Ten years later, ten lives remembered

On October 24, 2004, a plane from Concord, North Carolina carrying ten people affiliated with Hendrick Motorsports went missing en route to a Nextel Cup race in Martinsville, Virginia. That evening, the remnants of the plane were found on a mountainside near the track. All ten people aboard the plane - eight passengers and two crew members - were killed in the crash. The fatalities included Ricky Hendrick, the son of team owner Rick Hendrick and a former driver in the Craftsman Truck Series and Busch Series, along with Rick's brother John and his twin daughters, engine builder Randy Dorton and team general manager Jeff Turner.

Hendrick's Cup lineup at the time consisted of two of their current drivers, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, with veteran Terry Labonte and rookie Brian Vickers. Johnson ended up winning the race, but instead of celebrating in victory lane, he was taken to the NASCAR hauler with his teammates and told the unfortunate news. For the rest of the season, the four Hendrick cars displayed a picture of the ten people lost in the crash with the words "Always in Our Hearts". This weekend at the Martinsville track, the Hendrick cars - two of which are now driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kasey Kahne - will have that same decal on the top of the car, next to the driver's name, to mark the decade that has gone by since that tragedy not far from where they will race on Sunday.

Ten years later, Rick Hendrick still remembers that day. He lost a big part of his family, including his own son, who was shaping up to be the next-generation leader of the Hendrick team, and several of his racing friends. Jimmie Johnson also remembers it, as he won the race that day but did not get to celebrate it. Johnson also won the following week at Atlanta, helping to ease some of the pain, but not a lot of it. And a decade later, it still returns from time to time, despite all of the race victories and championships the team has accumulated since. The people of Hendrick Motorsports will certainly be thinking about that day during Sunday's race.