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Jeff Gordon Doesn’t Believe Famous Rival Dale Earnhardt is the Best Driver He’s Raced Against; That Honor Belongs To Ex-Hendrick Motorsports Teammate Jimmie Johnson

Published 10/05/2022, 10:45 AM EDT

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NASCAR icon, Jeff Gordon, took the opportunity to be interviewed by the official Formula One channel, where he was asked who would he recall as his favorite driver whom he had competed with in the past.

Gordon stated, “You know because Jimmie was in the same equipment as me and you gotta understand, throughout my whole career, I didn’t think there was anybody that I couldn’t beat, and yeah then Jimmie Johnson came on. Yeah, there might be a year when Mark Martin was on a strong, or Dale Earnhardt Sr, Dale Jarret, and some guys, Russell Wallace, things like that. But Tony Stewart.”

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He added, “When I look at overall pure talents, I would say, I would say, Tony Stewart. He can drive anything. He drove in IndyCar, NASCAR, and Sprint Cars.”

“He also did a swap with Lewis (Hamilton) in the F1 car. He’s one of the just incredible talents. Jimmie, you know I did a few things with him, like at the Race of Champions. He was my teammate, and he could get out there and slide the car sideways from his off-road experience, with some of the best of them. He is up against some amazing rally drivers and we actually won that event the first time that we did it,” Gordon said.

He concluded by stating, “Which I think would be the only time that Americans won that event. So Jimmie is an amazing talent, he really is and certainly, in the stock car, he’s probably the best I’ve raced against in NASCAR.”

Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson once had a massive feud between them

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The 2010 season saw the peak of the feud between the two Hendrick Motorsport icons. This was not something new to take place between the pair, since both drivers had been dominating in their reigns and often times quarrels or on-track battles would emerge between the two multi-champions.

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Gordon’s frustration with Johnson kept pilling up as he was unable to be competitive enough against his teammate. Although at that point he held four championships under his belt, battling Johnson was a task he was unable to conquer a lot of times.

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WATCH THIS STORY: Bubba Wallace’s Estranged Father Asked His Family “Who’s Chopping Onions” After Infamous Garage Pull Incident in 2020

But at the end of the day, it’s the rivalry that kept the fans engaged and excited back in those days.

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Written by:

Srijan Mandal

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Srijan Mandal is a NASCAR author at EssentiallySports. He is currently pursuing his Master’s in Journalism and has been writing for his own blog as well, covering NASCAR, F1, F2, W Series, MotoGP, DTM, IndyCar, WRC, and WEC. Following motorsports for more than a decade, he has become a devout supporter of McLaren Racing, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Bubba Wallace, Sir Lewis Hamilton, and Ayrton Senna.
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Edited by:

Nizamul Haque Bhuyan