Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are two names that the 40-year story of Hendrick Motorsports cannot be written without. The duo raced alongside each other for 8 full-time seasons and won 21 races between them in this period. Despite their shared colors and victories, Gordon wasn’t always very fond of Dale Jr.’s competitive nature.
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Taking the mic in the latest episode of Dale Jr. Download he opened up about the same and likened the character to that of Dale Earnhardt Sr. Aware of the occasional distaste, Dale Jr. said, “There is some in-car audio, from mainly Daytona or Talladega, where you’re like, ‘What the hell is this #8 car doing? What is the little s*** out there doing?’ Just really annoyed.”
Though Gordon mentioned that the anger was mostly because of his aggressiveness and expertise in Superspeedways, Dale Jr. admitted that he raced hard even in practice runs and that was something that annoyed the grid a lot. Agreeing with that, Gordon said, “Well, I could sit here and say that was very Earnhardt. The Earnhardt way.”
The 2014 Martinsville race that left Jeff Gordon frustrated with Dale Jr.
The incident that Gordon brought forward to explain the one time that he did have a strong distaste for Dale Jr. was the 2014 playoff race at Martinsville. Though Dale Jr. had already been knocked out of the Chase, he had kept his car gunning hard towards the end of the race and held off Gordon from winning it. Gordon had still been alive in the Chase at the time and a win would have pushed him into the Championship 4, which he ultimately ended up not making.
Though Gordon does not blame Dale Jr. for wanting to win a race now, he had been left pretty frustrated back then. He said, “I never would blame you for going and winning a trophy or especially that trophy. That’s the only time I can ever remember being frustrated with you.” The Grandfather clock that Dale Jr. received that day was the first and only trophy that he would get at Martinsville.
Talking about how much it meant to him he said in his post-race interview, “I’ve wanted that grandfather clock ever since I was a little boy, and I got it today. My team, we all came together and made it happen. I couldn’t be prouder. We’re going to drink a lot of beer tonight.”
