"At first, I was afraid to pick on him": When Darrell Waltrip worried about teasing Jeff Gordon in the broadcast booth

In 2016, Jeff Gordon joined Fox Sports as a guest analyst for the Cup Series, alongside former NASCAR driver Darrell Waltrip and announcer Adam Alexander. While it was an impressive move pulled off by Fox, fellow analyst Waltrip wasn't sure how to react, as he worried about teasing the former Hendrick Motorsports man.

At the end of the 2015 Cup Series season, Gordon announced his retirement from full-time racing. However, he did not rule out part-time appearances. In doing so, he kept racing open for him and at the same time ventured into a different occupation related to Motorsports — broadcasting.

It was around the same time when Gordon found himself a perfect match for NASCAR on Fox and vice versa. As a result, he joined the exclusive line-up of Waltrip, Alexander and Mike Joy. While Alexander and Joy had no different reactions, it wasn't the case with Waltrip.

"At first, I was afraid to pick on him because I didn’t know how he was going to react because my impression was he might not necessarily think that was funny,” Waltrip told For The Win in 2019, sharing his reaction to Gordon's arrival. “But as we worked together and have become really good friends, I can now pick on him and make fun of him.”

However, things did not turn out the way Waltrip thought. Sharing this, he further stated:

"It’s not like we’re enemies and competing against each other. We kid each other a lot. We’ll be at a track, and I’ll say, ‘Hey, I won five times here,’ and he’ll say, ‘Yeah, but I won six.’ Or, ‘I’ve got 84 wins.’ ‘Yeah, I know, but I’ve got 93.' ‘I won three championships.’ ‘I know, buddy, but I won four.’ So we try to one-up each other all the time, and I enjoy that and I think it’s fun. I think the fans enjoy it too,' Waltrip added.

Jeff Gordon stayed with Fox for six years from 2016 to 2021, following which he joined Hendrick Motorsports in a managerial role. He is currently serving as the vice chairman of the Rick Hendrick-owned team.

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When Darrell Waltrip reacted to Jeff Gordon's retirement from Cup Series

Darrell Waltrip had a surprising reaction after Jeff Gordon announced his retirement from full-time racing in 2015. He was startled to realize how someone could walk away from a race-winning car, in a championship-winning team.

"With Jeff it's complicated," Waltrip told the media in 2015. "With me, I kind of, I couldn't get a good ride, I didn't have a winning car. I don't know how Jeff Gordon can walk away from what he has right now. With the year he just had- a great year, a shot at winning his fifth Championship, he won four races. That's hard to walk away from."

Kyle Larson (5) celebrates his win with Jeff Gordon - Source: Imagn

Jeff Gordon made his debut in the NASCAR Cup Series in 1992 and raced in the top-tier of stock car racing for 25 years. During this time, he racked up 805 races, where he claimed four titles, 93 race wins, 81 pole positions and 477 Top 10s.