CONCORD, N.C. - It's always a special day when Hendrick Motorsports teammates are invited to converge in one place - on Wednesday, that place was the Team Center on campus.
Then add in a few dessert trucks and one of the best pitchers in the history of Major League Baseball...
The company's annual NASCAR Cup Series playoff kickoff was held on Wednesday afternoon with team owner Rick Hendrick, general manager and president Jeff Andrews and vice chairman Jeff Gordon all among those who took to the stage.
That also included special guest speaker, John Smoltz, who gave a talk of around 30 minutes.
Smoltz, now a broadcaster, was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015. A member of the 1995 World Series-champion Atlanta Braves, he is the only pitcher to have racked up 200-plus wins and 150-plus saves (213 and 154, respectively) in his MLB career. He also claimed the Cy Young Award in 1996.
"I'm honored. I'm blown away," said Smoltz, who also took a tour of the complex earlier in the day. "I've got a game tomorrow night - Boston, New York - I'm going to find myself talking more about this experience more than I will the game."
Prior to that, however, Hendrick Motorsports Gordon took to the stage along with the organization's four drivers - Chase Elliott, William Byron, Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson - for a brief Q and A.
"I think it's just a good chance to be in front of everybody and see everyone's faces and kind of get that energy going for the playoffs," Byron told HendrickMotorsports.com before the event began. "I think it's one of those days it's nice to be in front of everyone again, get everyone together and get pumped up."
Byron locked up the regular season points championship last week at Richmond Raceway. Currently, Elliott (second) and Larson (fourth) have also punched playoff tickets while Bowman (ninth) enters this Saturday night's event at Daytona International Speedway 60 points above the cutline, needing to avoid a new winner to earn a spot into the postseason field.
"We're going to go out and we're going to go to battle here, we're going to battle this weekend to get Alex into (the playoffs)," team owner Rick Hendrick said during a speech to the crowd.
Andrews, kickstarted the event with a speech of his own, which included the recognition of nine recipients of the Hendrick Motorsports Spirit Award. The honor is presented to teammates in recognition of extraordinary contributions to the performance of Hendrick Motorsports through clearly superior effort producing uncommon results. To be eligible for the Spirit Award, teammates must be nominated by other teammates through written submissions.
Also on Wednesday, in a ceremony earlier in the morning, eight Hendrick Motorsports teammates celebrated 20 years with the company and were given a watch in recognition of their service. Lists of 20-year honorees and Spirit Award recipients can be found below.
Team members honored for 20 years of service:
- Kevin Bookheimer, composite
- Anthony Bove, engine department
- Jonathan Dorton, engine department
- David Dudley, aviation
- James Dunn, vehicle production
- Melvin Edwards, vehicle production
- Joshua Kirk, vehicle production
- Charles Morris, engine department
Hendrick Motorsports Spirit Award recipients
- Chris Bader, aviation
- Dave Dudley, aviation
- Ed Heidtke, aviation
- Eric Kelly, aviation
- Danny Emerick, engine department
- Scott Fox, engine department
- Ryan Glenn, team support
- Andy Kruep, vehicle production
- Todd Rucker, purchasing