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
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.
My goal every year is to win the championship and when you don't do it ? or even make the Chase, as was the case last year ? it leaves you feeling a little empty. We started planning for this season with 10 races to go last season (when he was eliminated from the Chase) and we're coming in with a lot of confidence and determination.
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.
Texas is an important race track for us. We struggled here last year, and we've been really focused on improving our intermediate track program.
I don't know how you can just pick one guy, there's strong cars out here. I felt like (Sadler) was really strong in that first race. I know that Tony and Junior and Jimmie and those guys who weren't in our race are going to be strong.
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.
This is a very competitive sport, and things aren't going to go your way every year. But we are capable of so much more, and we'll use these next 10 races to try to get back to that level.
It was a very rewarding race and gratifying. I could get up to third or fourth but couldn't make those passes to get the rest of the way. Once we did get up front, the car was flying. To be able to drive from 15th all the way to third or fourth, I knew we had a good one. Once we got out front, we were awesome. I knew we were in great shape.
It was a long day. I think we had a shot a top 10 with that tore-up race car.
A year like that makes you hungrier. It's not that we should win a championship every year, but we certainly should be in contention to win races on a fairly consistent basis.
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.
I wish they would have fixed the race track at the same time they fixed the curb. There are some things in the race track, some really big bumps and roughness, that would have been nice to have gotten through that area a little better.
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.
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.