Hendrick Motorsports plans to build new shop

CONCORD, N..C -- Hendrick Motorsports plans to build a new shop for its No. 5 and 25 teams, a team source confirmed to NASCAR.COM on Friday.

	Rick Hendrick

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 No. 24 and Jimmie Johnson's No. 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.

Team owner Rick Hendrick will talk about the expansion during a media event at the Hendrick Motorsports complex next Wednesday.

Team Page  Hendrick Motorsports

Also included in the expansion is the acquisition of more land that will eventually lead to an entrance on Speedway Boulevard, the main thoroughfare to Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Currently, the only entrance to the 700-acre facility is off a two-lane road.

Future plans include a new, expanded museum and a pit crew training facility.

The No. 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 No. 25 shop.

Labonte's No. 5 team moved into Gordon's old shop. Plans for that building are unclear.