Without a doubt, Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, and Team Penske are three of the most successful teams in NASCAR. With championships exchanged between them in recent and past times, there has hardly been any team that managed to challenge them.

Now, Ray Evernham, a former championship-winning HMS crew chief, has highlighted what sets those three giants apart from the rest of the field. Evernham, who is now a consultant for Hendrick companies, recently shed light on how HMS and JGR developed a culture and put themselves ahead of the rivals.

On Tuesday's episode of the "Door Bumper Clear" podcast, he said:

"If you want consistency and the ability for people to learn, you've got to have a process in place for them to follow and then help them along the way and learn a lot. That continuous improvement process and building that culture is way more important than people think on, especially in a big team, right?"

Evernham is a NASCAR Hall of Famer who previously worked with Bill Davis Racing and Jeff Gordon as a crew chief, and then formed his own team, Ray Evernham Racing. Further speaking about the big teams, he added:

"And that's what people like Rick Hendrick, Joe Gibbs, and Roger Penske are good at. They're good at developing that process and developing that culture. Culture at Penske much different than the culture at Hendrick. Still very successful, but it's a culture in place," Evernham further added in the "Door Bumper Clear" podcast.

Thanks to Kyle Larson's 2025 victory, Hendrick Motorsports is the defending team owners' champion. The three years before that, it was Penske because of Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney.

Preceding them were HMS' Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson in 2020 and 2021. And before them, it was Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing. In a nutshell, these three teams keep shuffling the NASCAR crown, all thanks to the culture in place, the thing Ray Evernham highlighted.

Ray Evernham praised 23XI star after rare San Diego gesture

Ray Evernham lauded 23XI Racing star and NASCAR Cup Series championship leader Tyler Reddick after the latter's fair play gesture in the closing stages of the San Diego race.

Reddick went on a wheel-to-wheel tussle against 23XI teammate Corey Heim for the lead during the San Diego Street Course last Sunday. After accidentally running the 23-year-old into the wall, Reddick slowed down to allow Heim back into the lead.

This is the gesture that drew praise from Evernham. Speaking about how he was impressed by Reddick's movement and comments after the race, the HMS legend said in the same podcast:

"But what Tyler Reddick did yesterday, giving that spot back, to me, says so much about what this sport needs. Like hard racing, stuff’s going to happen, whatever. But it was like, ‘Okay, my bad, have it back’. Tons, tons of respect."

Unfortunately for Reddick, he also suffered a flat tire, which forced him to pit and eventually secure a 25th-place finish. Meanwhile, Corey Heim went on to win the race, his first triumph in the Cup Series in his 13th start.

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Written by

Sabyasachi Biswas

Edited by

Yash Kotak