What he told his team and what’s next for him? Maybe broadcasting
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The end began with a tweet seen ’round the motorsports world and had ramifications well beyond.
As Jeff Gordon‘s 23rd season at Hendrick Motorsports starts, the four-time NASCAR premier series champion broke the news to the organization that 2015 would be his final full-time Sprint Cup season as a driver.
Letting team know this will be my final year competing for a championship. pic.twitter.com/s7aH8OpGQZ
— Jeff Gordon (@JeffGordonWeb) January 22, 2015
“I went off the cuff and from my heart,” Gordon said Friday on “The Morning Drive” on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “I didn’t have anything written down so I don’t know if I can remember all of it, but that was a tough moment.
“When you’re looking at the folks that worked so hard for you for all these years, that you’ve known for so many years, you go into that battle with on the race track every weekend and to tell them that this is going to be your final year was tough, very tough emotionally. I definitely had a lot going through my mind yesterday as I was telling my family and they’re like my extended family over there.”
As an equity owner, Gordon plans to stay involved with the team for whom he’s won 92 races when his driving career is over. While he’s looking forward to the next chapter, his talk only inspired his No. 24 team to make Gordon’s drive for five championships a reality in his final season.
“Afterwards, (crew chief) Alan Gustafson and I had a conversation, and we were both really fired up because he was like, ‘man, what you just did just motivated this team to do even more than we were already doing to go have a great year,’ and that made me feel really good.”
More than words, though, Gordon’s actions in the shop throughout his career created the strong connection that he and the Hendrick employees felt on Thursday.
“I didn’t have to say anything,” Gordon said. “They saw my face and the look in my eyes, how much racing has meant to me and how much Hendrick Motorsports has meant to me and how much those people that I was talking to on my team, how much it’s meant to me.”
As he has in recent years, Gordon continues refrain from using the word “retirement.” That’s especially true now as he transitions away from being behind the wheel.
“I’ve earned that ability to be able to go to that next stage and enjoy whatever it is that I’m doing, but I’m realistic to know that it is going to be a lot of work,” Gordon said. “And that’s why I don’t use the “r” word. I’m not retiring because I’m actually going to start working.”
One job that he said he was open to considering was a television analyst.
“I love the sport,” Gordon said. “I’m very passionate about it. I love to critique it, and I think that I could do a good job. I don’t think it’s an easy job, to be honest. I have a lot of respect for those like yourself that do it from radio or television.
“I would entertain it. I don’t know if it’s at the top of my list right now, and I think it’s because throughout this year, one of things that I’m going to have to get acclimated to is actually having a real job.”
Later in the conversation, Gordon said he would appreciate the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup in a new job behind the mic.
“If I go into broadcasting, I’m going to be very thankful of this new points system because of the excitement and entertainment that it brings,” Gordon said.
Gordon’s final season begins a new era of television for NASCAR as FOX and NBC will televise NASCAR’s national series for the next 10 years.
Take a look at video of Gordon talking to the team on Thursday.