The No. 5 debuted in 1984 under the banner "All Star Racing" with five employees, rented equipment, and two cars, with the highest-paid person's wages at only $500/week. Initially, the team had planned to field a car for seven-time Cup champion Richard Petty with funding from country music business mogul C.K. Spurlock, but the deal failed to materialize. Afterwards, Hendrick attempted to hire Tim Richmond, then Dale Earnhardt, but did not. As a result, the team signed former Rookie of the Year Geoff Bodine to drive the unsponsored No. 5 Chevy Monte Carlo for 1984. After a slow start seven races into the season, Hendrick informed Bodine and crew chief Harry Hyde that he planned to shut down the team due to funding trouble. Instead, Bodine and the team won at Martinsville Speedway, leading to sponsorship from Northwestern Security Life; on March 30, 2014, the 30-year anniversary of the win, Hendrick stated, "We owe Martinsville so much. If we hadn't won that race, then literally the next Monday we were going to shut it down." The team won two more times and finished ninth in points. Levi Garrett came on to sponsor the No. 5 Chevy in 1985 as part of a multi-year deal. Despite not winning a race that year, Bodine earned three poles and improved to fifth in points. The team briefly became a two-car operation when Dick Brooks drove the No. 1 Exxon Chevy at Charlotte Motor Speedway, in what proved to be Brooks' last NASCAR race.