Jeff Gordon ready to keep subbing for Dale Earnhardt Jr.
LONG POND, Pa. – Jeff Gordon has one scheduled race left as a replacement for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88 Chevrolet. There is the feeling there will be more.
The four-time Sprint Cup champion says he prepared “very loosely” to continue indefinitely after finishing a rousing 13th last week at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and preparing to compete at Pocono Raceway. But how much longer he’ll be needed remains unclear.
“It was great last Friday to see him say ‘Hey, I feel good today and made some progress’,” Gordon said of an Earnhardt tweet that seemed to hearten many in the garage. “We want to just keep going with how he is feeling. The doctors are evaluating. I’m not speculating anything at this time.”
Earnhardt ceded his car after submitting to examinations because of concussion-like symptoms. He has not received medical clearance to resume racing activities and team owner Rick Hendrick summoned Gordon from eight months of retirement to steward the No. 88 Chevrolet.
Earnhardt posted a new update about his condition Saturday on Twitter, stating that there have been no changes lately to his condition and that his symptoms have plateaued over the last week. "Balance/Gaze Stabilization are only issues. Docs preaching patience."
Gordon remains the most logical replacement in the near term as his duties as a Fox Sports analyst have concluded for the season. Gordon admitted struggling with heat and some residual muscle soreness after Indianapolis, but said he felt otherwise well. His relationship with Hendrick Motorsports also simplified the transition once proper adjustments were made for his comfort in the car.
“I think there is a balance between trying to make this transition,” Gordon said. “First of all you want Dale to have the comfort of knowing that somebody is there for him. He doesn’t have to worry about that aspect of it through this process. Just get well at the pace that is the right pace to do it. So, nobody is putting any pressure or time frame on that. He may be putting that on himself more than anybody else.
”Then there is the side of who is the best person to be in the car to get the most points. And then there is the sponsorship side of it as well. So far from what Rick (Hendrick) is telling me that seems to be me."
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Gordon struggled with back discomfort in the latter stages of his career but said he could “fight through it,” though that’s not his preference. He said he eagerly anticipates a chance to help HMS address a recent dip in performance that has six-time series champion Jimmie Johnson admitting he is pressing – “I’ve been at 110 percent and you make too many mistakes there,” he said before finishing third at Indianapolis – and the organization winless in 15 races.
“I am looking at this as a very temporary thing,” Gordon said. “I’m really more excited right now about my engagement at Hendrick Motorsports and helping Rick and (general manager) Doug Duchardt and (vice president of competition) Ken Howes and (president) Marshall Carlson and everybody there trying to find out where we can be better, how we can be more competitive and that role in those meetings more so than driving the race car. But, being in the race car does help me do a better job with that as well.”
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Hendrick Motorsports spokesperson Jesse Essex told USA TODAY Sports on Friday that no announcement is expected this weekend on whether Earnhardt will return next week at Watkins Glen International. The 2.45-mile road course would seem a grueling choice considering the physical nature of the track. That fact was underscored Tuesday when Brad Keselowski mangled his No. 2 Ford in a Turn 1 crash and Friday posed that eventually a driver will die on a road course without safety upgrades. The schedule resumes Aug. 20 at the .533-mile Bristol Motor Speedway, another physical venue, after the last off weekend of the season.
Gordon said he had spoken with Earnhardt a “couple of times.”
“He and this team have a great relationship and he and (crew chief) Greg (Ives) and so he likes to FaceTime,” he added. “It seems like he is always on the treadmill every time I see him or talk to him. He is just real interested in what we are up to and how it’s going and things we are working on. I think also a lot of it is through this process is evaluating where they are at as a team and some of the set-up’s and whether I’m going to be making the same comments as he was making when he was in the car.”
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