Gordon Speaks

Jeff Gordon took a hard lick trying to get to the front in Las Vegas on Sunday afternoon – the sort of car-shredding crash that makes a guy question his career choices. But Jeff isn’t done yet, even though he is thinking about how much longer he will stay behind the wheel. In a candid conversation during lunch at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Gordon had some interesting observations about his new teammate, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. we well as how it feels to be the elder statesman on NASCAR’s most successful team.

“Anywhere Junior is, there is a lot of attention,” Gordon said. “I don’t look at it any differently, because no matter where he had gone, whether he had chosen to go to our team, or Gibbs, or Childress, wherever, we were all still going to deal with the same hype and buzz and expectations. It’s almost better now that it is in-house at Hendrick, because I get to see his reaction from an inside perspective.”

From Gordon’s perspective, the Earnhardt ride has been smooth so far. “I had my own expectations with Junior about how things were going to work, especially given how well Jimmie (Johnson) and Casey (Mears) and I get along. I think we were all asking ourselves what this was going to be like. The way Junior has handled it has been the biggest surprise, and the reason that things have worked as well as they have so far. He’s down to earth, he’s humble, he’s appreciative, and he’s just there trying to be a teammate. He’s not a guy with an ego saying, ‘I’m the man. You guys need to be listening to me.’ He’s like a new kid, excited and ready to work and learn.” 

Junior’s positive attitude has been particularly evident at the Hendrick debriefings, team meetings where all the Hendrick divers, crew chiefs, car chiefs and engineers discuss setup and handling issues. “The only thing I didn’t know going into a race weekend was how some of those debriefings were going to go,” Gordon said. “We used to have those sessions every Saturday after final practice. This year we’ve been doing it during testing, and after almost all the practice sessions. That part has gone very well. He had Tony Eury have fit right in. They’ve had a lot to contribute, just like we’ve had a lot to contribute to them.”

As smooth as it has been, the pressure associated with being home to NASCAR’s franchise driver is palpable and real. “Getting that Bud Shootout win was huge for Rick (Hendrick),” Gordon said. “He was feeling a lot of weight on his shoulders. I’m not saying that the weight is gone. There is a lot of pressure on Hendrick Motorsports, and you’re going to feel that weight a lot as the year goes on. But for me and Jimmie and Casey, I don’t think a lot has changed. While there is more focus on Hendrick as a whole, I don’t feel like there is any more pressure and attention on me or my team.”

Gordon has been around the block and watched teammates come and go. He probably won’t hang out with Junior away for the track, but that’s not a big deal. “With me being a dad, I’m not hanging out with anybody,” he said. “My time is so limited with my life and my baby that I’m not spending much time with anybody else.”  

The biggest change he has seen has been with the fans. According to Gordon, “When I was signing autographs in the garage, I noticed that I was signing a lot more Junior stuff than ever before. Typically people would have looked at asking me to sign an Earnhardt die-cast or hat as a sin. But now I see people saying, ‘Hey, they’re teammates, so it’s okay.’”