NASCAR INTERView

Lately stock car racing legend Jeff Gordon looks like the Jeff Gordon of old when he would duke it out with the late Dale Earnhardt Sr. – and win! Gordon leads all drivers in points approaching the all-important 10-race Chase championship shootout in September, and has also won two NASCAR Sprint Cup races this year – at Kansas and Indianapolis. I had the pleasure of chatting with the four-time NASCAR champion, who has won 90 Cup races, about his long, storied career. Gordon, 43, is polite, articulate and witty, but is still fiercely driven. JC: Take us back a few years. What it was like racing with the late Dale Earnhardt Sr.? JG: It was pretty frustrating most of the time. The last thing you wanted to see was Dale in your mirror because you knew you were either going to have to move out of the way, or he was going to move you out of the way. At the same time, as fierce a competitor as he was, and as tough as he was to race with, if you could beat Dale in a race at, say Talladega or Daytona, or for the Championship like we did in 1995, you were doing something that set you apart from the other competitors. Four-time Cup Champion Jeff Gordon (courtesy of NASCAR) Today In: Lifestyle JC: Your first Daytona 500 win was in 1997. What were you thinking as you crossed the finish line? JG: 'I can't believe I just won the Daytona 500!' [laughs]. At that time, I'd only been in the sport four years. I didn't have a clue as to what it truly meant to win the Daytona 500. That win means more to me today than it ever did then. I had a number of things changing my life at that time, and that's why I probably didn't fully appreciate it. It was just kind of next on the list - we won at the Brickyard, we won the [points] Championship, now we just go win Daytona. We were on this roll of 'how do we top what we just did?' Winning the Daytona 500 was awesome, but sometimes I'm more thrilled winning the next race. When you go to Victory Lane and you've had to work hard at it, you appreciate it so much more. PROMOTED JC: Being a kid who grew up in Indiana what's more special, your wins at the Brickyard 400 or at the Daytona 500? JG: The inaugural Brickyard 400 [in 1994]. I always wanted to race at Indy. I knew way more about open-wheel racing than I did about stock cars when I was growing up. It was a dream for me to be able to race at Indy and win there. JC: What were you thinking on the last lap of that win? JG: I was emotional, just blown away - in disbelief really. It's never over until you take the checkered flag. Brett Bodine was chasing me down. And I had just had that great battle with Ernie Irvin. When Ernie had his problem I thought, 'well I got this thing' and here comes Brett charging. So I had to hit my marks and not miss on those last few corners. JC: Speaking of open-wheel cars, have you ever thought about driving an Indy car? JG: I thought about it a lot when I was 12, 14, 16 and 18, right up until I tried to get a ride in an Indy car and nobody gave me the time of day! So I went down south and got a stock car ride right away. Now I don't have as much interest in it. JC: What if someone said, 'Hey Jeff, we have a ride for you at next year's Indy 500?' JG: I have too much respect for what it takes to go fast and be competitive there. It's not something to mess around with. You're doing 230 mph around Indy, and you want to know what you're doing. Just because I'm a racecar driver doesn't mean I can go to Indy and all of a sudden hop into one of those cars and win. You’ve got to get the right organization, and spend time behind the wheel to fully prepare for that event. JC: With the Chase approaching, do you sit down with teammates like Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr., and say, 'Okay this is it, we really have to get our stuff together?' JG: I think we know we have to communicate, not only with one another, but with all of our teammates, utilize them as much as we can to help win this Championship. We know how it works when you come to Hendrick Motorsports on a multi-car team. Rick [Hendrick] makes it very clear - share information, go out there and be smart, but do what you've got to do to win.