It’s a safe bet that few people know Hendrick Motorsports like Jeff Gordon does.
The NASCAR Hall of Famer raced full-time for the Cup Series team from 1993 until he retired in 2015 — and even after, he still moonlighted for the team part time — winning four championships and 93 races. He also became an equity owner of the team in 1999.
Staring in 2022, Gordon officially will take on a much larger role with Hendrick Motorsports, stepping out of FOX Sports’ broadcast booth to become the organization’s vice chairman and making him the team’s No. 2 man behind Rick Hendrick.
This season, Hendrick Motorsports is on a tear with a series-high of nine wins in the first 19 races, and it’s now the winningest team in NASCAR Cup Series history.
Despite the team’s current success, defending Cup champ Chase Elliott — who took over the No. 24 car when Gordon retired before switching to the No. 9 car in 2018 — explained what he believes Gordon will add to the powerhouse team in his new role.
“He has a good feel and a good mindset for all the things that it takes to make racing and make a race team work,” said Elliott. … “He has fought the battles on the driver’s side, on and off the race track, and he has a good understanding of the business aspect of it, the NASCAR aspect of it and just how all these puzzle pieces that come together to make it work.”
Above all else, however, is one thing. Gordon is already a big part of what keeps the Hendrick machine humming. And happy.
“I would say one of his biggest strengths is understanding all the different areas of how it works and how to make everybody as happy as they can (be),” Elliott said. “I feel like he has a really good understanding of how to do that.”
Gordon is in position to lead the organization some day, and his No. 2 position is far from surprising when you remember now-71-year-old Hendrick told Autoweek in 2018: “Whenever I finally step away, it’ll be Jeff Gordon in my place.”
