CATCHING UP WITH ... Jeff Gordon
Jeff Gordon heads into a rare NASCAR off-week with a 303-point lead over runner-up Denny Hamlin in the Nextel Cup standings. His ninth-place finish behind race winner Tony Stewart at Chicagoland last Sunday gives Jeff Gordon four victories, 12 top-fives and 17 top-10 finishes in the first 19 races. He recently participated in a teleconference with reporters, including Rick Minter of Cox News Service, to discuss life, on and off the oval.
On always being in the public eye: "It's very easy to get yourself in a situation where you feel like your privacy maybe has been lost, but that's what you give up when you have any kind of celebrity status. There are so many pros that come along with it and great opportunities, but at the same time, there are negative things that come along with it, and obviously you have to be responsible and be responsible for your actions, and nobody's perfect. All we can all do is go out there and live the best that we possibly can, and try to set good examples through our actions."
On Kyle Busch's post-race comments at Daytona, in which he said Jeff Gordon wouldn't help him in the draft and didn't speak to him afterward on pit road: "I think he's a great talent. I think that was a little bit of frustration. ... I think he had such a great car and a shot at winning that race. If he was driving my car, he'd understand that I didn't really have the opportunity to get down there and help him as easily as it may have looked. My car just didn't work good all night on the bottom groove. I had to stay up top, so there wasn't really much I could do for him. And I will admit there were some times throughout the race where I felt like he could have helped me, I could have helped him, and that did not work out. ... After the race, I was doing an interview, he came by and kind of grabbed me on the shoulder and said, 'Good race,' or something, and I gave him a thumb's up. So I'm not exactly sure where that came from on the blowing him off, but I'm obviously a huge supporter of that No. 5 team and what they're doing. ... I've just got to guess that in the heat of the moment, that maybe Kyle said some things that maybe he wished he hadn't. But I love racing with him, and I look forward to working with him the rest of the year as best I can."
On whether he's getting any sleep with a new baby in the house: "Less, definitely.We've had a baby nurse that's kind of been helping us, teaching us some things, which has been very nice to have an introduction into it all. But she wasn't with us [recently], so it was fun and exciting and also a huge learning curve to go through, having to do everything on our own."
On whether he's ever considered a career in TV: "I never have. Believe it or not, I can't stand to see myself on TV. ... I'm the worst critic of myself when I'm on there. I enjoy live television like the 'Live with Regis and Kelly' show, and it's exhilarating and fun just like 'Saturday Night Live.' If it's something well organized and that I could have somebody else help me out, then I might look at it one day. But I'm not thinking about that at all right now. I love being a race-car driver.We're having a fantastic year, and just looking forward to keeping this going for many more years after this."
On racing while crew chief Steve Letarte is serving a suspension for a rules violation: "I think [Letarte] is a great communicator. He touches base with me frequently during the week. He's at the shop working and just trying to look ahead. And he's giving guys like [acting crew chief Jeff Meendering] and me the ability to step up, as well as a lot of other guys, and take responsibility. He's guiding them through it. He's helping them all the way until they get to the race track. And yeah, we might talk on the phone on Friday or Saturday, but on Sunday, it's all in our hands. And I think that it really, truly shows how good and how strong our team is."
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