Who could have imagined that NASCAR Hall of Fame conferred Jeff Gordon didn’t actually want to be a NASCAR driver? In fact, Gordon wanted to drive in the IndyCar series! But all thanks to his stars and a Dale Earnhardt Sr associate for gravitating him towards NASCAR.

In an episode of Dale Jr Download, Gordon opened up about his journey to NASCAR. He talked about how he started sprint car racing in Ohio after he and his family shifted to Indiana. Further, he shared that as a young, passionate sprint car driver, he realized that he wanted to race professionally.

However, when Gordon got his first break with a sprint car team, he began wrecking at the races. This cost his owner a lot of money and as a result, he was fired from the team. But life had some other plans for him. He revealed that after his short stint before getting fired, Gordon’s stepfather asked him to meet somebody.

He said; “There’s a guy named Larry Newbury, (to Dale Earnhardt Jr) I am sure you’re familiar with. He used to broadcast your dad’s races for  ESPN in the booth and he didn’t do a lot of stuff at this time. But he did do these Thursday Night Thunder and Saturday Night Thunder which turned into races and he loved NASCAR.”

Further, Gordon explained how Larry also tried to get him into IndyCar. He said; “And so he was trying to help me get my foot in the door some IndyCar teams but man, it was like ‘Where’s the money? Where’s that money?

We’re not hiring American dirt track drivers right now. We are hiring people from South America, people from Europe who were road racers.”

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Furthermore, Gordon revealed how he entered NASCAR. He said; “And I think my dreams of being an IndyCar driver got crushed around that time. Because it really was no doors opening up for a guy unless he is bringing a bunch of money.

And so because of that Larry said ‘Well, the only thing I know to do is knock some doors down in North Carolina for NASCAR. “

Jeff Gordon on being inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame

Four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, Jeff Gordon was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in February 2019. And his speech at the ceremony won a lot of hearts. Taking out time to connect with the fans, Gordon said that the night was quite emotional for him.

In his speech, Gordon thanked everyone who helped him throughout his career. Moreover, Hendrick Motorsports owner, Rick Hendrick also joined him on the stage.

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For the brief amount of time Hendrick was on stage, he talked about how proud he is of Gordon’s achievements. In fact, he said that Gordon is “like a son, like a little brother and, most of all, a great friend” to him.