Jeff Gordon Makes a 7-Word Revelation That Dashed His Hopes of an IndyCar Career

Hendrick Motorsports Vice Chairman Jeff Gordon is best known for being a NASCAR legend. With 93 wins and four Cup Series titles under his belt, truer words have never been spoken. He operated between 1992 and his retirement in 2016 and has been loyal to Hendrick Motorsports ever since. However, there was a time when Jeff Gordon did not even consider competing in the NASCAR arena.

As it turned out, he had set his sights on plying his trade in the IndyCar series. Frankly, it would have been ludicrous for any NASCAR fan to see Gordon as an IndyCar driver. Who knows? Maybe in another life, he was a hugely successful IndyCar driver. However, the California native quickly realized that getting to IndyCar was a lot harder than he thought. Some hurdles proved too difficult to clear, and that was when he began to give NASCAR some serious. thought.

Gordon told NBC Sports, “The closest was before I ever went NASCAR racing. Going to IndyCar races, meeting Roger Penske, talking to drivers. It was nowhere close to being a reality because that was what I wanted to do at the time. Became pretty evident, being fast was going to take a lot of money for that to happen, that we did not have.”

“It sort of shifted to go stock car racing, without having to bring a lot of money. The first time I got into a stock car was in the 1990s, so 89-90. Went to the Cleveland Grand Prix, I would come over here. I maybe came to a 500 one time, in the early 90s with Raleigh.”

This answer should have really been expected. IndyCar is an expensive sport, so it takes more than raw talent to try and make it in the series. Even if Gordon did make it onto the grid, his talent could only take him so far. Drivers are essentially the world’s fastest sponsor suitors. If he was able to attract one who was wealthy, he could have made it in the sport. NASCAR, by contrast, was less punishing on the wallet, so it seemed like a financially wise decision.

Judging by his stats, he does not regret the decision

Much like any American racing driver, one of his big dreams was to race and maybe win the Indy 500. Sadly, that opportunity will never come to pass for the 4-time NASCAR champion. For NASCAR drivers in particular, making the transition to IndyCar is not easy.

Very few, like A.J. Foyt and Kurt Busch, have done it. Juan Pablo Montoya and Tony Stewart actually went in the opposite direction, transitioning from IndyCar to NASCAR. In Montoya’s case, he enjoyed a career in Formula One before heading to NASCAR.

Now, Jeff Gordon gets a chance to live out that dream, thanks to Kyle Larson, metaphorically. The Hendrick Motorsports star is regarded as one of the most versatile drivers of his generation. So if any NASCAR driver had a solid chance of being an IndyCar dark horse, it was him.