Despite 47 wins in NASCAR’s top level and three Cup championships, the incredible partnership of Jeff Gordon and Ray Evernham came to an end in 1999 as the legendary crew chief decided to make his way out of Hendrick Motorsports. But the puzzling thing about Evernham’s exit was how could someone so right for a role in a team they’ve helped build, just one day decides to go, and is no longer the right fit?
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This was a question Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently posed in front of Evernham on his podcast show.
“There were people in our lives on both sides kind of pulling us in different directions and talking of ‘Hey this or that’, and that starts you thinking, and that started us questioning each other on what our priorities were or what not. And I think once that crack opens, somebody opens that crack…,” Evernham replied. The Hall of Famer crew chief then pointed to how fast everything happened for him and Gordon, claiming he went from changing gears in a small town to winning the NASCAR Cup championship in three years.
But then again, Evernham emphasized the hints of what really happened as he said, “You get a lot of people pulling you in different directions.”
Could Rick Hendrick have prevented the Jeff Gordon-Ray Evernham split?
One can’t help but wonder, as Dale Jr. did too if the conflict between Ray Evernham and Jeff Gordon could’ve been solved by Rick Hendrick stepping in, if Mr. H could’ve kept Evernham from leaving. “I think he could’ve. He’s one of the few people I’ve listened to that would’ve got me to think about the right things,” Evernham confessed.
“You can’t have any more respect for anybody on the planet than I have for Rick Hendrick.”
Evernham also mentioned how Hendrick could’ve given him the opportunity to build his own team that Dodge did. “I think he absolutely could have because Rick could’ve provided all those opportunities for me. I learned so much (from Dodge) but you look back in the end and think, ‘Rick could’ve provided those opportunities for me, could’ve done it,'” he continued.
Having said that, Evernham claimed that Rick Hendrick wouldn’t want things any differently than how they panned out for everyone, that he’ll say, “A good deal is a good deal for everybody.”
That Evernham knew as well as he pointed to the fact that his leaving worked out well for Hendrick, that it showed them a path to grow and be stronger, as it did for him as well. In the end, the good news was, as Evernham added, that what happened decades ago, has decades later, made Jeff Gordon, Rick Hendrick and him closer.
