“We should not be going green”: When Jeff Gordon made his feelings known about NASCAR’s ‘process’ during a disastrous million-dollar battle

Bouncing back from adversity is perhaps what gives birth to the greatest of wins. Take Jeff Gordon’s victory in the coveted NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway back in 2001. The then-Hendrick Motorsports icon got caught in a multi-car wreck a few hundred feet from the start line and still managed to win the event.

Thanks to NASCAR and the fact that it wasn’t a point-paying race, the driver involved in the mayhem were allowed to resort to their backup cars. Every crew single member who knew a thing or two about turning a wrench jumped in to prepare a new car for Gordon.

However, Gordon knew beforehand that if NASCAR waved the green flag, it would only add further chaos to the already chaotic rain-delayed race. And he was right. Recalling the moment before the crash going into turn 1, Gordon said (as quoted by Hendrick Motorsports),

“I remember there was lightning in the distance down off of turn one and two and NASCAR was kind of in this speed-up process of, ‘Let’s get the green.’ And we went through one and two and it’s spitting. On the radio I said, ‘We should not be going green.’ And we come around and it’s, ‘Pace car is off!’”

“So, you go barreling down in there because you have to and everybody wrecks and you go, ‘Yep, I saw this coming’” he added.

Notably, the format for that year’s All-Star event was unique. The race was divided into three segments; the first two were each 30 minutes long, followed by a 10-minute break and then a concluding 10-circuit set.

Jeff Gordon won a total of 93 NASCAR Cup Series races throughout his illustrious career, which places him third on the all-time wins list. The four-time Cup Series champion retired in November 2015. Today, he serves as the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports.

Jeff Gordon comes clean about factors that forced his retirement

When Jeff Gordon retired at the age of 44, his fans were deeply saddened. Dale Earnhardt won his last race at 49, Bobby Allison bagged his last win at 50 and Mark Martin, too, did the same when he was 50.

At the time of his retirement, Gordon had more wins than all the aforementioned drivers, but some of his fans felt that he could have races for a few more years and perhaps logged his 100th win. But unfortunately, chronic back issues stood in his way.

Recalling the same, Gordon explained (via The Express),

“I started having some back issues, some lower back pain and spasms in the car, probably around 2005 or 2006. But it really started getting bad around 2010. I started working on it, doing physical therapy and other treatments."

"I went to Rick and said, 'I don’t know how much longer I'm going to be able to do this. My body is just not doing well. I'm in a lot of pain throughout the race, and every time I get out of the car,'" Jeff Gordon admitted.

Jeff Gordon raced for the last time at Martinsville Speedway in 2016 and delivered a P6 finish. His Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jimmie Johnson, won the race. Soon, Gordon joined FOX as an analyst and stayed there until 2021. In 2021, he was given the offer to join Hendrick Motorsports as its Vice Chairman, which he readily accepted.