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The Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 is a NASCAR Cup Series team that has been active since 2001. This number was famously driven by 7-Time Champion Jimmie Johnson from 2001-2020 with 83 career Cup Series victories. Starting in 2021, Alex Bowman is the driver of the number 48 Ally Financial Chevy Camaro ZL1.

History


Jimmie Johnson (2001–2020)

Hendrick Motorsports' No. 48 team began Cup Series competition in 2001 when Hendrick signed Jimmie Johnson, a second-year Busch Series driver for Herzog-Jackson Motorsports. The team is co-owned by Hendrick and Jeff Gordon. Johnson made his debut at the fall Charlotte race, qualifying 15th and finishing 39th after crashing out. Johnson competed in two other races that year before moving to the Cup Series full-time in 2002. The No. 48 team took over old cars from the No. 24 team, which built new cars for the 2002 season. Johnson won three races and finished fifth in points, behind only Ryan Newman among rookies. He won three more races in 2003 and finished second in points.

Johnson led the Cup Series in points for much of the 2004 season, and entered the first Chase for the Nextel Cup second behind Gordon. Johnson won four races during the Chase, but finished in second, just eight points behind Kurt Busch. Johnson again led the Cup Series in points for much of the 2005 season, but lost the points lead after a hard crash at the Brickyard 400, and finished the season fifth in points. Johnson scored his first Daytona 500 victory in 2006, despite crew chief Chad Knaus serving a four-race suspension for rules infractions. Johnson also won the All-Star Challenge, Brickyard 400, and his first Nextel Cup championship in 2006. Johnson won the championship again in 2007, winning 10 races, the most by a driver in a single season since Gordon won 13 in 1998. Hendrick Motorsports won 18 of 36 races in 2007, including four in a row during the Chase.

Johnson tied Cale Yarborough's record by winning his third consecutive championship in 2008. In 2009, Johnson won seven races, had 16 top fives, and 24 top tens to become the first NASCAR driver to win four consecutive championships. Johnson eclipsed his own record in 2010 with his fifth straight title, finishing second in the final race of the season to pass Denny Hamlin in points.

The 2011 season's most memorable moment occurred at Talladega, when Johnson used a push from teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. to beat Clint Bowyer by just .002 seconds, the closest finish in Cup Series history. However, Johnson failed to win a sixth consecutive championship, winning only two races, and his sixth-place points finish was the first time he finished outside the top five in his career. The No. 48 team's performance improved in 2012, winning five races, but late-season mishaps at Phoenix and Homestead relegated them to third in points.

In 2013, Johnson won his second Daytona 500 and fourth All-Star Race on his way to a sixth Cup Series championship. Johnson's 11th-place points finish in 2014, however, marked the first time he finished a season outside the top ten. Johnson won five races in 2015, but again struggled during the Chase and finished tenth. In 2016 Johnson won another five races on his way to his record-tying seventh championship in 2016, joining Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt.

In 2017, Johnson won 3 races and made it to the round of 8 but a crash at Phoenix ruined his chance to make the final four. He finished 10th in points

Johnson made the Playoffs in 2018 despite not winning a race, his 15th straight appearance in NASCAR's postseason. At the inaugural Charlotte Roval race, Johnson nearly overtook Martin Truex Jr. to win, but locked his brakes on the final turn and spun out both drivers. Ryan Blaney won the race, and the six spots Johnson lost as a result of the spin eliminated him from the Playoffs.

On March 14, 2018, Lowe's announced they would end their sponsorship of the No. 48 team after the season. To commemorate the longtime partnership, Johnson drove the No. 48 car with its original Lowe's paint scheme in the season-ending race at Homestead-Miami. Following the season, Kevin Meendering from JR Motorsports replaced Knaus as crew chief of Johnson's team, with Knaus moving to the No. 24 team in 2019. Ally Financial (formerly GMAC, a past Hendrick Motorsports sponsor) signed a two-year deal to sponsor the No. 48 team starting in 2019.

Midway through 2019, following a string of disappointing finishes, race engineer Cliff Daniels replaced Meendering as crew chief of the No. 48. However, Johnson still failed to make the postseason for the first time since its inception in 2004, after a crash at Indianapolis knocked him out of Playoff contention. After the season, Ally agreed to extend its sponsorship of the No. 48 team through 2023. Johnson finished a career-worst 18th in points, registering only three top-five finishes the entire season.

The 48 team had arguably the best driver-crew chief duo in NASCAR history in Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus, a former rear tire changer on the pit crew of Jeff Gordon's 24 team. The team also had notable engineers like Charlie Langenstein, who won the Papa Joe Hendrick Award of Excellence in 2009 and was also inducted to the Northeast Modified Hall of Fame.

2020 would ended up being the final full-time season for Johnson, as he announced it on November 20, 2019. Johnson finished 5th in his final race at Phoenix Raceway.

Alex Bowman (2021–present)

On October 6, 2020, Hendrick Motorsports announced that Alex Bowman and crew chief Greg Ives will move from the No. 88 to the No. 48 for the 2021 season.