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
We were riding high for a long time. It overshadowed the areas that we were weak. It doesn't mean you're going to make the Chase or win a championship. Take anything positive and use it for your team to work together and build confidence. It's good for anybody, doesn't matter who it is.
Having those last 10 races together really gave us a lot of momentum coming into 2006. I think we found some things that were important to work on over the winter. Now, we have to make them work for us.
He's always got that positive attitude. He works hard. He doesn't ask to be treated different or given anything special. Everything that he's gotten, he's earned from hard work, and I think he brings the same work ethics into the crew chief job.
He wasn't real happy with me, but we finally worked it out.
We're still not where we need to be on these types of tracks, but it's a learning process. We're learning from everything we're trying with the cars -- whether it works or not. Not every adjustment we make will work, but it gives us more data to make better decisions.
I would love to see Jimmie get in position where I could get behind him and help him all I can. I am going to work as hard as I can to get myself into that position. He certainly has helped me plenty of times, and I want those guys to win the championship and I'm going to do everything that I can to help them.
I'm sure I'm not going to be the sweetest and nicest person to work with in that car. Every moment is going to be intense.
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.
The first thing I did was go to Rick Hendrick and tell him what I'd been approached with, what I would like to do and what my hopes were. We worked it all out, and first thing I know I'm signing a lifetime contract.
There are a lot of things going on, and I want to wait till we come out with the press release. We've definitely got things in the works; I've done a little bit. But I want to do something bigger, and I want to see what the biggest need is.
While it's still early to tell, 2005 could very well be the vintage of the decade for Washington state. Mother Nature was definitely on our side this year, delivering one of the warmest summers we've had in recent years, cool and constant fall weather and a frost-free harvest. This allowed the fruit to hang on the vine longer and enhance flavor development.
When my tire blew, that instantly sent a message to me to be more patient. And even when there were times I had to be aggressive, I didn't have to do it with the front bumper.
We just haven't performed this year. We're pathetic. Everywhere we go, we either stink or we're good. So I don't know what will happen at Richmond.
We're not in the top 10 battling for the championship -- it doesn't matter to me where we finish. It's where we finish each race to get ourselves prepared for next year.