Ricky Hendrick has been marked for greatness by his father, NASCAR conglomerate team owner Rick Hendrick, who plans to expose his son in 2001 to a three-pronged attack of the Craftsman Truck Series and Busch Series with a liberal sprinkling of ARCA RE/MAX Series events. The younger Hendrick, 20, made a noteworthy CTS debut last spring at Pikes Peak International Raceway with a sixth place finish in the No. 17 Chevrolet.

Hendrick has made sure his son stays close to veteran mechanic Dennis Connor, who has engineered a pair of CTS titles for Hendrick Motorsports and Jack Sprague. After his spectacular debut in the trucks, Hendrick also added three more top-10 runs in his final five runs of 2000.

Hendrick also stayed busy in the Busch Series in 2000, making 11 starts with a best finish of fifth at Nashville, Tenn. Hendrick qualified third for the fall Busch Series event at Lowe's Motor Speedway, before he was caught out by the track's trickily changing conditions. In preparation for his move to NASCAR's national touring divisions, Hendrick won six Late Model Stock Car events at Concord Motorsport Park where he finished 26 of 32 events among the top-5.