Hall of Famers Own the Brickyard 400
by Tom Jensen July 18, 2024
NASCAR Hall of Fame team owners have enjoyed remarkable success competing in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Thirty years after the first Brickyard 400 made international headlines, the NASCAR Cup Series is headed back to Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a track where NASCAR Hall of Famers have dominated the stock-car proceedings.
NASCAR’s first trip to the hallowed grounds of Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1994 was one of the biggest sports stories of the year. Home to the Indianapolis 500 since 1911, the track had never hosted a stock-car race until NASCAR came to town for the inaugural Brickyard 400. That first race drew 86 drivers attempting to qualify for the 43-car field, and on race day, a crowd of more than 300,000 spectators showed up, eager to see what the NASCAR drivers could do.
Jeff Gordon (Class of 2019) won that first Brickyard 400, starting an amazing string of victories in Indianapolis by Hall of Fame drivers, team owners and crew chiefs. To date, there have been 27 Brickyard 400s run on the full 2.5-mile oval track. Seventeen of those 27 races have been won by Hall of Fame drivers.
An even more astonishing number concerns team owners: 26 of the 27 Brickyard 400s were won by Hall of Fame team owners. The lone exception came in 2010, when Jamie McMurray won driving for Chip Ganassi.
Here are the Hall of Fame team owners who won the Brickyard 400:
Visiting Victory Lane after Jeff Gordon won the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994 were Hendrick family patriarch Joseph “Papa Joe” Hendrick (from left), Hendrick Motorsports founder and CEO Rick Hendrick, Gordon and crew chief Ray Evernham. Photo courtesy of Hendrick Motorsports
Rick Hendrick, 10 wins
As with many NASCAR records, Hendrick Motorsports, the team founded by Rick Hendrick (Class of 2017) and currently celebrating its 40th anniversary, set the mark for Brickyard 400 victories. Gordon won the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994, then won it again in 1998, 2001, 2004 and finally, 2014. He has the most victories among NASCAR Cup Series drivers at the Brickyard with five. The first two of those five triumphs came with crew chief Ray Evernham (Class of 2018) atop the pit box.
Gordon's former teammate Jimmie Johnson (Class of 2024) won the race four times, in 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2012, all with crew chief Chad Knaus (Class of 2024). The last Hendrick driver to win at the Brickyard was Kasey Kahne, who took the checkered flag in 2017. Kahne was also the last driver to win the race in a Chevrolet.
Note: Gordon’s winner’s wreath from the inaugural Brickyard 400 is on display in the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s Heritage Speedway. Opening August 8th, we will honor Hendrick Motorsports with a special 40th anniversary exhibit in the Great Hall.
Team owner Joe Gibbs (from left), crew chief Jimmy Makar and driver Bobby Labonte took part in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway tradition of kissing the bricks at the track’s start-finish line after Labonte’s victory in the 2000 Brickyard 400. Photo courtesy of Robert Laberge/Allsport
Joe Gibbs, 5 wins
A Toyota team since 2008, Joe Gibbs Racing is the only team to win the Brickyard 400 with three different manufacturers. Team owner Joe Gibbs (Class of 2020) got his first Brickyard win with Bobby Labonte (Class of 2020) and Pontiac in 2000, the same year Labonte won the NASCAR Cup Series championship. Indiana native Tony Stewart (Class of 2020) won the Brickyard 400 for JGR in 2005 and 2007, both times in Chevrolets. Most recently, Kyle Busch went back-to-back in 2016 and 2017 driving his JGR Toyotas.
The first of team owner Richard Childress’ (Front row, right) three Brickyard victories came in 1995, when Dale Earnhardt captured the second NASCAR race at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway. NASCAR Hall of Fame Collection, Gift of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.
Richard Childress, 3 wins
Like Rick Hendrick and Joe Gibbs, Richard Childress (Class of 2017) is a Hall of Fame team owner. And like Hendrick and Gibbs, Childress has had three different drivers win the Brickyard 400 in his cars. Dale Earnhardt (Class of 2010) won the second ever Brickyard in 1995, while Kevin Harvick won the race in 2005 while driving for Richard Childress Racing. The biggest upset in Brickyard 400 history came in 2011, when Paul Menard put his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet out front and held off a hard-charging Jeff Gordon to score his first and only NASCAR Cup Series race victory in 471 starts over parts of 16 seasons
Already a two-time Brickyard 400 winner as a driver, Stewart-Haas Racing co-owner Tony Stewart (center) took a celebratory climb with SHR driver Kevin Harvick on his 2019 victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Photo courtesy of Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images
Tony Stewart, 3 wins
After winning the Brickyard 400 driving for Joe Gibbs in 2005 and 2007, Stewart won the historic Indianapolis race three times as co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing. The first of the three SHR Brickyard 400 victories came in 2013, with Ryan Newman at the wheel in his final season with the team. The two most recent Brickyard 400s, in 2019 and 2020, were both won by 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick, who captured his second and third Brickyard 400s in SHR Fords.
The powerful Ford engines Robert Yates built for Dale Jarrett helped him win races at some of NASCAR's largest and fastest tracks including Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway. Photo courtesy of Jon Ferrey/Allsport
Robert Yates, 2 wins
Another Hall of Fame pairing that was one of the top teams at the turn of the century was driver Dale Jarrett (Class of 2014) and Robert Yates (Class of 2018), founder and owner of Robert Yates Racing and one of the sport’s most respected engine builders. Jarrett won the Brickyard 400 for the first time in 1996, and then again three years later, both times in the No. 88 Fords fielded by Yates.
Winning the 1997 Brickyard 400 was a huge moment for NASCAR Cup Series owner/driver Ricky Rudd. NASCAR Hall of Fame Collection, Gift of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co
Rick Rudd, 1 win
A member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s upcoming Class of 2025, Ricky Rudd is the only owner/driver to make this list. Driving his own Tide-sponsored No. 10 Rudd Performance Motorsports Ford, Rudd passed Dale Jarrett with 14 laps to go to capture the 1997 Brickyard 400, one of the most important race victories of his career.
After years of dominating the Indianapolis 500, team owner Roger Penske finally got his first Brickyard 400 victory in 2018. Photo courtesy of Jamie Squire/Getty Images
Roger Penske, 1 win
As a team owner, Roger Penske (Class of 2019) has won the Indianapolis 500 a record 20 times. Penske purchased Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2020, along with the IndyCar Series itself. But in the 27 prior editions of the Brickyard 400, Penske’s lone win as a NASCAR Cup Series team owner came in 2018 with former Team Penske driver Brad Keselowski.
For driver Bill Elliott (left) and team owner Ray Evernham, winning the Brickyard 400 in just the second year of existence for Evernham Motorsports was a milestone moment. Photo courtesy of Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images
Ray Evernham, 1 win
In a career that included three NASCAR Cup Series championships as a crew chief for Jeff Gordon, one of Ray Evernham’s most impressive accomplishments was bringing Dodge back into the sport in 2001 after an absence that dated back to the late 1970s. In 2002 Bill Elliott (Class of 2015) took home the only Brickyard 400 win for both Evernham Motorsports and manufacturer Dodge.
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