From his career-long association with Hendrick Motorsports as a driver, to being an equity owner in the organization, to now being the Vice Chairman, Jeff Gordon has had some ride when it comes to the team founded by Rick Hendrick. But where does he officially rank in the pecking order? Is he the successor to Mr. H?
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As for where he ranks, this was something that he recently cleared during an interview with the Charlotte Observer.
The interviewer proposed to Gordon that he is number 2, only behind Rick Hendrick at Hendrick Motorsports, to which the 4x Cup champion replied, “You know, I’m not really a big title guy. I was a driver for my whole life. I just know that I’m Vice Chairman and I get to work alongside some great people.”
“I mean, Marshall Carlson is very involved, you got Scott Lampe, Jeff Andrews. There’s a lot of folks that are playing a big role here. It’s a big company as far as racing goes,” he continued.
“I like to just say I do my part; I don’t know where I rank.”
Jeff Gordon is actually in line to succeed Mr. H
Along with his ownership of the #24 and the #48 cars as well as his Vice Chairman role at Hendrick Motorsports, there’s actually a plan in place for Jeff Gordon to take the place of Rick Hendrick in NASCAR’s winningest organization. And this was something that Mr. H himself claimed many years ago, long before Gordon held his current position within the organization.
“That’s the way we’re going,” Hendrick said as per Racing News. “Whenever I finally step away, it’ll be Jeff Gordon in my place.”
However, that won’t be happening anytime soon, considering Hendrick is planning to stay in his seat for quite some time. He jokingly claimed he wanted to hang around one year longer than Roger Penske.
But HMS fans can certainly take comfort in the fact that whenever Mr. H steps down from his role, after a legendary run of building a team from scratch and taking it to the highest mountain of the sport, there will be Jeff Gordon who would be the right person to grow the legend and legacy of Hendrick Motorsports in NASCAR just as he did as a driver.
