"It would have been different": When Jeff Gordon recalled the time an F1 opportunity presented itself 

In 2021, Jeff Gordon revealed just how close he came to racing in Formula 1. Back in 2003, Gordon and Juan Pablo Montoya of the Williams F1 team swapped racecars for a promotional opportunity. Thus, the 4x Cup champion got to taste the adrenaline and experience of 'the pinnacle of racing.'

Following that, Gordon recalled having conversations with Williams as well as the Jaguar F1 team about a potential switch. However, he deemed that step as 'too steep of a climb' to pull off even though the opportunity was there for him.

Gordon elaborated, via The Race:

"I went to the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, just on vacation really, just walking around, but it happened to be when the Formula 1 race was happening and so we went to the race. Jimmie Johnson was actually with me and all of a sudden a couple people are like, ‘hey, such-and-such would like to talk to you’ and I’m over in the Jaguar paddock – ‘hey, tell us about what’s going on with your future, we saw you drove the Williams’. It probably was, more than anything, did I have any money to bring to Formula 1 and did I want to be a Formula 1 driver?"

The former HMS driver recalled having a sit-down with Frank Williams, who later came to Indianapolis after the 2003 test involving Montoya. Gordon said that he and Williams sat down, had coffee, and talked about the idea of him racing in F1.

But as Gordon admitted, it 'really never got serious' and even he didn't expect it to go anywhere considering his strong establishment in NASCAR. Having said that, Jeff Gordon claimed there was a time when it could've gone forward.

"Ten years or eight years prior to that, had that happened, it would have been different," Gordon added.

Jeff Gordon dreamt of racing in the Indy 500 at one point in his career

After his retirement from NASCAR as a driver, Jeff Gordon opened up on his dreams of racing in the Indy 500, something he could never really fulfill. It's worth mentioning that the former #24 driver won five races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

But the Indy 500, a race his heroes had raced in and won, always remained just that. Speaking about the 'greatest spectacle in racing' once being his dream, Gordon said:

"It certainly was at one time. You know I love that race. I wanted to be... my heroes growing up were Indy 500 champions like AJ Foyt, Rick Mears, and Johnny Rutherford. So I thought maybe, you know, that was on the rise for me, but no, it's not now. They got fulfilled... so many of my goals through NASCAR racing in Indianapolis and winning the Brickyard 400."

Gordon claimed that he would 'like to' drive other types of race cars. At that time, he admitted that while he wasn't completely retired, a racing opportunity would have to make sense to him and pique his interest.

Although Jeff Gordon didn't make a comeback to NASCAR in the years following his retirement, he did fill in for an injured Dale Earnhardt Jr. temporarily.