The team was formed with crew chief and car builder Harry Hyde as All-Star Racing before the 1984 season. Hendrick Motorsports won its first race in 1984 at Martinsville with the No. 5 driven by Geoff Bodine. From 1985 through 1988 the team was also involved with the GM Goodwrench IMSA GTP Corvette and twin-turbo V6 engine development effort, competing in the IMSA GTP series with drivers Doc Bundy and Sarel van der Merwe before ceasing the project in 1988.
The team expanded from one full-time Cup car to two in 1986, three in 1987, and four in 2002, pioneering a multi-car model partly based on the structure of the Hendrick car dealerships. The organization has been credited with innovations in engine construction and pit crew training. Its campus is located on Papa Joe Hendrick Boulevard in Concord, North Carolina, named after Rick Hendrick's father, who was listed as owner of the No. 25 Chevrolet. Since 1995 the organization has presented the Papa Joe Hendrick Award of Excellence, an employee-voted honour.
Hendrick Motorsports currently fields four full-time Cup Series teams with the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1: the No. 5 for Kyle Larson, the No. 9 for Chase Elliott, the No. 24 for William Byron, and the No. 48 for Alex Bowman. Past drivers include Hall of Famers Jeff Gordon, Terry Labonte, Darrell Waltrip, Benny Parsons, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, as well as Geoff Bodine, Tim Richmond, Ricky Rudd, Ken Schrader, Ricky Craven, Jerry Nadeau, Joe Nemechek, Kyle Busch, Casey Mears, and Kasey Kahne.
At the 2021 Coca-Cola 600, Hendrick Motorsports became the winningest team in NASCAR Cup Series history when Kyle Larson drove the No. 5 to its 269th win, surpassing the record of 268 held by Petty Enterprises since 1960.
Hendrick Motorsports maintains an in-house engine shop, leasing engines to technical partners including Haas Factory Team, Hyak Motorsports, and Spire Motorsports.
Hendrick Motorsports fielded in-house Busch Series entries from 1984 to 1990 and again from 2000 to 2007, primarily the No. 5. Following the 2007 season, Hendrick Motorsports and JR Motorsports — owned by then-Hendrick driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. — combined Xfinity Series operations. The No. 5 Chevrolets began running full-time under the JR Motorsports banner in 2008 with engines and technical support from Hendrick Motorsports. Rick Hendrick is an equity partner in JRM and is listed as car owner of the No. 5 team.
From 2022 the team returned to the Xfinity Series with a part-time No. 17 entry. In 2024, Kyle Larson took the team's first Xfinity win since 2009 at the Circuit of the Americas, and Chase Elliott won at Charlotte. Development driver Corey Day anchored a 16-race schedule in 2025, winning at Bristol Motor Speedway, before being promoted to a full-time Xfinity ride for 2026, scoring his first career win at Talladega.
Hendrick Motorsports fielded trucks across several seasons. Jack Sprague drove the No. 24 truck full-time from 1996, winning five races and finishing second in points that year, then claiming his first NASCAR championship in 1997, a second in 1999, and a third in 2001. In 2013 Hendrick revived its truck programme with a part-time entry for Chase Elliott, who at that season's Canadian Tire Motorsports Park event became the youngest race winner in Truck Series history at the time.
Ricky Hendrick won the only career truck race for the No. 17 team at Kansas Speedway in 2001, becoming the youngest driver to win a truck race at the age of 21.
In 2023 Hendrick Motorsports entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans, working with NASCAR, Chevrolet, Goodyear Tires, and IMSA to field a modified version of the Next Gen Cup car in the experimental Garage 56 category. The Camaro ZL1 ran largely unchanged from its Cup specification, with modifications including real headlights and taillights, a larger fuel tank, uprated carbon ceramic brakes, and new Goodyear tyres. Bearing the No. 24, the car was driven by Jimmie Johnson, 2010 Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller, and 2009 Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button. The car finished 39th out of 62 total competitors.
In 2024, Hendrick Motorsports entered the Indianapolis 500 in partnership with Arrow McLaren, fielding the No. 17 for Kyle Larson in his attempt at the Double — making him the fifth driver to attempt running both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. Larson announced a further attempt at the 2025 Indianapolis 500.
On 24 October 2004, ten people associated with Hendrick Motorsports died when a Beechcraft King Air 200 crashed in heavy fog into Bull Mountain, seven miles from the Blue Ridge Airport in Stuart, Virginia, while en route from Concord, North Carolina, to Martinsville Speedway. Those killed included John Hendrick (Rick Hendrick's brother and president of Hendrick Motorsports), Jeff Turner (general manager), Ricky Hendrick (driver and owner's son), Kimberly and Jennifer Hendrick (John Hendrick's twin daughters), Randy Dorton (chief engine builder), the two pilots Richard Tracy and Elizabeth Morrison, Joe Jackson (director of the DuPont Motorsports program), and Scott Lathram (a helicopter pilot for Joe Gibbs Racing).
NASCAR officials learned of the crash during the Subway 500 at Martinsville and withheld the information from drivers until the end of the race, which was won by Hendrick driver Jimmie Johnson. For the remainder of the 2004 season all Hendrick Motorsports cars featured pictures of the crash victims on the hood with the phrase "Always in our hearts".
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