Jeff Gordon soldiers on through frustrating Earnhardt replacement run

RICHMOND–Two months ago, Jeff Gordon was dining with friends in Paris, and talk turned to racing. The future Hall of Famer had just wrapped a well-received rookie season as a Fox Sports commentator. Racing, for Gordon, was eight months in the past and a lifetime ago.

“So you’re never going to get back in a car?” asked the son of one of Gordon’s friends.

“Don’t think so,” Gordon said. He’d been enjoying time away from the track, playing with his kids in New York and jetting to France with his wife. Life after the track was very, very good.

“What if,” the son continued, “one of your teammates at Hendrick had an issue and you had to fill in? Would you?”

Gordon pondered the question for a moment and finally nodded. “I guess I would.”

The very next day, he got a call from Rick Hendrick.

***

Gordon’s summertime stint subbing for the concussion-stricken Dale Earnhardt Jr. began with so much hope and promise. The switch was an easy one; Hendrick Motorsports had even held onto Gordon’s seat from his run at last year’s finale at Homestead. There was historical symmetry, too, the kid who’d once tormented the great Dale Earnhardt now grown into elder statesman helping Earnhardt’s son. No NASCAR fan wanted to see Junior sidelined, but if his issues put Gordon behind the wheel for an encore, well, at least something positive would come of this, right?

It hasn’t worked out that way. First, and most important, Earnhardt’s injuries were far more severe than anyone expected—or at least publicly indicated—in July. That put a pall over the entire 88 team, as Gordon and fellow substitute driver Alex Bowman both raced with Earnhardt’s name on the windshield but his presence far from the track. As each successive visit to the doctor delayed the projected date of Earnhardt’s return, Gordon’s commitment to driving the 88 extended onward: Indianapolis, Pocono, Watkins Glen, Bristol, Darlington, and now Richmond and Martinsville.

But while Gordon’s commitment to the team increased, the 88’s results stalled: no start or finish higher than 11th, zero laps led. Gordon has, to date, finished every lap of every race he’s run in the 88, but he’s done so out of sight of the leader.

“It’s tough, it’s not an easy position to be in,” Gordon told Yahoo Sports. “I was in a good place stepping away from driving, I wasn’t wondering what it would be like to get back in. When I got back in, I was anticipating it being hard, and it has been.”

No sport moves faster than racing, and that includes the speed with which it leaves behind even its best former drivers. “The intensity of the restarts is insane,” Gordon says. “Unless you’re in that every weekend, you struggle.”

Combine that with the fact that Hendrick Motorsports as an organization has struggled over the last few years, and you’ve got the elements of a disappointing run. The frustration is evident in the faces and voices of Gordon and those around him.

“I don’t feel I’ve performed as well as I’d like,” he said. “That’s the nice thing about being in the car a little more … I feel like this car should be running better than it has with me in it. I attribute much of it to me being not in the car, but there are also larger issues beyond me.”

***

It’s important to note that while Gordon is grousing, it’s the kind of understandable, loving frustration you have when, say, you’ve been asked to spend an entire weekend helping your brother move. Over and over and over again.

“I’m proud and honored to be in a position to help these guys out,” Gordon said. “Mr. Hendrick was always so good to me. He doesn’t have to ask me twice. I’ll joke, but I would do anything I could for him.”

Gordon is the ultimate company man, loyal to Hendrick on a level that transcends corporate partner and reaches into the realm of father-son. Hendrick Motorsports is family for Gordon. You’d do anything for your family, but you can’t do everything for your family, and that’s the conundrum in which Gordon found himself. How do you abandon the team that transformed your life and made you a worldwide star? But by the same token, how much more of yourself should you be expected to give after you’ve retired to spend time with your other family?

Gordon will run seven races this season, far more than the two Hendrick initially asked of him. When asked whether he would have committed to substitute for Earnhardt had he known his commitment would run from Indianapolis in July to Martinsville in October, Gordon pauses before answering.

“Probably not,” he said, and then, smiling, amended his thought: “I would have asked, could I only do Indianapolis and Martinsville?”

***

Brett Favre and Michael Jordan couldn’t stay retired because they missed the competition and the camaraderie, because nothing in their mundane day-to-day lives could compare to the jolt that comes inside the arena. Gordon, though, laughs at the idea that he’s got any unfinished business, any unscratched itch, any unresolved competitive drive.

“I really enjoyed the first half of this year,” Gordon said. “It was intense [doing TV for Fox], but not as intense. It was a nice departure from competition.”

While it certainly appears that Gordon is on the final laps—again—of his landmark career, don’t expect anything close to last year’s retirement extravaganza that saw him showered with wine, whiskey, and ponies. Next month, Gordon will run his final laps at Martinsville, climb out of the 88, and if he has his preference, that will be that.

“All my friends joke with me, saying, ‘Are we have going to have another retirement party after Martinsville? The last one you threw was really good,’” Gordon laughs.

As for 2017: well, never say never, but Gordon made it clear he’s more likely to try out for baseball than return to Cup-level racing. “Yeah, I have no plans or desire to get back in,” he sighed, laughing. “That doesn’t mean I don’t want to do some racing, just not in this series. It’s too complicated.”

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports and the author of EARNHARDT NATION, on sale now at Amazon or wherever books are sold. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.