Hendrick Motorsports is always a contender. Being the winningest team in Cup Series history brings that level of expectation, even in a season where things haven’t really gone according to plan. So, with three of its four drivers still in contention for the Cup Series championship, owner Rick Hendrick feels that the only way forward is to avoid pointing fingers at one another. If they do that, things will implode, he said.

Hendrick, who has seen his drivers win 15 Cup Series championships over the years, addressed the postseason pressure he’s under on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and insisted that the whole organization has to rely on trust to see the 2026 Chase through.

“I think I’ve worked 40 years to get here with these guys working together and sharing and being one team with four cars, and I sure don’t want to see anything disrupt that,” Hendrick said.

Rick Hendrick stated that he’s been around his drivers, looking to “pump” them up, reminding them who they are and what they have achieved over the years. He doesn’t want the outside pressure to get to them and derail their confidence. The 77-year-old also told his team that if they don’t win the Championship this season, it won’t be the end of the world.

“Take a deep breath, exhale, and look around you. And we’re a great team, and we’re going to get it done. And so if it’s not this year, it’ll be next year. But our lives don’t depend on what happens in the next ten races, and we do the best we can. We’ll be successful,” he said in the same episode of SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Often, teams like Hendrick Motorsports, with multiple drivers gunning for the championship, can see fractures develop within the organization. Rick Hendrick has seen it firsthand, with rivalries developing between Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson — two of his best-ever stars — in the mid 2000s. Other teams, such as Joe Gibbs Racing, have experienced similar situations, with Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin developing their own rivalries in the past.

Hendrick doesn’t want the same thing happening in 2026. Over his storied career, aside from the fierce battles, he’s also witnessed camaraderie and trust among the different camps, with teams exchanging ideas and helping each other out. That’s what he has reminded all four of his drivers heading into the Chase, starting with Darlington on Sunday.

Hendrick Motorsports has three drivers in the Chase. Defending champion Kyle Larson, who finished 7th in the seeding, Chase Elliott in 8th, and William Byron in 13th. On paper, HMS and Chevrolet have had a really difficult season owing to the car’s balance issues. But they are an organization whose legacy always makes them one of the favorites.

That automatically puts pressure on the drivers, which Hendrick suggested. But it also helps calm their nerves, knowing that there are seasoned veterans in the organization who know how to get things done, even when things aren’t breezy. Larson himself admitted to that in an interview with journalist Tim Moore earlier this year.

He told Moore that even though they may be counted out externally, there’s always a belief within the organization that they can turn a situation around. Chevrolet cars, which have six wins, have been dominated by Toyota’s 14 victories during the regular season. But Larson pointed out that even in 2025, they were the slower cars at this stage.

The signs this season, though, are worse than they were last year. Larson may feel that the cars were slower on raw pace, but the results spoke for themselves, with HMS winning six times before the playoffs began. This year, they won just two, both courtesy of Elliott at Martinsville and Texas.

Rick Hendrick wants all of his drivers to work together in this Chase because he feels that gives them their best chance to improve. His comments suggest that, more than adding another Cup Series title to his résumé, he’s focused on getting the team back to the top in terms of performance, which he believes is more important for long-term success.

That’s why Hendrick said that if they don’t win the championship this year, there’s always next year.