"Rick Hendrick was sick; said I want you forever" - Jeff Gordon makes feelings known about his involvement in building HMS legacy
Jeff Gordon has shared when Rick Hendrick told him to stay with Hendrick Motorsports forever amid challenges within the organization. Per Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour podcast, Gordon was asked to stay in the team while team owner Rick was dealing with cancer.
Gordon drove full-time for Hendrick Motorsports from 1993 to 2015, amassing four Cup Series championships (1995, 1997, 1998, 2001). He signed a lifetime contract with HMS in 1999, allowing him to become an equity owner in his No. 24 team.
Speaking with Harvick, Gordon discussed his involvement with HMS and how it all started. Gordon recalled Hendrick telling him he wanted him to stay with the team forever after the 1998 season, when the latter dealt with cancer and former crew chief Ray Everham left the team.
“It goes early back to Hendrick Motorsports and it goes back to when we just won our third championship, 1998, it’s [an] amazing year, Rick was sick… Ray Everham got his Dodge [team].” [5:15]
The now 53-year-old driver shared that the changes and challenges within the organization helped him grow as a team member. Part of that was when filling the leadership role of his former crew chief, who created a new team with Dodge.
Moreover, Hendrick told him to stay in the team forever by offering him a lifetime contract signed at the start of the decade.
“Rick says I want you to be here forever, and so that came with some equity and just more involvement and a lifetime contract,” Jeff Gordon stated. [6:16]
Today, Gordon is still heavily involved with the team as he assumed the vice chairman role at Hendrick Motorsports in 2022. During his time as a full-time driver for the Concord-based outfit, Gordon had four championships and 93 race wins in the premier series.
Jeff Gordon once reflected on his 13-win record in the 1998 season
Jeff Gordon shared his sentiments over winning 13 races in 1998, a record no driver has beaten since then. At the time, the California native said he didn’t realize how special it was, though now he finds the feat impressive.
The four-time champion said (via NASCAR Hall of Fame’s release) in July 2020:
“You didn’t realize how special it was at the time like I do now. … I certainly did not appreciate that as much as I do today... I knew that we were going to go on a tear and we did. I didn’t know it was going to be that much of a tear.”
He added:
"From about race 14 (Charlotte) to the final race of the year of that ’98 season, any time I look at those stats, I go, ‘Wow, that right there was impressive.’”
The only drivers that have come close to Gordon’s record since the ’98 season are Kyle Larson and former teammate Jimmie Johnson. Both drivers won 10 races in a season, with Larson and Johnson securing them in 2021 and 2007, respectively.
The three HMS drivers won a championship the same year they recorded their most race wins in a season.