Hendrick Motorsports Team II

Why the #25? - The number 25 was the teams second car that debut in 1986, I don’t have a definitive answer to this but estimated guesses are that it was the second team so they added a 2 before the 5 number to keep it aligned with the 5 car.

Why the #35? - The number 35 was ran for one year when driver Tim Richmond was sidelined due to pneumonia like symptoms heading into 1987, Richmond’s 25 was on the side until he was well enough to come back but the 25 team remained and was renumbered to 35, likely to keep in line with the 5 and 25 numbering. After it was known that Richmond would not be well enough to hop in a car again, the team renumbered the 35 back to the 25 in 1988.

Why the #50? - The number 50 was a one off request from sponsor Anheuser-Busch and their brand Budweiser who was the official Beer of NASCAR in 1998, to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. The number returned to 25 the next year.

Why the #88? - The number 88 was directly chosen by Dale Earnhardt Jr during his transition from Dale Earnhardt Inc., though the number choice was not always 88. Originally Earnhardt Jr., wanted 51 but no one else liked the number, 81 was another number that was nearly selected but instead went to choose 28. Robert Yates and sponsor Texaco who was still in the sport at that time did not want to release the 28 number due to their history together. Yates did have a suggestion, he would give up the number 88 to Hendrick and Earnhardt Jr., while Yates would renumber his 88 car to 28. Earnhardt Jr., also floated 38 due to family history with that number by Yates but was denied. 88 was chosen due to Dale Earnhardt Jr., doubling up the number 8, his number since he started in Cup. The number lasted until 2020.

Why the #48? - The 48 number is now the most successful number by counts of championships in Hendrick’s history. Jimmie Johnson announced his retirement from Cup after 2020 and sponsor Ally Financial did not want to lose that number, they hired Alex Bowman to replace Johnson, in reality they swapped the branding from the fourth team to the second team while the fourth team became the 5 car with Kyle Larson starting in 2021. Hendrick originally chose 48 because it was double Jeff Gordon’s number, 24 and due to the fact Gordon was a part owner in the original 48 team/fourth car.