NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
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CUP:  Evernham Rejoins Hendrick As Consultant
Former crew chief led Jeff Gordon’s team to championships…
Mike Hembree  |  Posted January 04, 2011   Charlotte, NC
Ray Evernham (Left) and Rick Hendrick (Right)will once more team up. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick has placed Ray Evernham on his payroll again.

Evernham, who won races and championships as crew chief for Jeff Gordon at HMS before leaving to start his own team, has been retained by Hendrick as a consultant for Hendrick Companies, which was formed by Hendrick in 2005 to oversee strategic initiatives.

Information released by the team Tuesday indicated that Evernham, 53, will work on “special projects related to Hendrick’s core businesses” and that his initial focus will be on development of the Hendrick Performance brand of high-performance parts, vehicles and related products and services.

There was no specific mention of Evernham’s involvement with Hendrick’s Sprint Cup racing operation, but it seems likely that the teams would take advantage of his experience and availability.

“Hendrick Performance parts and cars will have a racing pedigree, and Ray is someone who will help ensure that on behalf of our customers and dealers,” Hendrick said in a statement. “He’s assembled a terrific group of people at REE [Ray Evernham Enterprises], and I see a lot of opportunities for them to be a valuable resource for our organization on projects like this. I know the kind of high standards Ray sets.”

Evernham won three NASCAR Cup championships in the 1990s as crew chief for Gordon. He left the Hendrick organization in 1999 to found Evernham Motorsports, and most recently was a television analyst for ESPN. He sold the team to George Gillett and only recently became eligible to work in a competitive situation because of contract requirements from that sale.

“Rick and I have had many conversations over the years about our passion projects, and there’s so much crossover with what we enjoy working on,” said Evernham. “We both sense an opportunity to do some unique things, whether it’s with performance parts and cars, his dealership business (Hendrick Automotive Group) or other ways to build the Hendrick brand.”

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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