NASCAR CUP SERIES: YELLAWOOD 500

October 25, 2026

Jeff Gordon

Press Conference

An Interview with:

THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by Jeff Gordon, vice chairman at Hendrick Motorsports.

Jeff, can you talk about that race. It was pretty unbelievable.

JEFF GORDON: I think I'm like everybody in this room, everybody here in Talladega today, just in shock of how this race unfolded today and the implications on the points.

But if I'm just focused on the 5 car, they were aggressive. That first stage was just kind of a whacky one. We knew it was going to be like that with how long NASCAR made it. I've been waiting for someone to pull the strategy that Roush did and made it work pretty good.

I'm glad our folks, they didn't panic. They stuck to their plan. We got really as good of points as we could get in that first stage. It was nice to get some points onstage one, stage two. I thought the 5 team was executing well all day. Even when they lost track position, Kyle had some good moves that he made. The team worked well together to give him a car to drive up through there and get back towards the front.

All the carnage, it happens at 'Dega. Kyle over the years has usually gotten caught up in that. We've had conversation over the year about how he feels about speedway races. We've seen the momentum shift a bit, the results get better recently. His confidence of okay, we can put good, solid results together in Talladega. Boom, today was one of those days where it all just went their way. They did their job. Now they come out of here with a win. Not only a win, we see where the points are at unofficially.

I'm still in shock as to what took place today, the win and the points.

Went into Phoenix the same way distinguishing into Martinsville, you just don't know what's going to happen in the next two weeks. Feels good now. We'll enjoy it.

THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions.

Q. Cautiously optimistic it sounds like. You say anything can happen in Martinsville. But in the last eight races, Kyle Larson hasn't finished worse than ninth at Martinsville. Does that help your confidence that this championship is over?

JEFF GORDON: It's certainly not over by any means. I feel like Talladega was always that one that everybody was focused on of can you just come out of here.

Honestly, I went into Phoenix, just me personally, not the whole team, if they can maintain the lead coming out of Phoenix and maintain the lead coming out of Talladega, then I feel like the next two races were races that they could compete at a high level and go race the competition.

Didn't expect what happened at Phoenix to be as bad as it was, and didn't expect Talladega to be as good as it was (smiling).

You got to go execute. That's the thing. It's so close, there's so much on the line. There's so many different strategies that can play out now.

I just say that because, I'll be curious to hear more from Cliff and the team of how they plan to attack Martinsville. We have seen some green-flag stops occur there. You get caught under caution by pitting, you're two laps down, your whole day is done.

They got to go score stage points and put a good finish together. That's not just a guarantee. I know it's Martinsville, and Hendrick runs good at Martinsville, but that's just not a guarantee.

Q. Cliff has talked about Kyle becoming a different driver over the last few years. Cliff feels like Kyle is a good driver for this team because he's even-keeled. From your perspective, what have you seen in the evolution of Kyle Larson the last few years?

JEFF GORDON: When Kyle came to Hendrick, I noticed that. There were times when I wanted him to enjoy the victory a little more. That's just how he is. Enjoys it for a short period of time, focuses on the next one.

At the same time, that has its benefits. When you have a bad day, it doesn't stick with him.

I've seen that with him for years. But I do feel like this year has been a test for our whole organization because of how far off we were earlier in the year.

You wonder a team that's used to, even on a year that they're not up to their standards, of how they react in a year where it was this far off.

I think that's where I've seen the real growth, is the maturity, the way that they stuck together, worked together with all their teammates.

Kyle, in general, you just see the leadership of him understanding that he's got to stay strong, he's got to stay connected to the team. He has to put more effort in to show them his commitment in order to get that same out of them.

When they were ready to strike, when the car starting improving, I mean, it came quicker and faster than I thought it would. Man, when it hit, it was just like, Wow, they're back. That's because of the type of team, leadership and connection that they all have.

Q. You said you'd be interested to hear what Cliff and Kyle say how they're going to approach the next two races. What would you tell them on how to approach Martinsville and Homestead?

JEFF GORDON: I know those guys, they're always approaching it as we're going to win, we're going to sit on the pole.

What I mean is, how do they play out the strategy 'cause Cliff can be, right, super aggressive and try to be a guy that sort of puts himself on the offense. That can put yourself at risk a little bit.

Of course, you go there and have a great car, you have the ability to control a little bit more of your destiny. I'm just curious of kind of what they're thinking when they look at strategy and what the tires are going to do. Some of that may not play out until they get on the track and see how the car is.

If I know them, for the most part they're right now probably going to ramp up the intensity (smiling).

Q. (No microphone.)

JEFF GORDON: Not just that. They know their competitors are fierce and there's no given. There's no points lead big enough at this point.

Q. 10 to go, Larson gets shuffled back to 21st. Drives back to the front. He drives from 11th to win the race. I know it's hard to tell, any idea how you can attribute, what you can attribute to the new package? Would that have been possible say 15 years ago?

JEFF GORDON: I mean, it's Talladega. It's been possible ever since I can remember. I watched Earnhardt do it plenty of times.

Yeah, what happened on the last lap was a little bit different because nobody at that point was really working together. If anybody was, the 24 and the 5 were probably working together better than anybody.

Once the 5 got off the bottom, the 33, got the run to the inside, he got shuffled back, they were all just side drafting and not helping at all. Just focused solely on trying to get themselves in that position. You saw Ricky Stenhouse, the 47, get out front.

When they broke up like that, all their momentum shifted. All it took was two or three cars to get locked together to get a big run.

Kyle kind of got a little bit fortunate, even when it all stacked up, I think it was Denny, there was a little bit of contact there, he got shuffled. There was somebody that Kyle got to. Then I believe they got to the 24. However that all happened.

All of a sudden the momentum picked up. That happens sometimes on the last lap in Talladega and Daytona. Not often, but it does happen. We've seen happen many times over the years, seen Denny do this pretty well, you can lose the lead going into three and still something happens that gets you back to the win by the start/finish line or this place past the tri-oval.

You can never take your foot out of it. Just keep trying to make good decisions and check where the momentum is at and see if you can regain it, even though you lost it. That's what happened to them.

Earlier, I don't remember exactly what happened, how he got shuffled, but I was concerned. I was. There weren't a lot of laps left. Looked like it was pretty tough to pass at that time. He was trying. He was making some moves that weren't really working.

Somebody dropped down to the bottom. I think the 33 at that time went with Kyle, then maybe the 24 got in there. All of a sudden they had enough momentum on the bottom to start working that lane.

As cars move out of a lane, when they go into that other lane, it's not just gaining momentum of the lane that cars are stacking into, it's slowing down or breaking up the momentum that's in that other lane.

I think that's what happened, was that inside lane got enough energy in it that it just started going forward. He did a good job being aggressive right there.

I was concerned, honestly. I was concerned that inside lane was not going to get them to the front. Enough cars got in it, in that middle lane, stalled out.

Once he got up there in the top five, honestly, if they come out of here with a top five, I think we're all pretty happy, right? Maybe even a top 10.

Yeah, they were on a different plan.

Q. What was the going through your head on the last half of the lap? Do you wish you were a driver in that situation? Were you happy on up on the pit box?

JEFF GORDON: I do not like being on the pit box in these situations (laughter). It's so nerve-wracking. As a driver you kind of know some things that are happening out there. But it's completely out of your control.

It's tough. You want the best for your team. For it to go well, especially with the 5 today with everything on the line, it looked like when they were coming through one and two that it was all falling apart, right? You had the 47 get on Kyle's door. I could tell Kyle's car was kind of being pulled up the racetrack at that point. Then the 33 was trying to push him at the same time.

It's like the worst-case scenario that you can possibly be in as a driver because now those two cars are driving your car more than you are. You're trying to hang on and not wreck.

When the 33 got to the inside of him, I was pretty upset, to be honest. I was pretty frustrated with that. You got guys trying to win races, too.

At that point I didn't give up. I just thought, Man, what can we salvage out of this? What's going to happen with the 11? I started watching the 11 where they were banging around. He got shuffled out. I was like, Okay, maybe we can at least get back to the 11. All of a sudden the lane starts moving.

At that point, again, I just wanted to see him come back in one piece to the line. I didn't think they were ever going to get enough of a run to get to the win.

Right as they came out of the dogleg, I saw everybody going up high, the 24 shot to the middle, we're really close here. We're going to get a great finish. I don't know if it's going to be a win until they cross the line. Then it's just total can't believe. I'm still in shock, honestly (smiling).

Q. The 33, a Chevrolet, seemed a little aggressive on the last lap passing another Chevrolet in the Chase. Were you surprised by that?

JEFF GORDON: Listen, the types of conversations are how can you help one another, how can you not hurt one another, how do you work together.

Stenhouse was very clear: I want to win, we're here to win. I'm not going to try to mess you up, but I'm trying to win.

The 33 was a little bit different. This is not my conversation. I just heard on the radio, Hey, the 33 is fully committed to you.

When I talked to Kyle, he's like, I was holding on and they got a run, the 33 kind of got to my inside because I was just holding on trying not to wreck.

You want everybody to just get in line and push the lone Chevrolet that's in the championship, but that's not realistic. That's not realistic for anybody.

I thought throughout the race, though, I'm not going to name names, there were a couple that I feel like could have worked with us better.

Q. You can name them, it's okay.

JEFF GORDON: No (smiling).

But for the most part, I was very happy to see how much the Chevrolets were working together.

It's not just to get the 5, it's to get a win for Chevrolet, it's to give them the best shot at a championship. That's really the goal.

Q. Obviously you mentioned still being in shock. Are you now more in shock than Kansas last year?

JEFF GORDON: That one shocked me, too (smiling).

I think this one, there's just so much on the line with the championship. It's just so easy for it to go from being great to just being awful. You just know there's so much at stake here. You want the team to -- you know how hard they've worked to get in position, you want to see them come out with a good result.

I think this one's a little more shocking because he did go all the way back to 11th with one to go. I kind of at that point was like can we get to fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth. That was kind of the hope at that point.

Q. Knowing the history for you at Martinsville, what would it mean if you could clinch the championship next week?

JEFF GORDON: Well, I mean, Martinsville is very special. Definitely great history. Great notes. I got to download with the team to see where they're at.

We made improvements, and that has shown up in the Chase. But we still have some weaknesses and some areas to get better at. Phoenix was clearly one. I'm waiting to see if Martinsville is another one.

I do feel better about Martinsville than I do about Phoenix. But way too early to go down that path 'cause I just know who we're up against. Denny is very good at Martinsville. You put stage points. That's the thing, you max out a points day, the other doesn't, it's such a huge shift.

Like I said, nothing's big enough of a lead right now. But I'm excited for their chances and the opportunity that they have in front of 'em. I don't think anybody is more determined and has the ability to get this done more than that 5 team does. They've proven it throughout the Chase.

THE MODERATOR: Jeff, thanks for your time.

JEFF GORDON: Thank you.