After retiring from full-time NASCAR racing at the conclusion of the 2015 season, Jeff Gordon ventured into the TV side of the sport. The former driver of the No. 24 spent six seasons (2016-2021) as a color commentator for NASCAR on FOX.
Gordon, who is now the Vice Chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, did his best to remain unbiased towards the HMS drivers when calling the action.
However, there was one time Gordon admits he messed up.
Jeff Gordon reflects on Jimmie Johnson, Chris Buescher incident mistake
Gordon recently appeared as a guest on the “Racin’ With The Boys” podcast. During the show, the four-time Cup Series champion was asked about the challenge of going from being a driver to an announcer.
One of the toughest aspects, Gordon said, was being critical, and it did not matter whether it was his team or not.
Yet, there was an instance during the May 2020 Cup race at Darlington where Gordon said he messed up. Hendrick Motorsports star Jimmie Johnson was leading the race and approached Chris Buescher, who was about to go a lap behind.
After slight contact between them coming off of turn two, Johnson’s No. 48 car was sent out of control and careened with the inside retaining wall.
From Gordon’s perspective at the time, the incident was Buescher’s fault. Upon further review, he realized that was not the case.
“I’m having to call this and I got it wrong. I put it on Buescher. Then, I got home that night and I’m seeing all the different angles and thinking about it more, I was like, ‘Man, I screwed up. I got that one wrong,’” Gordon said.
Gordon said the blunder sparked criticism on social media, with fans going after him with biased accusations based on his connection to HMS.
“Then, I’m looking at social media and they’re like, ‘That was totally Jimmie’s fault. Jeff’s so biased, he’s so biased,’” Gordon said.
While it might have been difficult at times, Gordon made it clear that he never intended on being biased. The 93-time Cup Series winner said he reached out to Buescher in attempt to clear the air following the mistake.
“It’s impossible not to be because you have these relationships, but I really wanted to be as neutral as possible and I promise you that’s what I was trying to do that day, but it didn’t come across that way,” Gordon said.
Gordon on balancing announcing, HMS role
On top of trying to be “neutral” in the broadcast booth, it made showing up to the HMS shop on weekdays awkward for Gordon.
Because Gordon did not want to show favoritism to his team on TV, it made for a tough dynamic when meeting with the team outside of the announcer’s booth.
“You come in and you’re like hesitant to walk into a room or a meeting if something happened and you called it like you really saw it, because I think those guys are thinking I should be biased, so that was tough,” Gordon said.
That balance is no longer an issue for Gordon as he stepped away from the broadcasting role at the end of the 2021 season. This was because Gordon assumed a larger role at HMS, becoming the organization’s Vice Chairman.
Today, Gordon continues to be heavily involved at HMS and often appears atop the pit box of one of the team’s four full-time entries.
Jeff Gordon Reveals The Time He Messed Up In Announcer’s Booth