship with GM defense and the ISV program and building chassis for them started up. I won't get into all that how that can. Again, it's relationships, right, from Mr. H. Marshall Carlson and others, but we just saw a need for this space and what can we do with it. And so that business started taking off. Well, it started to outgrow that.

And we were, you know, starting to create plans to build a new building to take that on another area of our campus. What are we going to do with this space? Pretty large space. And at one time we were going to expand the museum. You know, Mr. Hendrick has his car collection, right, that's expanding. And then I want to say is either Jeff Andrews, Chad Canals, some of our coaches for the pit crew said, you know what, we need to think about our athletic facility and training facility that we currently have. We need to grow. We need to, it needs to be updated.

It was pretty small, to be honest. And the idea came of, hey, what if we turn this into an athletic center? And that just quickly grew to let's go visit college campuses and professional sports complexes and military bases. How do they train, you know, soldiers? How do they train athletes? Because now a lot of our athletes are coming from those backgrounds. And that's what their expectations are, is to train like that, be coached like that. But also then there became the recovery side of it.

And the recruiting side of it, right? How do we recruit the best athletes? So we'd already been doing the combine some of those things, but all that just started to make too much sense of, oh, my gosh, like, you know, this facility would really be a game changer for us. And then again, going back to other relationships, you know, Rick has had a relationship with Atrium Health for many years, Marshall Carlson, I, you know, been involved in the children's,

Levine's and Jeff Gordon Children's. And so we're like, you know what, this might be an opportunity for them to focus on, you know, physical health, performance, mental, and our athletes. And when we sat down with them and we started talking about, you know, first of all, you've got to get the meeting and only Mr. H can make these kinds of meetings happen. And so, you know, that started with, hey, let us tell you about Hendrick Motorsports in our history. Let us tell you about NASCAR and let us tell you about our athletes. And so they were very excited right away to partner with us on this.

But then they took it a step further and they said, listen, you know, we're interested in taking care of the health and wellness of all your employees. So what about, you know, a clinic? So we're close to opening up the, we have, you know, made this announcement yet, but we're going to have that clinic open up. So all of our folks, all of our teammates on our campus are going to be in good hands. there with Atram Hill. So it just has turned into a great partnership. They've been very excited about, and it's the first time we've really put somebody's, you know, name on the campus, yeah. But it's been tremendous and it's, it only is going to continue to grow from here. Yeah, that's super cool. I got to get over there. Got to get over there. So this past year,

gosh, I don't even know how long it's been now the two, yeah, I guess this past year, right, Evergreen Charters. What do they mean to HMS and going through that whole process and putting that behind us, thank goodness. But what does it mean to HMS and that continued investment? Well, I think first and foremost, right, you're in this business together. We compete against one another on the track with other teams, but we're partners off of the track. We want to grow the sport. We want to grow the fan base, but we want the business to be viable, right? And last a long time. And we want to work closer with NASCAR to do all those things. So I think it was really important to all the teams, but maybe some teams more important in the way that they were

looking at the sport, how they had come in and invested than the way that we were looking at it, or Rick was looking at it. But it's still, listen, it's great to know that we have that secured. You know, I think it means long-term health for the spirit. long-term health for the teams. And that allows us to go about our business in a way where we're not thinking and worrying about that. We're thinking about, you know, how can we make the business grow for our partners, be mutually beneficial.

The next, you know, we've got a great meteorite steal right now. What's the next one going to look like? I think we're collaborating more than ever. I think it might not lead just to the evergreen charter. I think, I think, you know, that's a piece of it. But what it really did was, was open all of our eyes up to how we've got to work better together as a sport. Which we had made small steps. We had made small steps.

But we kind of got up against a wall because the negotiation became a negotiation, right, instead of a collaboration. And I think, I think now that that's behind us, I feel like we're way far more collaborative in every aspect of the business. but I think it allows us to invest in our campus and in our teams, you know, and feel good about where we're at when we've got, you know, a development driver, a new driver, or extending a deal with a crew chief of a driver or, you know, areas that we think that we need to get more, you know, we've got a new chassis dino that we're going to be bringing online. So those types of investments, I think it does help you feel. There's some security on this things.

More secure. Never secure in the racing business. But yeah, more secure about those things. Yeah, for sure. All right, NASCAR fans, listen up. Xfinity is waving the red flag on Internet price hikes, and they're raising the green flag for savings. Now you get the speed and reliable Wi-Fi that you need locked in at one price for five years,

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I was thinking, as you were talking, I was supposed to be listening, but I was thinking about you really have a great eye for all the things that you're being involved in. I was just thinking about you sitting in those meetings and all of the experience. Like you said, you've been racing since you're five and a half years old and how valuable that is to our sport. I mean, do you see that in yourself? It's really valuable.

Well, I appreciate that. Super valuable. No, I don't look at it. You know, I just do. I mean, I see people like my dad who left the sport, you know, obviously, you know, was killed in the sport. But then Tony Stewart, who retires and leaves the sport or, you know, you lose a Jack Rausch of the world or somebody like that, you know, eventually, right? So I just see that your experience is just so valuable to see in the continuity and growth

of what's to come for people. Because the young kids can't do it, right? Well, I know when I was younger, that's not what I was focused on. No, no. I mean, yeah. And I've just honored and proud to still be a part of the sport that made, you know, my name, a household name, gave back to me and my family. and I've seen Hendrick Motorsports evolve and grow.

I've seen NASCAR evolve and grow. And I love being a part of it. I love being a part of motorsports. And the people, though, I think, the more important piece of that. I love that team aspect when I was a driver, and now I'm a part of a broader team. Yeah, and that's what I think is so important is that that experience and your openness to see things, different, you know, that it's not like we used to do it or whatever, that you can see the difference in the growth of the sport today versus when you got in the sport and how you can

continue to shape it, which I think is important. Well, yeah, it means a lot to hear, you know, from you because I admire you and what you have done, you know, in the business world very much. And I'm, I've learned. We're both learned from the best. Well, you're right about that. A couple of the best, right? of the best.

Yeah, you know, I try to think where I was going. I mean, I'm just, I'm humbled by it. Yeah. But I guess where I feel like my strength is, and again, I look at how Rick does things and try to mimic that with my own, in my own way, is that a lot of people can't see the whole picture, right? As a driver, I'm singular focused on my car, my team. And the crew chiefs and the drivers and, you know, a lot of people in different departments.

that's what they're looking at, and that's what they should be looking at. It's our job, you know, Jeff Andrews, Chad Canals, Rick Hendrick. It's our job to make sure that we're looking at it from a broader kind of viewpoint and reminding them of, hey, guys, like, I get it. That piece that you're thinking about, super important. And we want to give you every opportunity to do that. But we got to think about X, Y, and Z over here that also touches that. It can be impacted by that.

And, you know, sometimes we're making decisions that those guys don't always, you know, get, right? They're like, wait a minute, how does that make us go faster? It's like, trust me, you know, partnerships, alliances, you know, we don't build engines for all these other teams just, you know, because we want to try to generate more revenue. It's that helps us develop. It helps us, you know, assure that our parts and our pieces are the best. Same with pit crews. and it just helps us, again, recruit more people, better resources. It makes our four cars and our teams better.

Better. And that's the primary focus for everything. So what do you see the outlook is? We are growing. We've talked about it. You know, I think things are so much, just the outwardness is so much more exciting for the sport. TV's doing good. Fans, we're selling out.

You know, it reminds me, like we said, So we can't put the same numbers on the old days, but it reminds me so much of what we saw 15, 20 years ago. And so what do you think? Leadership with Steve O'Donnell, Ben Kennedy, what do you see as far as the sports growth and going? Yeah, I like the combination of those two. I feel like Steve, you have known Steve for a long time.

He's been around the business for a very long time. He understands the competition side. He understands the business side, track side, you know, and the team side. of it too. So, and then, so I think he brings a lot of strength of, hey, how do we just stay true to our core, our core fan, how did we get here? You know, he understands the history of it, and let's not veer too far off from that, but we still got to bring new fans in. Yeah, you got to innovate and what about that. And that's where Ben comes in, right? I think his youthfulness,

you know, he's not afraid to take chances and create new ideas. And I love the things that he's bringing to the table and I think the teamwork between he and Steve O'Donnell, you know, makes it a reality. I mean, I just, I look at San Diego this year. I mean, what a home run, right? I mean, that's everything that, that I think that we want. We want a new venue in a new market. We get to, you know, tie it to the military that is such a huge part of not just, you know,

celebrate 250 years, but our sport, every year, the presence, or every race weekend, the presence is there. And I feel like we're, we are the American sport. I mean, you know, just the way I feel. Maybe I'm biased. But then we had partners that were like, oh, we want to be a part of that. New partners, right? Andrew comes on board as a sponsor of the event, a sponsor for us, and innovative.

And so it was just a home run all the way around. And I just felt like the fans were loving it. Oh, it was energetic. Even the local folks, you know, on Coronado Island, I mean, they're parties. in their front yard. You know, I just, I just loved it. We haven't seen that a long time. I remember the drive to Martin's room.

Remember they used to sit out and, you know, all of that. So that is exciting. So it felt, it felt old but new. Yeah. And I think that's, those are the kinds of exciting opportunities that we can learn from. They had to take a big chance to do it. It was a big investment on NASCAR. NASCAR does not have an easy, one of the things that definitely came out of the last few years for me is,

is I think a better understanding of, you know, the complexities as we talk about. of NASCAR and what their job is and how hard it is to do managing everything. And I think in reverse, you know, I think they felt, you know, that they learned a lot more about what their teams are going through too. But I think we're on a good path. I see us kind of tying this all together, right? What does the future look like? I mean, we saw streaming come in, Amazon Prime. I think that's been very exciting. And I think it's gone better than anyone expected. So what's the future of that. I think being in front of as many eyeballs as possible is super important. So there's some kind of balance there. What's the next new place that we can go to, right? There's definitely an

international flair that I'm feeling, but how far? And what are the partnerships that are going to come in? I think you have to almost have the partnerships first before that or some kind of built-in fan base there. But yeah, I just, you know, I see us looking at at the business and the sport, staying true to, hey, we're a race team, and we go out and put on races and the best product on the track that I think exists in all the motorsports, but we've got to build up superstars, have new faces, new names, and continue to go to the core. I love that we're going to North Wilkesboro, right? I don't want us to ever leave there in Darlington and Charlotte, but I want to see us continue

to try new places, you know, and... who knows where that might take us. Yeah. I haven't minded the shift, you know, like we left St. Louis for a while, we're back at St. Louis or, you know, North Wales were coming back into play. You know, sort of some of the shift. Maybe we take a year off from something. We took a year off from Chicagoland and then go to the street race, like different things like that.

You know, I think have been exciting and allow different markets, different fans, all of those things, you know, so that there's some consistencies for sure, right? 100%. So, I have. I had always said for the brickyard that I thought it should only happen every four years. Like from the very beginning, it was so unique, so special, so huge that you knew you couldn't replicate it every single year. And we tried the road course in different things. And I'm not saying that that's something they can do. But I was talking to some folks that are part of a vintage race over in Monaco.

And they're like, yeah, we don't do it every year. And I was like, really? you know we're going to try to do it maybe every other year maybe every three years you know and and and I love that and I don't know how we do that I like that's where I don't envy um people that need to make those decisions but but I support it because I think it's you know we want the fans to want to feel like they're part of something unique and special and not just something that happens every day of the week or every weekend yeah yeah for sure well this has been fun um I have you enjoyed it

I have very much. I appreciate you coming on business and motorsports. And I'll let you go work on getting those cars faster right now. That's your focus. That is the primary part of the focus, the priority, I guess, right now. And listen, we just came off of a great weekend. You did. I don't know how timely this.

Next week, yep. Okay. Well, you know, coming off of four in the top ten at Richmond was big. I don't know that we necessarily had a lot faster cars. I think we just executed. But still it just felt. part of the game execution right sometimes just having a little confidence in what you're doing you know can can elevate the game or even find speed but working hard absolutely and i nobody's

more confident in our group than than i am well best of luck from here on we've got a lot of races ahead of us before the season's over so good luck to hinder sports well you guys are looking good for the championship so good luck to you guys soon thank you thank you thanks for joining us this week on business of motorsports in the rbys studio don't forget about arby's new me and three box. Get more meal for your money at Arby's. We have the meats. Check out Dirtymoe media on Instagram,

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