NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon will make a return to HMS (Hendrick Motorsports) on January 1 as a vice-chairman of the organisation.
This will make the second-ranking team official to chairman and majority owner Rick Hendrick. After having held an equity stake in HMS for a long time, Gordon has also held a desire to return to HMS for a while now.
Now, he leaves Fox Sports TV, which Gordon believes was all about timing.
“The culture that Rick has created and how he’s done that and how it impacts things far beyond just what I was doing as a driver, was interesting to me. So, each year, that ramped up more and more as I had pretty much half the season to dedicate my time to it,” Gordon said.
“The more I did that, whether it was coming to the track or being back at the shop on race day or just talking to the marketing department about sponsorship or talking to NASCAR about Next Gen or any business decisions that were going on there with other owners, I realized that this is where my true passion lies.
“I love the sport. I love racing. But the competition and being a partner with one of the best owners there will ever be in NASCAR, that’s really what I was getting excited about looking ahead.”
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With HMS, Gordon won our Cup Series championships and 93 races. He has held an equity share in HMS since the late 1990s.
He had always known that he would be returning to the organisation that he had shared so much success in the past.
“From the very beginning (Fox) knew that I had an equity position at Hendrick and that one day this could be home,” Gordon said. “So, this is more about coming home for me.”
It seems that Gordon has come home at the right time. Chase Elliott won the championship last year. Additionally, this year, they are the team to beat, with nine wins from the first 19 races.