Dale Earnhardt Jr. has given chances to a lot of young drivers, developed them, and even prepared them enough to get elevated to the heights of the Cup Series. Meanwhile, he has also kept a door open for those who have been around the block, which includes himself and some other great veterans.
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Since stepping away from full-time Cup duty in 2017, Dale Jr. has made it a point to strap himself in for at least one race a year in the O’Reilly Series, keeping a hand on the wheel and his feet in both camps.
A return for the 2026 season has not been set in stone, but Dale Jr. has already hinted that he may climb back into a car. In the meantime, on the latest episode of his The Dale Jr. Download podcast, he revealed that he wanted to get Jeff Gordon back to race for JR Motorsports.
Junior said, “Jeff Gordon? God, I’d love to see Jeff Gordon run another race… We became teammates, got to know each other better, got had a lot of laughs, had a lot of great times together. Today, he’s a big part of what they’re doing at HMS, and so we work with him directly with Junior Motorsports through that relationship.”
Dale Jr. admitted he has not let the idea go and keeps poking Gordon. “And every chance I get, I rib him about like running one more race because he’s just right at that age where you could probably still do it, go run an Xfinity or a O’Reilly or a truck race.
“And I got great cars, man, we’d have so much. I know he has no interest. He’s like zero freaking interest,” he added.
Gordon, now Vice Chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, may not have the time to suit up and prepare for race weekends, though. The door, at least for now, remains shut. And Dale Jr. is aware of that.
“Like he’s fine. He’s over it. He’s like, ‘I’m not about that.’ He wants to go over to 1010 and run his little Porsche or whatever, right? And have a little fun doing that. He gets enough out of that. But uh yeah, Jeff Gordon would be one for sure.”
Interestingly, as much as Dale Jr. wants Gordon to drive one of his cars, there was a time, in his younger days, when he saw him as the man standing in the way of his father, Dale Earnhardt.
Gordon was hugely competitive, but in a non-aggressive way. So, there wasn’t real animosity. But anyone who was competent enough to beat his legendary dad, Dale Jr. disliked them. Gordon winning ahead of the icon didn’t sit well with him.
But with time, that tune changed, and respect took the wheel instead.
