Mark Martin is ready to step in for Jeff Gordon
Even though he crashed and finished 41st in Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Jeff Gordon has a lot to smile about. He's leading the Nextel Cup point standings, has enjoyed wins at Phoenix, Talladega and Darlington and has collected nine top-five finishes this season.
Needless to say, spirits are high at Hendrick Motorsports.
"This has been a great year for me personally, for us as a race team," Jeff Gordon said last week at Lowe's Motor Speedway. "We have really been searching since about 2002 to get ourselves back in championship form and winning races (and) doing it consistently. This is the first year really since then that we have been able to show that. It is exciting."
Winning races and being in championship form isn't really what he's the happiest about. In the coming weeks, Jeff Gordon and wife Ingrid Vandebosch will become proud parents of a baby girl, and as the day draws near, both are having a tough time containing their excitement.
But wait! There's a wrinkle in the baby's blanket. That often demanding, all-consuming NASCAR race schedule may attempt to disrupt the incredibly important day.
Not to worry. Like all good racers, Jeff Gordon has a back-up plan. Should the birth of his child come when predicted June 24, Jeff Gordon plans to turn his Chevrolet over to someone else to handle the left and right demands of the road course at Sonoma, Calif.
"The first person that we thought of was Mark Martin," Jeff Gordon said. "And the way we've been working with him with Hendrick and the (Bobby) Ginn team, and him running a part-time schedule, I thought that he might be interested, and I threw it out to him. It took a little while to convince him. I talked to him about it. He's been very gracious, and that's awesome.
"I hope we don't have to use him and hope it doesn't come to that. But wow, what an awesome opportunity for the No. 24 DuPont team to have a guy like that step in for me if we needed him. Those owner points are very important."
Should the baby arrive a week early, Mark Martin will pilot Jeff Gordon's car at Michigan while a week later would mean Mark Martin would drive for Jeff Gordon at Loudon.
Mark Martin is willing to help should they need him.
"Hopefully it won't come to that, but I do admire Jeff for his commitment to be there when his daughter is born," Mark Martin said. "I think that is awesome. He's in a great position, and it is an honor, a real big honor to me, that they though enough of me to really pursue me."
Jeff Gordon explained why Mark Martin, one of the most humble drivers in the garage area, had to be persuaded to come over to lend a hand.
"Well, he made a commitment to his team," Jeff Gordon said, referring to Ginn Racing. "Because he's doing a part-time schedule, he's been very appreciative of them working their schedule the way they have for him this year to give him more time off. When you say, 'Hey Mark, I know you might not be running Sonoma, but could you come there and be on standby for me?' that puts him in a tough position with his own team."
Jeff Gordon, a four-time NASCAR champion, has accumulated 485 career starts since joining NASCAR in the final event of the 1992 season. He admits only a couple of scenarios could dictate his stepping out of his race car.
"I don't want to miss one," Jeff Gordon said. "There are only two things I can think of as to why I would miss a race. One is that I wasn't healthy enough to be there, and two would be because I have a baby being born.
"I expressed to her (his wife) early on what a special occasion and moment in my life this is and how special it is for both of us, and I wouldn't miss it for anything. I love racing, but I don't love it that much."
Ben White is the motorsports columnist for The Dispatch.
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