CONCORD, N.C. – Wonder no more.
Exactly what Jeff Gordon will be up to following his final full-time Sprint Cup Series season is no longer a mystery.
He’ll be a full-time race analyst for FOX Sports.
“This is an exciting day for me when I get to join the FOX Sports team in the broadcast booth for the Cup races starting in 2016,” Gordon said in making the announcement on FOX Sports 1’s Race Hub. “I got a chance to do some XFINITY races this year in the booth and I really enjoyed it. It was a bit of an adrenaline rush that I think is important for me to have. As a race car driver, I’ve always had it, but off the track and in this next chapter of my life, I always wondered, will I be able to still feed off of some of that? And being in that booth gave me that.”
Gordon, who will remain an equity partner in Hendrick Motorsports following the 2015 season, said that adrenaline rush was only part of what drew him to the broadcast booth.
“If I’m not going to be doing that, I’m going to be watching it at home every Sunday anyway,” he smiled. “I just love racing, and this is a great way for me to continue to be a part of it.”
Gordon pointed to his “passion” for the sport as a big factor in the move.
And while he remains comfortable with his decision to step away after this final full-time Sprint Cup season, he knew he needed to stay around the sport.
“I always said that no matter what I do, I’m going to be a part of racing, because racing is my life,” he said. “It’s been my life since I was five or six years old. There’s nothing I know more about or feel more comfortable being a part of than racing.”
So when the opportunity to join FOX Sports arose, he jumped at it.
“I think this is a great way for me to continue to show how much I really care about racing, how much I love it, take the knowledge that I’ve had over the years and hopefully be able to bring that to the fans in a little bit of a unique and new way,” he said.
While Gordon acknowledged that he has a lot to learn when it comes to broadcasting, his experience as an analyst for three XFINITY Series races in 2015 was a good start.
“I know the Cup races are going to be a lot different – obviously a lot longer, a lot more going on – but it was great to just get a little taste of what’s happening, what things I need to be thinking about, talking about, looking at, all the information that’s coming in,” he said.
And believe it or not, superspeedway racing might have prepared him just as much.
“It sort of reminds me of being on the track at Talladega or Daytona when your spotter’s constantly talking to you and you’re trying to stay focused,” he explained. “All-in-all it was a great experience and I’m looking forward to doing more of it.”