NASCAR Cup Series

Fellow drivers laud Jeff Gordon for changing the face of NASCAR

Published Feb. 13, 2015 2:23 p.m. ET

Tom Jensen

The least surprising thing about Thursday's NASCAR Media Day at Daytona International Speedway was the man who was the star of the show, Jeff Gordon.

Last month, Gordon announced that 2015 would be his final full season piloting the iconic No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, with young Chase Elliott succeeding him in 2016.

Gordon's on-track credentials make him a first-ballot lock for the NASCAR Hall of Fame: Four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships, 92 race victories, five Brickyard 400 triumphs, three Daytona 500s -- the list goes on and on.

More importantly, perhaps, Gordon was a supreme agent of change in NASCAR, a media-friendly, articulate personality who helped elevate the sport and move it from regional Southern favorite to a national powerhouse that trails only the National Football League in popularity and influence among fans.

Gordon's on-track success also convinced team owners to take a chance on up-and-coming talented drivers, instead of those drivers having to spend five-to-10 years with a series of mediocre teams before getting a shot with a good team. That was the old, pre-Gordon NASCAR model.

On top of that, Gordon became one of the sport's most celebrated philanthropists, donating tens of millions of dollars to fight pediatric cancer, building hospitals in Africa and raising awareness for hunger issues among senior citizens.

Gordon has even gone as far as hosting "Saturday Night Live," as well as appearing on several other television shows.

When Gordon steps away, it won't be just some driver who won't be racing anymore, it will be one of sports' larger-than-life figures leaving behind 23 years of history behind him.

"Since we know it's his final year, we're all looking back and having some 'Aha' moments, like, wow, he really was instrumental, in my opinion, in helping car owners and sponsors realize that there are drivers far and wide that can come in and be competitive," said Jimmie Johnson, Gordon's teammate at Hendrick Motorsports.

Kevin Harvick, the reigning Sprint Cup champion, said the man who may have benefitted most from Gordon's rapid rise in the mid-1990s was Dale Earnhardt, who saw his own legend boom as he and Gordon battled for on-track supremacy.

"Earnhardt was a huge part of the sport," Harvick said. "But if you look at the end of those late '90s, early 2000 up until 2001, I mean if you look at the leap that Earnhardt's career took and . . . his wealth and the sponsors and the things that he had, a lot of that, in my opinion, had to do with Jeff Gordon."

And Harvick knows Gordon helped guys like him get breaks earlier in their careers.

"It changed the whole perception of how you looked at a driver," Harvick said. "Everybody wanted older, experienced guys at that point who wouldn't tear up the cars. Then the next thing you know everyone was looking for the next wave of talent to be like Jeff. So it changed the way that the sport worked."

While Earnhardt and Gordon were both fierce competitors who delighted in beating each other on the track, they had a tremendous amount of respect for each other on and off of it. Dale Earnhardt Jr. said he remembered his father introducing him to Gordon, whom the elder Earnhardt already knew was going to be a special talent.

"It was Jeff's rookie year and dad was sort of showing him the track, and they got out of the car about 10, 20 feet away from me just by coincidence -- and dad walked over and saw me and introduced me to Jeff, and told me that Jeff was going to be really good, had a lot of talent, something along those lines," Earnhardt Jr. said.

"I had already knew of Jeff, seen him racing sprint cars on Thursday Night Thunder and all that stuff and heard all about it, and he had a pretty big -- he had a lot of buildup coming into the sport, a lot of publicity coming into the sport with Rick (Hendrick, team owner) and all that and the Dupont car," said Earnhardt Jr. "I kind of knew everything about him already, but it was interesting for dad to compliment him, because dad is such a fierce competitor and didn't rarely ever compliment any of his drivers that he raced against."

Although a full generation younger than Gordon, second-year Cup driver Kyle Larson has followed a similar path to Gordon. Both grew up in California, both grew up racing open-wheel cars on dirt and both came into the Cup Series with the label of "next big thing." Given all that, it's little surprise that Gordon and Larson have become fast friends.

"I've gotten to hang out with him a couple of times away from the racetrack when we're in Knoxville, Iowa, because he sponsored our sprint car," Larson said. "Well, he sponsored it this year and I got to hang out with him the last couple of years there as part of the children's foundation. We got to do go-kart races and so forth out there and then hang out with him after the races at night. And he's a character. He's a lot of fun to hang out with. That's the kind of Jeff Gordon that a lot of people don't get to see, and I've never seen before. He's definitely a fun guy to be around."

This year will be Gordon's last Daytona 500, though he has hinted at occasionally racing in other events, including the Brickyard 400.

But for now, the mission is simple: Win his final 500 and leverage that to push for a fifth Sprint Cup championship.

"I've got like this huge mindset advantage right now that this is the last time," said Gordon. "Get all you can get out of it, enjoy it, and go to the next one. That's not ever a mindset I've ever had. It's always like, 'Oh, my gosh, you know, if this doesn't go perfect . . . I got to wait until next year.' I don't have to wait until next year. It's just now. Take advantage of it, enjoy it."