Jeff Gordon

Jeff Gordon
Jeffery Michael "Jeff" Gordonis an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver and currently an announcer for Fox NASCAR. He formerly drove the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports in 23 full-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series seasons between 1993 and 2015, and currently serves as a substitute driver for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionRace Car Driver
Date of Birth4 August 1971
CityVallejo, CA
CountryUnited States of America
Our deal could have been avoided. A lot of them could have been avoided. I saw a lot of things just out of control. I saw a lot of guys out there driving aggressive. If you bump someone, something is going to eventually happen. I was a little bit anxious.
So much calmer, from what I saw in the first race and saw in my mirror in the second race. But you're still going to see crashes, especially near the closing laps of any race.
I think having those no-bumping zones out there did make a difference. There was certainly some desperation for the guys who had to race their way into the 500, but I think we saw a heck of lot less crashes than we would have seen without NASCAR making that change.
He was one of the most competitive guys out there. There were days when he'd push you and shove you right out of the way and frustrate you, then there were other days where you just saw his talent and you had a blast racing with him. I think certainly the fans miss the excitement that he brought. I don't think there will be anybody to replace Dale. I believe he was the best race-car driver I've ever raced against.
I don't know if we had to go win a championship in February, if that was the final event, that we'd be ready for that. But I really believe just in the last 10 races of last year, what I saw in Steve was unbelievable, and that really has me excited about getting this season started.
By having those no-bump zones or whatever we want to call them, I think we saw a heck of a lot less crashes, big crashes, than what we could have seen. I think the racing was still good out there, but it was so much calmer.
We just want to be able to focus on our program, on our people, on what we have to do to be as strong as we can as a team to compete for wins, compete for championships, and build that together without there being too many outside distractions. If we ever say we want to go under the radar, that's what we're trying to do.
The Roush cars are really, really fast right now.
I've worked with Steve for more than 10 years and we already communicate extremely well, both on and off the track. The team has a ton of confidence in his abilities, so we're looking forward to the last 10 races of 2005 and getting an early jump on next year.
It was a long day. I think we had a shot a top 10 with that tore-up race car.
It was a long day for the Dupont Chevrolet Monte Carlo. We fought back all we could.
The sport's different today than it was, and I don't know if there's ever going to be one individual in this garage area that feels like they've got the voice.
I've been fortunate where, when I've had bad years, we've usually ended those bad years with something positive to build on in the off-season. And that's what happened to us last year.
The way our season's gone, no matter how good we're running, no matter how bad, you just never know what's going to happen. You know, tonight is one of those nights we wanted and needed to happen.