Does billionaire HMS owner Rick Hendrick own Liberty University? All you need to know

No, Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick is not the owner of Liberty University. The university was founded by Jerry Falwell Sr. and Elmer L. Towns in 1971 and is one of the largest non-profit universities. The university sponsors HMS #34 Chevy Camaro ZL1 driver William Byron and is currently his primary sponsor in the Cup Series.

Liberty University has been sponsoring Byron since 2014 when he drove for JR Motorsports. The #24 driver debuted in the K&N Pro Series in 2015 with HScott Motorsports and in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2016 with Kyle Busch Motorsports. The university sponsored him in both series.

In 2016, William Byron and HMS joined hands, and he drove the #9 Chevy in the series, leading his sponsor, Liberty University, to join HMS. Byron then won the 2017 Xfinity Series championship title and moved to the Cup Series in 2018.

Since 2018, Liberty University has been sponsoring Byron in the Cup Series. Three years later, HMS signed a five-year contract with the university to sponsor Byron for 12 races annually, until the 2026 Cup Series season. Speaking at the time, the president of the university, Jerry Prevo, said the institution felt honored to partner with Hendrick Motorsports and support Byron. He added,

"William is a tremendous young man and has been an excellent ambassador for Liberty as a unique type of ‘student-athlete.’ Our relationship with the Hendrick organization already benefits our students and school in many ways, and we feel there is potential to do much more over the next five years.”

However, the university has decreased the sponsored races to six in the 2025 Cup Series season. The first race will be the much-anticipated The Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium on February 2, 2025, followed by the Daytona 500 on February 23, 2025. The paint scheme of the 2025 #24 Chevy Camaro ZL1 will be the same as the 2024 car.

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HMS driver William Byron embarked on an international trip in the off-season

Hendrick Motorsports #24 Chevy Camaro ZL1 driver William Byron recently visited Tokyo, Japan. In the 2024 Cup Series season, he finished two spots behind Joey Logano. With the season having ended, he is enjoying his off-season, taking a break from racing and relaxing overseas.

This week Byron uploaded several images on Instagram sharing his whereabouts. The first photo was taken on a flight and was captioned "Travel Day." He uploaded two more stories about his destination, indicating it as East Asia. He then shared a photo taken in Tokyo.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver ended his season in third place in the points table with 5034 points. Additionally, he scored three wins, 13 top-five finishes, and 21 top-ten finishes with a single pole position. He also claimed three stage wins and led 357 laps with four DNFs.