“Chevy is having these conversations about how do we work together”: Jeff Gordon on alleged Martinsville controversy involving William Byron

Jeff Gordon, Vice Chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, joined a Zoom call with journalist Bob Pockrass, during which he revealed exactly where the focus of the No. 24 team lies now that they are in Championship 4. The former Cup Series champion also spoke about the mentality the team had worked with for the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway, a race that gave birth to an array of controversies ahead of the Championship weekend.

Following last Sunday’s Cup race at the half-mile short track, William Byron, who drives the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, made the final four on points. The Charlotte native will fight for his career-first NASCAR Cup Series championship title next week at Phoenix Raceway.

However, the race at the Virginian paperclip has brought a lot of controversy into the picture, hinting at an alleged race manipulation. For the last few laps of the race, 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace seemed to decelerate to give his fellow Toyota driver, Christopher Bell, a spot.

Whereas, on the Chevy side, Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain seemed to drive side by side behind Byron with 15 laps to go, but none of them tried to pass the HMS driver. Gordon touched upon the matter, saying that the No. 24 team (driven by Byron) was just fixated on not losing positions at Martinsville.

“The 24 group is just laser-focused on finishing it out and not lose any more positions,” Gordon stated. “One thing that we do all year long is that... this is something we build on year after year as an organization with your teammates as well as with your OEM and Chevy...is having these conversations about how do we work together, how do we not work against one another, how do we share information and what do we do about being aware of one another on the racetrack, no matter what race it is all year long but especially when you get in the playoffs.”

Byron is the only driver from the Chevy camp to have qualified for the Championship 4. This is going to be his second consecutive appearance in the coveted race, his first coming last year following a season-best six wins and ending the season with a career-best third in points.

Currently in his seventh season with Hendrick Motorsports, Byron is a 13-time winner in the Cup Series, with his latest victory coming at Martinsville itself in April 2024. The 26-year-old driver won three races this year besides recording 12 top-5s and 20 top-10s.

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“It’s hard to feel like it’s a win”- Jeff Gordon on controversial Martinsville outing

When NASCAR penalized Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell’s wall-riding maneuver at the Virginian racetrack, a lot of controversy followed. Some said that it was similar to Ross Chastain’s “Hail Melon” from two years ago and therefore must be deemed illegal. However, some felt that Bell had just gone loose, getting into the corner and thus sliding into the fence. During a post-race interview (via Newsweek), Bell said,

“I understand that the rule is made to prevent people from riding the wall. But my move was completely different than what Ross' was. I got loose getting into the corner and slid right into the fence.”

Had NASCAR not dropped Bell from 18th to 22nd at the time, Byron would not have made the top four. As much as Jeff Gordon loves that the No. 24 driver is a Championship 4 contender, he hates the fact that it is amidst such controversies. Gordon spoke to Matt Weaver of The Sportsnaut and said,

"In this situation, it’s hard to feel like it’s a win. It’s disappointing, it’s controversial and you don’t wanna see it come down like that. At the same time, you wanna see your team go have a shot for the championship. That was up to NASCAR to make that decision. They did, and now we got all eyes forward on going and racing for a championship.” (0:13)

Meanwhile, NASCAR prepares for the last race of the season. With a win at Martinsville, reigning Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney is all set to defend his title. On the other hand, Team Penske’s Joey Logano looks forward to winning his third series title.

Tyler Reddick, who made the championship race for the first time in his career, will compete for his first Cup Championship title. Byron has the opportunity to get his team their 15th Cup Series championship. Needless to say, the stakes are quite high for these four drivers.