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
I thought there was no way Jimmie could win the race, or I wouldn't have left. All of a sudden I hear he wins, and I go, 'You've got to be kidding me?' That was just a phenomenal win.
Our performances haven't been as bad as our finishes. We've had several races where we were completely off on our setup, but we've had numerous situations where we ran strong during the event but didn't have the good results to show for it.
Our 2006 started when the (2005) Chase started. We were able to regroup and make a bunch of changes -- not just personnel changes, but changes with the race cars themselves as well.
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.
I think from what I've seen so far, the guys are doing a fantastic job. We've just been seeing this trend more and more over the last six, eight years of rookies just being able to come in and perform well, win races and put consistency together and also come in with strong race teams.
I'm still nervous about the championship. The way our season's gone, no matter how good we're running you don't know what's going to happen. This was a race we needed to put together. And I'm glad it happened here at Bristol.
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.
We fought back all we could. Unfortunately, we got caught up in that last deal with Kurt Busch. That really got us behind. I think we had a shot at a top-10 with that tore-up race car.
We have to keep our fans watching not just at home on TV but here at the racetrack too. This is where you sell people on the speed and excitement of racing.
We know that after Richmond (the 26th race) comes, we've got to be in the top-10 and when we are, we'd better be set on 'kill' to go out there and lead laps and win races.
You learn from your mistakes. I think (Johnson) made a couple of mistakes then I think he was over-criticized for some things that really weren't his doing. I think he's always been a smart race-car driver, and that's what it takes to win races at this type of track.
We've got a points system that's built on consistency, and then we change how it's structured to make this exciting 10-race stretch, but then it's still about consistency. The guy could finish top-five every weekend in those last 10 races and still win that championship. It's very possible that it could happen.
I don't carry any grudges. I know that in order to finish in the top five you have to make as many friends as you possibly can and stay out of trouble out there. I had a pretty incident-free race out there today.
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.