Hendrick still making plans for four-car team next season

Rick Hendrick still prefers running with a four-pack.

If he has his way, all four of those cars will be racing next season.

On Sunday, the longtime owner of one of NASCAR’s powerhouse teams tried to douse the debate over a possible downsizing with one short statement.

“The plan is to run four cars next year,” Hendrick said.

Hendrick Motorsports, like the Cup series, is in the midst of a major transition.

Four-time points champion Jeff Gordon retired following the 2015 season, returned briefly last year to replace the injured Dale Earnhardt Jr., and now says he’s finished with driving anything “NASCAR related.”

Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR’s most popular driver each of the past 14 seasons, has already announced he’s retiring at the end of 2017. On Thursday, Hendrick chose 24-year-old Alex Bowman as Earnhardt’s replacement.

That gives Hendrick two promising young drivers, Bowman and 21-year-old Chase Elliott, to put in the garage with seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson.

But with sponsorship deals running out, Kasey Kahne underperforming in the fourth car and Matt Kenseth saying he wouldn’t take over the No. 88 car when his tenure with Joe Gibbs Racing ends, speculation about Hendrick’s future plans have been the subject of a lot of chatter.

Hendrick did not address Kahne’s future with the team.

Still, instead of suggesting the team might scale back to three cars in 2018, Hendrick and Bowman went in another direction Sunday — mentioning a possible expanded schedule this season.

“We started talking about that, getting into an Xfinity car before the year is over, but we’ve just started talking,” said Bowman.