"Sometimes only Rick Hendrick can make those calls": Jeff Gordon remembers HMS signing Kyle Larson amid Tony Stewart competition

Jeff Gordon recently opened up on signing Kyle Larson to Hendrick Motorsports amid competing interest from Tony Stewart. Larson, who was with Chip Ganassi Racing before he was fired from his seat, was without a job for three-fourths of the 2020 season.

But during the time he was unemployed, Larson had two of the biggest names in all of NASCAR, Rick Hendrick and Tony Stewart, competing to get him signed in their respective organizations. At the end, it was Hendrick who got Larson's signature on the dotted line as 'Yung Money' was announced to be the new driver of the #5 car from 2021 onwards in October 2020.

And how that happened was what Gordon recently revealed during a conversation with Kevin Harvick on the latter's podcast. He said:

"So when this came about where Kyle Larson might be available I talked to Rick Hendrick and he was eager and interested as well because he knew his talent but he said, 'I got to sit down face to face with him.' And we made that happen.

"We went over to his house and Rick and myself and Kyle sat down and you just knew that this guy's mind and heart were in the right place and that he was willing to do everything that it took to get back into a top-notch ride and his interest at that time was Hendrick Motorsports. I had heard that Tony Stewart (was interested in Kyle Larson), and I wouldn't have been surprised. We're both past dirt racers, Tony spends a lot more time on the dirt tracks than I did. So I knew that there was probably something there that we might be competing with." [21:50]

Having said that, he commented on the building relationships side of Rick Hendrick's approach in NASCAR where the team owner was convinced of Larson being a young driver who deserves a second chance.

Gordon further claimed that HMS wanted Larson in their organization and revealed the extent to which Hendrick went to sign his future #5 driver.

"For him to then go and have those conversations with all the people that it took to make sure that that happened and sometimes only Rick Hendrick can make those calls but he believed in it and he made sure that other people understood his commitment, what Kyle's commitment was, and that's what made it happen," Jeff Gordon added. [22:55]

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Jeff Gordon recalls HMS deciding to focus more on Chase Elliott instead of signing a young Kyle Larson

Speaking about HMS signing Kyle Larson in 2020, Jeff Gordon emphasized that it wasn't an easy thing to do with all things considered. But the fact that Larson was on the radar of Hendrick Motorsports wasn't the first time before he was signed as a driver.

Gordon revealed that way before Larson landed his first ride in NASCAR, he had a meeting with the young dirt racer.

"I remember Kyle Larson coming to Hendrick Motorsports before he ever even came into NASCAR, I think it was with Jeff Dickerson and I knew of him because of sprint car racing but I didn't know him. And he sat down... He came and I met him and this is right at the time where Rick had committed to really supporting Chase Elliott... I mentioned something to Rick about Kyle back then and he's like, 'We just don't have the right things in place to be able to do that right now we'll keep an eye on him.' And I remember the first Xfinity race he drove or second race, Rick called me he's like, 'Darn we missed out on that one,'" Jeff Gordon described. [20:30]

With that said, Jeff Gordon clarified that HMS' decision to focus on Chase Elliott at that time was 'the right move' in its place. He added that sometimes one can't do more than one thing at a time.

But in retrospect, HMS not signing Larson at that time paid off because when they did sign him in 2021, the man from Elk Grove had understood his craft better.

This is because in his first season with HMS, less than a year after being fired from his previous job, Kyle Larson produced one of the greatest seasons in the history of NASCAR with 10 wins on the way to a Cup championship, proving that Rick Hendrick signing him was the right decision after all.