Gordon comes out of retirement to replace Earnhardt at Indy

Though he ended his 23-year NASCAR driving career last season, Jeff Gordon has confirmed the speculation that he will be coming out of retirement to race Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88 Chevrolet at both this Sunday’s Brickyard 400 and next week’s race at Pocono.

The announcement came Wednesday from Hendrick Motorsports, which said Earnhardt has not been cleared by doctors to drive.

In case you’ve been living under a rock during the past week, the NASCAR world was set ablaze when it was announced that Dale Earnhardt Jr. would be sitting out last weekend’s race at New Hampshire with concussion like symptoms.

“Our focus is giving Dale all the time he needs to recover”, Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports, said in a release.

Eight months after seemingly making his last Cup start, Gordon will be on the track for Sunday’s race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the following week at Pocono Raceway.

NASCAR’s most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will miss one of the biggest races of the year at the Brickyard. He is the dream substitute – a pillar of the Hendrick Motorsports organization, fresh off a Chase final-four season and trackside all year in his role as a FOX Sports race analyst. “We will just take it day by day”.

Gordon joins an impressive list of drivers who have run the No. 88 in Cup, including Hall of Famers Darrell Waltrip, Bobby Allison, Buck Baker, Rusty Wallace, Jarrett and 2017 inductee Benny Parsons.

Gordon was the obvious choice to pinch-drive in the No. 88 Chevrolet for Earnhardt, his former Hendrick Motorsports teammate, at one of his favorite tracks. Earnhardt, as most of you know, will miss a couple of weeks after suffering another concussion.

Three-time champion Tony Stewart, who will retire after this season, is looking forward to racing Gordon again.

“He thought I was kidding at first”, says Hendrick. He wants to get back and we want him back. By allowing teams to apply for a waiver so the driver will still be eligible to make the playoffs, NASCAR made it possible for Earnhardt to take himself out of the auto. The Crown Royal presents the Combat Wounded Coalition 400 at the Brickyard will take place, beginning at 3:00 p.m. Sunday. A two-week absence will drop Earnhardt from the 16-driver provisional Chase grid, placing urgency on winning when he potentially returns.