Rick Hendrick, Roger Penske, Joe Gibbs, and Richard Childress are truly the titans of NASCAR who have seen the sport grow and achieved a lot in it. However, considering their age, questions have started to float on what happens to their success and organizations after they retire and step away from the sport.
Rick Hendrick has known who would succeed him at HMS for many years
While Hendrick stands on top of NASCAR with 321 Cup wins, Gibbs is behind with 229, Penske with 157, and RCR with 118. But all of this success has taken a lot of decades, and now Hendrick is 76, Gibbs is 85, Penske is 89, and Childress is 80.
So sooner or later, they would have to make way for the next crop of leaders at their organizations. And in some ways, a path is already there for their successors.
In Hendrick’s case, it looks more and more likely that former driver and current Vice Chairman, Jeff Gordon, would take over Rick Hendrick at the helm. After staying his whole driving career at HMS, Gordon joined the organisation in an executive capacity. In a 2018 Autoweek feature, Mr. H confirmed the same, as he claimed, “That’s the way we’re going. Whenever I finally step away, it’ll be Jeff Gordon in my place.”
In Childress’ case, the path to succession leads into his family. In a recent interview this year, Childress claimed his grandsons and his family members can one day take up his place. “I think that Austin, Ty, Mike, Dylan, and our family can help carry that legacy on and build it stronger,” Childress said.
But the same isn’t clear in the case of Penske and Gibbs.
Joe Gibbs had a succession plan in place through the family route. The former NFL coach tragically lost both his sons, but Heather Gibbs, the widow of his son Coy and mother of Ty Gibbs, is slowly growing into a leadership role at JGR. In a 2024 interview, Joe Gibbs said of Heather, “She certainly helps us in making decisions. When we have a meeting, and we bring up stuff, she’s not sitting back. I love that because I think that’s really helped us.”
For Team Penske, many people wondered if one day Tim Cindric would lead the operations after Roger Penske steps away. However, a cheating scandal in 2025 and FOX Corp. buying one-third of Penske Entertainment might complicate things in that regard.
Having said that, nothing is still official about the successors of any of these four teams. But based on where things stand currently, NASCAR fans believe one team is in pole position for continued future success.
Fans back Jeff Gordon’s potential leadership to continue HMS domination
NASCAR fans shared their opinions on which four of NASCAR’s legacy organizations would continue their success after their current boss steps away.
One fan picked HMS as he wrote, “Hendrick’s succession plan is pretty much already in place. Jeff Gordon has ran majority of the day-to-day for several years now. Jeff also mentioned on Stacking Pennies that his daughter, Ella, has no interest in driving but has shown some interest in the business side of the sport, so you might even see her get involved after college. Regardless, HMS is solidly in the lead in that department.”
Hendrick being in pole position to continue their success in the future was an opinion shared by another fan as he simply wrote, “Hendrick and it’s not even close.”
But not all fans believed it would be HMS. One fan claimed that it could be Team Penske with Roger Penske’s successor not being Tim Cindric but someone with the Penske name. “I would put Penske right next because many have indicated Roger, being the type A person that he is, has long had a succession plan in place, which only those in the inner circle know the details. My hunch is Greg Penske would be the one taking over, with the current management structure staying the same. A lot of people say Tim Cindric, but I think he is just content spending the rest of his life being a strategist in IndyCar and being semi-retired,” the fan wrote.
A fan made a surprise pick with the least experienced successor of the four and pointed to the team that could have some trouble in that regard. “I think Austin Dillon will be shockingly good as a team manager, but I don’t know if that means they will do better than the others. I think Penske will have the most issues, just from what I’ve seen of Rogers kids and their interests,” the fan wrote.
Another fan picked Hendrick’s team and circled the one team that could suffer the most of the four. “Hendrick closely followed by Penske. Then a gap to RCR that’s only saved by RC running it badly and Austin Dillon having some promise. Then an absolute gulf to JGR. They’re so toast unless something big develops,” the fan wrote.
It’s safe to say that the current state of affairs across these four organizations are run smoothly, and the legendary faces of the team have a lot to do with that. But when it comes to their future fan sentiment, it points to one team owner who has the strongest succession plan of the four is Rick Hendrick.
