You won’t find Jeff Gordon behind the wheel of the No. 24 Chevrolet SS during this year’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Instead, he’ll be in the FOX Sports broadcast booth with Darrell Waltrip and Mike Joy – a role he can’t wait to get into.
Speaking to Motorsport, Gordon said that TV is a fitting role for him as he finds live broadcasts give him a similar adrenaline rush to racing. The veteran racing driver got a small taste of what it will be like when he covered a number of Xfinity Series races last year.
“I’m competitive, I’ve been in a sport where there’s an adrenaline rush and there’s nothing I know more about than racing,” Gordon said. “I’ve been doing it basically my whole life. So, when I thought about live TV and the things I’ve done over the years not necessarily racing related, there’s an adrenaline rush that comes from doing live TV.
“I’m competitive with myself, so I get to still be part of not only a competitive sport but push myself to be better and have those challenges and goals as I’m in the booth and being a part of the broadcast.”
Gordon also said how he’d like to bring a very factual aspect to FOX’s coverage of NASCAR using his wealth of knowledge about the sport. He added that he knows TV is entertainment, but he’s hoping to remain true to himself when he’s on the television for the first half of the 2016 season.
“I always look forward to pushing myself and being a part of a group that likes to push limits. I’ve done so many things over the years that I certainly don’t mind having fun and making fun of myself. I’m not a comedian,” he said.
“If someone creates the right environment around me, I can have fun and be fun, but I’m looking at this as I’m going to bring as many factual things to the broadcasts and the viewers of my own experiences. When the right thing is presented to me, those are opportunities that present themselves and you go, ‘Hey, that seems like a lot of fun,’ and I’m going to step outside my comfort zone to have some fun with that.”
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