Rick Hendrick to Drive Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Pace Car at Brickyard 400

The 2024 season marks the 40th anniversary of Hendrick Motorsports, and Sunday's Brickyard 400 will mark the 30th anniversary of Hendrick Motorsports scoring the win in the inaugural running of the crown jewel event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

To celebrate the return of the Brickyard 400 to the NASCAR Cup Series schedule for the first time since the 2020 season, Rick Hendrick will serve as the honorary Pace Car driver for the Brickyard 400 presented by PPG on Sunday, July 21.

“Time goes by fast,” Hendrick said in a press release from Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “I can’t believe it’s been four decades since we started Hendrick Motorsports and 30 years since Jeff (Gordon) won the inaugural Brickyard 400. I’ll never forget the excitement around that event and the thrill of winning a race at Indianapolis.

“I’m grateful to our 40-year partners at Chevrolet for the opportunity to drive a Pace Car for the first time. I also want to thank my great friend Roger Penske and everyone at the track. Taking the field to green on Sunday will be something I’ll always remember.”

For Chevrolet, being able to place the winningest car owner in NASCAR Cup Series history -- whose team has won all 309 of its races with Chevrolet -- is a complete honor.

“For all of us at GM and Chevrolet, as well as for our partners at IMS, it’s an honor to have Rick Hendrick lead the NASCAR Cup Series field to the green flag at this year’s Brickyard 400,” General Motors President Mark Reuss said. “Chevrolet and Hendrick Motorsports have had a storied history together over the past 40 years. Having Rick pace the 30th anniversary of this prestigious race is a special way to celebrate our partnership and the legacy he has built in NASCAR.”

The Brickyard 400 ran for 27 consecutive seasons on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule from 1993 to 2020, however, the race was replaced with an annual trip to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in 2021. After a three-year stint around the road course, the 2.5-mile oval layout is back on the NASCAR schedule, and Indianapolis Motor Speedway can't think of any better way to acknowledge the history of the 400-mile event than to have Hendrick in the pace car.

“Honoring history, even as we look to the future, is a huge part of everything we do at IMS,” IMS President J. Douglas Boles said. “Rick and Hendrick Motorsports made history here in 1994 with Jeff Gordon’s win in the inaugural Brickyard on the famed oval. As we return to the oval and celebrate 30 years with NASCAR, having Rick pace the field is a fitting celebration.”

Not only did Hendrick Motorsports score the first-ever Brickyard 400 victory, the organization holds the record for most wins in the event. And it's not even close.

The team has amassed 10 wins at the track in Speedway, Indiana among three of its drivers (Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Kasey Kahne).

If you recall, Hendrick was set to serve as the honorary pace car driver for the first time in his prestigious career at Martinsville Speedway in the spring, a race where all four Hendrick Motorsports entries dawned ruby red paint schemes in honor of the team's 40th anniversary. However, an unplanned knee surgery sidelined Hendrick from being able to perform the duties of Pace Car driver at Martinsville.

Now, he'll get the chance to do just that at perhaps the most famed speedway in all the world -- the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

As Hendrick takes the hard left off of the live track and onto pit road to start Sunday's Brickyard 400, he'll hope that one of his four drivers can score their first win in the iconic race, and bring the Hendrick team to 11 wins total in the Brickyard 400.

Hendrick Motorsports currently fields Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 race cars for Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, William Byron, and Alex Bowman. All four drivers have won races this year, and Larson actually competed in the Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time in his career back in May.

Larson started fifth in the Indianapolis 500 and led four laps before settling for an 18th-place finish due to a late-race speeding penalty on pit road.

Photo Credit: Craig White, TobyChristie.com