Jeff Gordon’s Former Crew Chief Lauds 4X Champ’s ‘Special’ Talent With a 7-Word Revelation

Jeff Gordon and Ray Evernham are possibly one of the best driver-crew chief pairings NASCAR has ever seen. Together, they forged a winning partnership that won the HMS team three championships and 47 races from 1992–99. Not only did the duo dominate the circuits, but were always a step ahead of the competition with their team synergy and ability to tweak changes to their race car.

Although Evernham had no prior experience as the crew chief, he delivered consistent results and wins. Not only that, he brought about important changes to the HMS team, where his intervention saw HMS onboard engineers like Rex Stomp and Eddie Dickerson. Having formed the base for the functioning of the entire team, the most important piece of the puzzle was still the driver. And going by Evernham’s words during a recent podcast, Gordon certainly made things easier for the whole team.

Evernham sheds light on his unique partnership with Jeff Gordan from his time at HMS

Before his success in the NASCAR scene, Evernham, at a young age, was hired by IROC as a chassis specialist. During those days, he worked with some of the most prominent names in the motorsports world, and he quickly identified patterns and nuances of the team chemistry that would come in handy for him when he started working with Jeff Gordon.

There are different opinions about whether or not drivers should intervene in the preparation of the race car. Explaining how things worked out for the #24 team, Evernham explained, “Jeff, to this day, like he’s not allowed to touch tools, he didn’t know one thing from another, but he could give you a lap as good as any computer. He made it so easy for me to change a car or adjust it,” he said on the Happy Hour podcast.

Gordon had complete faith in the ability of his crew chief to deliver a winning race and thus it allowed them to create a unique balance and relationship. Evernham further explained the feeling of mutual trust and agreement they shared during their time together. “Like I do talk about that in the book. From Friday to Sunday, I can never complain about Jeff not being involved. Because with the team, he left it up to me, but I don’t know, at that time, without having onboard data, that I could’ve ever worked with anybody better than him.”

While other drivers had their fair share of success, not everyone was able to transition and adapt to the changes as Gordon did. This is what set him apart from the rest of the group and thus helped his crew bundle a solid race car.

Jeff Gordan had a different perspective and eye for detail during his racing days at HMS

Kevin Harvick also jumped in, acknowledging the genius of Jeff Gordon. He stated that the driver of the #24 team was able to elevate the racing departments, thus emphasizing the importance of value addition that a driver brings to a racing team. It wasn’t like Gordon demanded outright changes that he felt should be made to the race car, but it was his way of managing things and conveying his message that made all the difference.

“It’s not like he would go to fab shop and we need to do this. But he was so good about analyzing what he felt. Great race car drivers like yourself have a different view of time. They can compute so much more… guys like you and Jeff, you are so analytical. The transition period of a car going from, let’s say, static to straight away to being loaded up in the corner, and then it transitions again—that’s something Jeff Gordon could pick out unbelievably, and to me, that was everything about setting the car up,” Evernham further added.

Gordon has indeed come a long way from being one of the most successful NASCAR drivers in history to now propelling HMS to new heights in his new role as the vice chairman!

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