Jeff Gordon was done with professional racing at the end of the 2015 Cup Series season. Or so he thought at the time. The head injuries of his former teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. forced him to play an extended cameo of eight races in the 2016 season. This stint inadvertently led to him adding a prestigious piece of silverware to his cabinet… or rather, his wrist.
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Gordon was a part of Wayne Taylor Racing’s Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona team in 2017. He drove a Cadillac DPi-VR alongside Jordan Taylor, Ricky Taylor, and Max Angelelli. He was so eager about the race that he agreed to drive in it for free. The icon also followed a long-running tradition of allowing fans on the pit road before the race.
When he got behind the wheel to do his part in the endurance race, he ran a shift that lasted 2 hours and 34 minutes. The skies thundered that night, and rain poured on the 3.56-mile track. Gordon’s team fired through the weather strongly. He later told the press in deep admiration for the participants, “I was glued to the TV every second, every lap.”
“I couldn’t sleep because I wanted to watch these guys do what they did in the rain, in the cold, in the most treacherous conditions. They did it at a level that I’ll be honest, I’m not capable of doing, and I was so impressed.” Eventually, Wayne Taylor Racing ended up winning the race, and Gordon got a brand new Rolex watch as a reward.
Why Gordon values the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona win highly
What’s even more impressive than the watch is the fact that he stands tall in an extremely elite list of drivers who’ve won both the Daytona 500 and the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona. Only A.J. Foyt, Jamie McMurray, and Mario Andretti had achieved the feat before him. The honor left him reeling in adrenaline months after the race.
He told Racer magazine that even his friends who didn’t follow racing had got in touch to congratulate him. He was clearly overwhelmed with what he had done. “Of course, everybody wants to see the Rolex watch,” he quipped. “I went out and got it sized right away as soon as I got back to Charlotte. It was a fun experience walking in with that watch into a Rolex store.”
Gordon had previously attempted the race in 2007 along with Wayne Taylor but failed to win. He acknowledged that he was the weakest link in the team back then. Fortunately, he was able to shoulder his responsibilities bravely and he ended up reaping huge rewards for the effort.
