The element of cutthroat competition has always been prevalent in a dynamic sport like NASCAR. Needless to say, NASCAR loses a lot of its credibility when the fans don’t rally behind it.
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In a recent episode of Joe Buck’s Undeniable, ‘wonderboy’ Jeff Gordon revealed how his winning mentality hindered the element of fan entertainment. It is indeed funny to know that the 93-times Cup Series winner was once a menace to NASCAR just because he was contending for the win almost every week.
“I didn’t get that,” said Gordon, “I was just…I’m gonna pass the car. I want to win the race, I don’t care how exciting it is. None of that at that time mattered to me; I just wanted to win.”
Legendary crew chief Ray Evernham worked hard to give Gordon the cars that the latter needed to flaunt his dominance but ultimately, that backfired. The NASCAR officials told Evernham, “Listen boy. Y’all are stinking up the show. That’s not good for NASCAR. You need to be thinking about that.”
How the first 10 years of his career contrasted with the last 14 years
1993 marked the entry of a burgeoning talent named Jeff Gordon, who took the arena of NASCAR by surprise with his exceptional driving prowess. Although the first season of his career was marred by DNFs, 1994 truly brought out the Jeff Gordon that the fans celebrate.
The first feather to his cap came with a dominant victory at the Charlotte ROVAL. After that, there was no looking back for the Californian. In 1996 alone, he bagged 10 wins, followed by 10 more in the next year. In 1998, he broke his personal record by amassing 13 triumphs.
This winning momentum snowballed into 93 NASCAR victories throughout his entire career. Interestingly, that somehow came to a halt in 2001, when he won his last Cup title as a 29-year-old. He never won a single Championship in the next 14 years before he retired in 2015.
Today, Jeff Gordon is a big name in the world of NASCAR. Since the beginning of 2022, Gordon has been holding the position of Vice Chairman of the winningest team in NASCAR. Besides focusing on the organization’s marketing, Gordon assists team owner Rick Hendrick in NASCAR’s team owner council and as a member of its diversity, equity, and inclusion committee.
