Brian Vickers, Ricky Hendrick find victory lane at IRP | Hendrick Motorsports, 40 NASCAR wins in 40 days

Editor’s note: This is the eighth in a 40-part series highlighting 40 of the greatest wins in the history of Hendrick Motorsports to finish its 40th anniversary season. A new installment will be released each day from Nov. 22, 2024 through New Year’s Eve. Votes were taken from Hendrick Motorsports employees as well as representatives of the NASCAR Hall of Fame and Racing Insights with all unanimous selections being ushered in automatically. The remaining wins were deliberated and decided upon by a small panel. 

CONCORD, N.C. - Some of the greatest wins in the history of Hendrick Motorsports are revered because of the prestige of the event in which they came. 

Others are held in high regard because of their place amid championship runs or legendary careers. 

Then, there's a select few that will forever be special for sentimental value within the organization; wins and days which will never be measured by facts and figures alone.

And the rarest of the bunch are a combination of all of the above. 

One of those victories occurred late in the evening hours of Aug. 2, 2003 at Indianapolis Raceway Park as Brian Vickers parked the No. 5 car in victory lane in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, then known as the Busch Series, Kroger 200. 

Getting there was no easy feat for Vickers, both within the confines of the event's 200 laps around the 0.686-mile short track and in terms of opportunity itself. As the story goes, Vickers wasn't even the first pick for company owner and founder Rick Hendrick when it came to hiring a driver. 

But it was a good thing that Hendrick wasn't technically listed as the owner for the No. 5 Xfinity Series entry. That was Ricky Hendrick who pounded the table early and often for Vickers. 

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“(Ricky Hendrick) was watching a Busch race in Atlanta and all the sudden this kid qualifies way up front,” recalled Lance McGrew, the team’s crew chief. “He’s watching him drive and he’s sliding sideways, but he just keeps going. He’s like, ‘Who is this guy?’ He introduced himself and they became fast friends and when the opportunity came up to put somebody else in the car, that was Ricky’s pick.” 

Not long prior, it was Ricky Hendrick himself sitting in the cockpit of the No. 5 and looking at a bright racing future. However, a crash in the third event of 2022 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway left him with a broken shoulde and while the physical ailments would heal, the mental scarring just wouldn't go away. So, 19 events following his return, Ricky Hendrick called McGrew for a private meeting. 

“He had some PTSD from that hit and he hid it for a long time,” McGrew said. “I remember it like it was yesterday. I was sitting in the lounge, and the phone rang, and it was Ricky. He said, ‘Can you come out here?’ He was sitting in a rental car, and I hopped in with him and he was like, ‘I just can’t do this anymore. I can’t drive the car the way I need to be successful. I don’t have it in me.’ I’m like, ‘Are you sure? He said, ‘I don’t feel like I’m doing the team any justice and I’m scaring the crap out of myself.’ And that was it.”

David Green would step in and run the final six races of the 2002 season and Ricky Hendrick stayed on, changing roles from driver to owner of the team. 

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And when it came time to fill the seat with a full-time driver the following season, Ricky Hendrick was steadfast. 

“Ricky was just adamant about this new kid,” said Lisa Smokstad, a tire specialist for the team and a long-time Hendrick Motorsports teammate. “Ricky really thought Brian could do it and you know what? He was right.” 

Yet, there were growing pains early. Vickers and the No. 5 team didn't register a top-five finish until the season's 11th race. Going into IRP, the 22nd event on the 2003 Busch Series schedule, Vickers and Ricky Hendrick were still seeking their first win together. 

But it was coming. And McGrew knew it. 

So, after Vickers got caught up with a lapped car, costing the team a good finish at Pikes Peak International Raceway a week prior, McGrew stepped in. 

“We didn’t fly back until that next morning and I caught up with him at the hotel,” McGrew said. “I’m like, ‘Brian, you’ve got to be smarter.’ And we sat in his room and talked about it. He said, ‘Well, I still feel like I have something to prove,’ and I said, ‘Obviously, but when you’re in a situation like this, you can’t throw it away.”

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The 5 car was strong upon unloading at IRP, qualifying third. But Shane Hmiel, himself only 18 years old at the time, took the pole and had a strong car on short runs. 

Luckily for Vickers and the No. 5 team, only three caution flags waved for a total of 20 laps and though Hmiel pulled away early in fuel cycles, Vickers was able to reel him back in as a run wore on. 

Hmiel, who led 153 of 200 laps, got past Vickers on a restart with 66 laps remaining but lapped traffic and worn tires brought Vickers back to Hmiel's bumper. As Vickers pressured, Hmiel inched further up the track, utilizing a higher line to take advantage of the progressive banking and using straightaway speed to thwart Vickers' ability to roll the corners. 

Side by side, lap after lap, the battle raged on with the third- and fourth-place cars of Jason Keller and Scott Wimmer joining the fray. With four cars under a blanket for the lead, McGrew looked on from pit road as a classic finish was brewing. 

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“Brian and Shane Hmiel put on one of the best races anybody had ever seen,” McGrew said. “You’re not supposed to be able to race IRP on the bottom but Brian made it work and they raced side by side for so many laps.”

The talk the two had a week before loomed large. Vickers had the better car and he knew it but never got impatient, waiting for his opening until it finally came with 20 laps to go. He cleared on the bottom, slid up the track and slammed the door shut and from there, cruised to the checkered flag. 

Rick Hendrick was immediately tapped for a TV interview and deflected credit to his son, beaming as Vickers roasted the tires, and possibly an engine, in a postrace celebration. 

"I have to give Ricky all the credit for this one," Rick Hendrick said. "Brian was his pick and boy, it's been a good one." 

“Everybody was holding their breath until the end,” Smokstad said. “That is such a great track. It was hot and it was a late night and we’d been there all day but we were so excited to see the look on Ricky’s face. It solidified that he’d made the right decision. There was a lot of father-son things going on there, kind of a, ‘See, I picked the right guy.’ I'll never forget that." 

Vickers would continue to prove it. The team entered that race at IRP in fifth place in points, a distant 124 points behind leader Scott Riggs. Two more victories and 12 races later, Vickers was the season champion. It remains Hendrick Motorsports' lone Xfinity Series championship. 

But though success would soon come in a fast-and-furious manner, that night, championship aspirations could wait. 

Nobody had it better than the No. 5 team in that moment. 

“It was a memorable night. We rolled through tech at like, 2 a.m. but not a single person was tired," Smokstad said. "We went to the airport afterward and I think we walked right by (actor) Vin Diesel and I remember thinking, ‘You’ve got nothing on us, bud.’”