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Jeff Gordon, a NASCAR veteran, is known for his candid approach. He was his usual forthright self when he reflected on the “animated” exchange between Kevin Harvick (#4 Stewart-Haas Racing) and Chase Elliot (#9 Hendrick Motorsports) after the Bristol Night Race in 2021.
During the night race, both drivers were competing for the lead but a contact between them caused Elliot to have a flat tire. This forced the Georgia native driver to make an unforeseen pit stop and fall behind in the race by two stops. Frustrated, Elliot impeded the California-born driver and allowed his teammate, Kyle Larson to emerge victorious.
Harvick was enraged and confronted Elliot on the pit road. Harvick criticized Elliot’s move calling it cowardly whereas Elliot expressed that he was trying to help his teammate win and was countering Kevin Harvick’s driving style.
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On Fox Sports, Jeff Gordon who worked as an analyst opened up on the heated exchange between the pair. He summed up how he saw the race:
"Well, I mean, they were both racing really hard, obviously for the win, for the lead, and Kevin was a little bit better than Chase was at that time. So you got old school, new school, right? The new school and philosophy is can't give up any spot, what if the caution comes out? In this situation right here, I think Harvick just went for it, drove in there really deep, yeah, he got loose. It wasn't, I don't think, anything intentional, but he also didn't mind roughing up the nine of Chase Elliott."
The California native was happy to see the passion shown by the drivers:
"To me, that's the old school of Kevin Harvick is, hey man, maybe you ought to be letting me go right here, and I won't have to rough you up. So that's what I saw, not only past history, but these two guys, maybe a little bit different philosophy on how they wanted to go about this, but the end results, Chase Elliott really upset when that tire got cut down, and I think maybe Kevin paid the price for that later in the race. I like the way they handled it, you know, they were both very animated, they were both very passionate about what happened, and they got to voice those opinions to one another"
Jeff Gordon, born in Vallejo, California is a prominent figure in the world of NASCAR. His racing career is marked by four NASCAR Cup Series wins (1995, 1997, 1998, and 2001) with 93 race victories. After retiring from racing in 2015, he transitioned into the role of an analyst with Fox Sports. In 2022, the California native took up the role of vice chairman for Hendrick Motorsports, a team he raced all his life for, and is in a position to succeed Rick Hendrick post his retirement. He has been instrumental in shaping team strategies. In 2025, he served as the Grand Marshal for the Chili Bowl Nationals, a race where his team driver Kyle Larson won.
NASCAR great Jeff Gordon shared unambiguous feelings about attending the Chili Bowl as GM
Jeff Gordon expressed his enthusiasm about serving as the Grand Marshal at the 2025 Chili Bowl Nationals during an interview with FloRacing. He emphasized the significance of the event. He explained how the presence of top drivers like Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman highlights its growing importance in the motorsport community.
"Anything that brings me here to see some of the best racing on dirt that exists in the world and see it, feel the energy of this crowd is amazing. But yeah, you know, with Kyle Larson and Corey Day and Alex Bowman, you know, with his team here as well as some of the other NASCAR guys that are here, it just shows you how important this event is, how big it is, how much it's growing. And I couldn't be more proud to be Grand Marshal for it," he said via a video on FloRacing's X (0:22 onwards).
"I don't think that I'm just here as a fan watching some dirt racing. You know, we're going to keep our eyes open at all times for the next, you know, young talent to come up, the next Kyle Larson, you know, the next Tony Stewart, whatever it may be," he continued.
Gordon described the Chili Bowl as a vital platform for discovering new talent in racing, likening it to a breeding ground for future stars.
