Hendrick Motorsports plans to build a new shop for its #5 and #25 teams, a team source confirmed to NASCAR.COM on Friday. The shop will be built next to the two-year-old shop that houses the No. 24 and 48 teams in Harrisburg, N.C., near Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Hendrick’s pairing of Jeff Gordon’s #24 and Jimmie Johnson’s #48 teams in one location has proven successful, as Johnson has won seven times and Gordon eight times in the two-plus seasons they have been together. Hendrick hopes the 25/5 shop – which will be headquarters for drivers Brian Vickers and Terry Labonte, respectively – will be done by the end of 2004. Vickers’ and Labonte’s teams are currently in separate buildings, but Hendrick wants all four Nextel Cup teams as close to each other as possible. The #25 team is housed next to the current museum, which could expand slightly into the old shop. Or Hendrick’s chassis engineering department, which needs more room, could take over the old #25 shop. Labonte’s #5 team moved into Gordon’s old shop. Plans for that building are unclear.(NASCAR.com)(5-22-2004)
