What Is Jeff Gordon’s Biggest NASCAR Regret?

Jeff Gordon won 4 Cup Series championships in his time behind the wheel and as Vice-Chairman of Hendrick Motorsports today is one of the wealthiest individuals in NASCAR. And yet, he is not without regrets. In an interview with Jason Stein of Cars and Culture, Gordon talked about the 2014 Cup Series season and revealed how not lifting the championship title that year was one of the biggest regrets that he has.

He said, “If I have any regrets or disappointment late in my career, it’s 2014. That we didn’t win the championship because we had the car, we had the team to do that, and you know just a few circumstances that came up that prevented us from doing that. So it wasn’t meant to be.”

43 years old at the time, Gordon led the #24 team to one of its most memorable years. Commanding an average finish of 10.4 throughout the season, he had 4 wins, 23 top 10s, and 3 poles. His name was sixth in the final standings table. The last time Gordon won the title was in 2001. Winning it again in 2014 would have been a great achievement.

Reflecting the same thought, he added to Stein, “That would have been pretty incredible to win a championship that much longer after 2001, which was my last championship.” Gordon went on to race for one more year after the 2014 season and competed for the title yet again.

How close was Jeff Gordon to lifting his fifth championship in 2014?

The #24 team participated in 36 races that year and ended up being the winner or the runner-up in 33.33 percent of the events. Gordon also led the point standings for 20 of the 36 race weeks. The number of wins (4) that he collected was more than what he managed to get in 2012 and 2013 together.

How did it all end badly for the #24 team despite the impressive numbers? NASCAR’s Chase format turned out to be the culprit. In the last lap of the Phoenix Raceway’s Chase race, Gordon looked set to break into the final four. His stats were even better than some of his championship years and the Camaro was going strong. It was at this time that Ryan Newman got past a young Kyle Larson and pushed Gordon out of the way.

Newman hadn’t won a single race that year and was behind one of the weakest entries in the year and yet, it was him running for the spot and not Gordon. After having a season close to perfection, the #24 team was neglected in the championship race courtesy of the attitude of other drivers to cause chaos in their path. Gordon missed out on the spot by a single point and undid the year.