“Special to see him”: Jeff Gordon touches on ‘full circle moment’ at Chili Bowl with Cody Keeth

Jeff Gordon took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to reflect on his feelings after reuniting with an old fan of his. The fan, named Cody Keeth, met Gordon for the first time back in 2000 when the former was battling Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

Keeth is now a grown man with a family of his own. He knew Gordon was going to serve as the grand marshal for this year’s Chili Bowl Nationals and therefore, decided to pay a visit.

Needless to say, Gordon was pleasantly surprised. For him, it was a “full-circle” moment. Reflecting on the reunion, Gordon tweeted,

“Full-circle moments are truly unforgettable. Back in 2000, I had the honor of hosting 7-year-old Cody Keeth, who was courageously battling Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Last night, we reunited. Special to see him after all these years and meet his family!”

Besides Gordon, several people from the Hendrick Motorsports camp were present at the SageNet Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday. Notably, Kyle Larson and newly signed Hendrick Motorsports driver Corey Day were among the competitors.

Larson won his third Chili Bowl, driving the No. 1K machine for Silva Motorsports in the 39th running of the star-studded event. On the other hand, Day, who is expected to run a partial Xfinity schedule for Hendrick Motorsports this year, wound up 11th.

Alex Bowman, who drives the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy Camaro in the NASCAR Cup Series, was the owner of four entries, i.e., the 55a, the 55v, the 55x, and the 55i, driven by Jake Swanson, CJ Leary, Kevin Thomas Jr., and Briggs Danner, respectively.

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Jeff Gordon reacts to Kyle Larson racing at the Chili Bowl Nationals

Jeff Gordon is the Vice Chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, a 14-time championship-winning team that Kyle Larson drives for at the NASCAR front. So naturally, Gordon was rooting for Larson throughout all 40 laps of madness.

Meanwhile, someone captured a video of Gordon watching Larson battle it out against the best dirt racers in the country. Gordon uploaded it on his official X feed with the following caption:

“The many emotions of watching @KyleLarsonRacin at the Chili Bowl.”

To Gordon’s utter glee, Larson won the event holding off Daison Pursley, arguably his biggest threat during the 40-lap feature. Pursley managed to secure a career-best, runner-up position while Larson equalled Christopher Bell as a three-time Chili Bowl champion.

"It was just a very difficult race track to run the line that I was running," Larson said (as quoted by Hendrick Motorsports) “We got a couple of lucky breaks there, but a great race car…love being back here."

Larson is less than a month ahead of his 12th season in the NASCAR Cup Series. His first race of the 2025 season will be held at Winston-Salem’s Bowman Gray Stadium on February 2. Fans can watch him live on FOX from 8 pm ET onwards or listen to radio updates on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.