Hendrick began racing at fifteen in the Legends Series Summer Shootout at Charlotte. In 1995 he won five races and finished second in the overall standings; in 1996 he added another victory and recorded multiple top-five finishes. Transitioning to late models, he won three NASCAR Winston Late Model Series races in 1998 and one in 1999, with the team crew-chiefed by Hendrick Motorsports fabricator Frank Edwards throughout the 1997–2000 period.
He made two ARCA Menards Series starts — at Charlotte Motor Speedway in October 2000 and at the Daytona event in February 2001 — before focusing his efforts on the national touring series.
Hendrick ran select Craftsman Truck Series events in 2000 in the No. 17 GMAC/Quaker State Chevrolet Silverado while continuing late model work. In 2001 he competed in the full Truck Series schedule and earned his first NASCAR victory at Kansas Speedway on July 7. He was at the time the youngest winner in Truck Series history, and he backed it up with nineteen top-ten finishes across the season — a new rookie record. He finished second in Rookie of the Year voting behind Travis Kvapil.
In 2002 Hendrick moved to the Busch Series driving the No. 5 GMAC Financial Chevrolet Monte Carlo with crew chief Lance McGrew. At Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the third race of the season he suffered an accident that broke his shoulder, requiring surgery and sidelining him for three months. He returned in May and finished fifteenth at Richmond. In October 2002 Hendrick retired from driving due to mental health and physical concerns.
Stepping back from the cockpit, Hendrick took on a team-owner role within Hendrick Motorsports' Busch Series program. His No. 5 team won the 2003 Busch Series championship with Brian Vickers. In 2004 he fielded Kyle Busch in the No. 5 entry. He also launched a motorcycle dealership, Ricky Hendrick's Performance Honda Suzuki Aprilia, in Pineville, North Carolina, in April 2003.
On October 24, 2004, Hendrick was among ten people killed when a Beechcraft King Air 200 operated by Hendrick Motorsports crashed into Bull Mountain near Martinsville, Virginia, while en route to the Subway 500 at Martinsville Speedway. The National Transportation Safety Board attributed the crash to flight-crew errors during an instrument approach in instrument meteorological conditions. The victims included several Hendrick Motorsports executives, employees, and family members.
In January 2006 the Rick and Linda Hendrick family committed three million dollars to Carolinas HealthCare System's new Levine Children's Hospital; in recognition, the hospital dedicated its pediatric intensive care centers as the Ricky Hendrick Centers for Intensive Care. Annual motorcycle charity rides held from 2005 to 2008 in the Charlotte area — the Ricky Hendrick Charity Ride and later the Ricky Hendrick Memorial Charity Ride — raised funds for Nazareth Children's Home, The Family Center, and the Hendrick Foundation for Children. Hendrick was survived by his fiancée Emily Maynard, who gave birth posthumously to their daughter Josephine Riddick "Ricki" Hendrick on June 29, 2005.