Timeline: How Jeff Gordon went from vacation to driving at Indy

Rea White

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Timeline: How Jeff Gordon went from vacation to driving at Indy image

Jeff Gordon was relaxing in the South of France, enjoying a well-deserved vacation with his wife, Ingrid.

They were only on their second day. Then he started getting texts from Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick.

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"I looked at her and said, 'Oh boy, here we go,' " he said. "I had no idea."

"Oh boy" was right. Hendrick filled Gordon in on Dale Earnhardt Jr., that he had concussion-like symptoms and that Hendrick wanted Gordon to drive the No. 88 at Indianapolis.

Gordon initially thought Hendrick was kidding about the driving part. He soon realized how serious the situation was.

Speaking to media members on Friday at Indy, Gordon said he didn't think twice about taking the Indy driving job, a role that soon expanded to include Pocono as well after Earnhardt wasn't cleared for that July 31 race.

He and Hendrick admitted, though, that they had never discussed Gordon filling in for a team driver.

"No, we never talked about it because you gave me a helmet when you got out of the car, so I thought you were done," Hendrick said to Gordon.

Once Gordon accepted, things really took off.

He got back from France on Tuesday, landing in New York and then taking a Hendrick plane to Charlotte, N.C. He went to the Hendrick shop and spent the evening with the team, which had put the seat and steering wheel from his 2015 Homestead car into the No. 88.

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Hendrick Motorsports had archived things from his driving the No. 24 which helped streamline the process. After "little minor tweaks," he returned to the shop on Wednesday and started NASCAR's process of getting approved to drive.

With an owner's credential, but not a driver's license, Gordon had to pass a physical and meet NASCAR requirements on Wednesday. Crew chief Greg Ives spent the day with him, getting him up to speed — and getting to know him better.

"The cool thing about Greg Ives is he reminded me that he worked for Robbie Loomis when Robbie was my crew chief and he was telling some great stories about working with Robbie," Gordon said. "I've known Greg for a long time and always been impressed with him. But, I have never had the opportunity to work with him."

Gordon went over data from a 2016 test session at Indy. "We have video, we have like Go-Pro video from inside the cars that I can watch Jimmie Johnson, Chase Elliott," he said. "They both tested here and all their data."

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Thursday morning, he went to a simulator to test what he had learned.

"If we are racing simulators, I feel like I have a shot at this race," he said.

Then he headed to Indy and by Friday midday, he was on the track.


Video via Hendrick Motorsports and JeffGordon.com

Gordon must adjust to looking for the No. 88 sign on pit road instead of the No. 24 he saw for more than two decades. He must adjust to a digital dash — which he has never used; it's new this year — and aerodynamic changes mandated since he last drove at the end of 2015.

"I will hit pit road [in practice], do my down shifts and get down to pit road speed, carry pit road speed and then when Greg is ready he is going to tell me where I can come in and stop in a box," he said. "Just kind of get a feel for how the car stops."

Gordon was ready to get down to the real work of driving the car at Indy. He'll practice on Friday, qualify on Saturday and then return to racing on Sunday.

"I'm going to tell you, the last two days, I don't think I've ever put as much effort into preparing for a race, and crammed in all that I have in the last two days," he said. "That process itself has been really interesting, exciting and fun and has me pretty fired up to get in the car and feel what it is like to be in there."

Rea White