Hendrick Motorsports was once again named as the most valuable team in NASCAR with an estimated value of $325 million, down seven percent from last year, according to the 2018 annual ranking released by Forbes.
Hendrick fields four full-time racing teams on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series circuit: Alex Bowman (No. 88), William Byron (No. 24), Chase Elliott (No. 9), and Jimmie Johnson (No. 48). They have won 12 Cup series titles and collected 249 career victories.
According to Forbes, Joe Gibbs Racing is the second most valuable team at $220 million. Stewart-Haas Racing is ranked third at $175 million. Rounding out the top five are Richard Childress Racing coming in at No. 4, and Team Penske at No. 5.
Team Penske expanded operations this year, becoming a three-car outfit by adding the new No. 12 car driven by Ryan Blaney.
The top eight NASCAR teams are now worth an average $158 million, down two percent from last year, according to Forbes. They say this decrease in value can be attributed to an “increasingly worrying lack of TV viewership coupled with a general investment pullback from sponsors and team owners.”