Jeff Gordon brings impressive history, knowledge of Hendrick to Indy

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Jeff Gordon brings perhaps the most impressive list of credentials of any driver ever competing in a fill-in role in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

That doesn't mean, though, his transition into Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s car will be easy, or that he is necessarily the favorite to win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend.

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Hendrick Motorsports announced Wednesday that Earnhardt will miss at least the next two races as he continues to recover from concussion-like symptoms. He missed last Sunday's race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway as well.

Gordon will drive at Indianapolis and Pocono.

Can the four-time champion with five previous Cup victories at the track win at Indy in his return to racing?

"I think any race Jeff Gordon's in, Jeff Gordon could win," former Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Steve Letarte says.

It might not be as easy as it sounds.

"I have a bigger concern with the equipment of Hendrick Motorsports than I do with Jeff Gordon," Letarte said. "Hendrick has showed decent speed, not winning speed, here lately for the last couple of months. But, Indianapolis is very unique, plus it's a big race. Hendrick Motorsports always seems to rise to the occasion, as you go back and look at Pocono, I thought that the [No.] 24 had a lot of speed at Pocono so perhaps that will carry over for the entire organization at Indianapolis."

A week after last year's Indy race, Gordon was third at Pocono; Earnhardt was fourth. In this spring's race, Junior was second, with Chase Elliott fourth. Both Indy and Pocono are relatively flat 2.5-mile track. Indy has four distinct corners. Pocono, the "Tricky Triangle," can be run with a set-up similar to what a team uses at Indy.

Gordon returns to racing after sitting out since the 2015 season finale. He worked for Fox Sports for the first half of the season, and now prepares to step into the 2016 low-downforce car with a new team in a familiar organization. In one of the season's highest profile races — and perhaps one that Gordon holds dearer than any others.

He has four Cup championships and five wins at the Brickyard. To earn a sixth this weekend, he'll need to transition quickly.

Perhaps no one is as familiar with what both the Hendrick Motorsports team and Gordon face this weekend as Letarte.

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A former crew chief for both drivers, Letarte understands each as well as how the Hendrick organization operates. He joined the team in 1995 at the age of 16. He was a crew member for Jeff Gordon's championships in 1995, '97, '98 and 2001. He became Gordon's crew chief late in 2005, with his first win at Martinsville Speedway that October. In 2011, he started working with Earnhardt. He remained Junior's crew chief until after the 2014 season.

Since then, Letarte has worked as an analyst for NBC Sports' NASCAR coverage.

He points to Gordon's "illustrious resume" that includes 11 wins at the two tracks on which it has been announced that he will be racing — Indianapolis and Pocono. He sees this as a great opportunity for Hendrick, not just because of Gordon's success, but because of how smoothly he can blend in with the group.

"Jeff Gordon understands Hendrick Motorsports," Letarte said. "He still has involvement there, he knows all the players, and while he has driven most of his years for a different group of people there are still a lot of employees there that have experience with Jeff Gordon. So I think that's going to help him get up to speed as far as working within the company better than if it was another company."


Jeff Gordon with Steve Letarte, at the time his crew chief (Getty Images)

That doesn't mean, though, that Gordon is just going to step in and cruise to the front of the field.

He knows Indy as well as anyone. And he's stepping into an elite ride. But this is racing, a sport that moves at a high rate of speed. Racing at Indy this weekend could look a little different.

"Jeff Gordon is an amazing racecar driver," Letarte said. "But we're talking about racing with the smallest tenths of percentages of greatest racecar drivers in the country. Jeff Gordon is that, but we've always compared Jeff Gordon to other racecar drivers when he is in a car every week. It will be interesting to see what sort of adaptation period there will be for him to get in this car."

Gordon drove lower downforce cars at Kentucky and Darlington last year, but as Letarte points out, "not at a place like Indianapolis." How quickly Gordon adapts — and Letarte says "there's no doubt he will adapt" — will determine whether he is racing for the win on Sunday.

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That transition will be aided by crew chief Greg Ives.

As Ives heads into the weekend, he can focus purely on getting Gordon the win — a change for a team that has been trying to be in points position to make the race. Earnhardt has been within reach of the Chase, points-wise, for several races. But he has not won.

This weekend, since he will not make the start in the car, the points will not impact Junior's standings. So while the team is concerned for Earnhardt and would prefer not to be in this situation, Ives can change the focus.

"Greg Ives needs to take this as an opportunity to take the pressure off of points and points racing and make it business as usual and prepare a car to go to Indianapolis to win," Letarte said. "I think that's true — if you don't walk in the gates thinking you can win, then you can't. You might as well not go there. I don't believe that Jeff Gordon is coming out of retirement to go to Indy and run OK. I think in his mind, if he's going to come out of retirement, he's going there with the hopes to win.

"Now does that mean they have everything put together? I don't know. But that is how you have to prepare and I have no doubt that is how Greg Ives is preparing to go there."

Letart will be an analyst on on NBC Sports' Indy race. Coverage begins at 2:30 p.m. ET.

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