MOORESVILLE, N.C. (July 29, 2016) – While Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s replacement, Jeff Gordon, was making his return to competition last week at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, he talked a lot about how much communication was necessary to make a top-15 finish possible.

This weekend, at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, he focused on that again in preparation for Sunday’s race on the 2.5-mile triangular track in the Pocono Mountains.

“I’ve spoken to Dale a couple of times,” Gordon said earlier Friday during a media appearance at the track. “He [Dale Jr.] and this team have a great relationship and he and Greg (Ives, crew chief) and so he likes to FaceTime.  It seems like he is always on the treadmill every time I see him or talk to him.  He is just real interested in what we are up to and how it’s going and things we are working on.  I think also a lot of it is through this process is evaluating where they are at as a team and some of the set-ups and whether I’m going to be making the same comments as he was making when he was in the car.

“So far, I feel like it’s been very similar.  Definitely, any amount of information that I can get to help me prepare for every time I’m on the track is great information.  I’m asking everybody questions just trying to get up to speed everywhere we go including Dale.”

Gordon took the question that everyone is asking (how long will he be in the No. 88 Chevrolet and when will Earnhardt Jr. return to the cockpit) and looked it over before commenting.

“Well, we have to cross that bridge when we get there,” Gordon said of how long he will be in the car. “It was great last Friday to see him [Dale Jr.] say ‘hey, I feel good today and made some progress.’  We want to just keep going with how he is feeling.  The doctors are evaluating.  I’m not speculating anything at this time.  I wouldn’t be here in Pocono if I wasn’t committed to be there for Hendrick Motorsports and this team in any way that they need me.”

Right now, Gordon is needed to keep the team close in points and make sure the deficit that Earnhardt Jr. will face to make the Chase is manageable. He’s also there for support of his teammate and organization.

“First of all, you want Dale to have the comfort of knowing that somebody is there for him,” Gordon said. “He doesn’t have to worry about that aspect of it through this process.  Just get well at the pace that is the right pace to do it.  So, nobody is putting any pressure or time frame on that.  He may be putting that on himself more than anybody else.  Then there is the side of who is the best person to be in the car to get the most points.  And then there is the sponsorship side of it as well.  So far from what Rick (Hendrick) is telling me that seems to be me.  That is why I was at Indy and that is why I’m here.”

Gordon said he thought [current JRM driver] Alex Bowman did a commendable job at New Hampshire in his one race as a replacement driver.

“I thought Alex Bowman did an excellent job,” Gordon said. “I tell you after going through what I went through at Indy I have a much greater appreciation for him because that was one of the toughest things I ever did.  Not just getting in the race car after eight months, but trying to fill-in for Dale Earnhardt, Jr. knowing the kind of attention that it gets.  My heart was beating out of my chest because of the pressure and the eyes that were on you as much as just not being in the car.  Great job to Alex.  I will be here as long as they need me.  I say that very loosely.”

Gordon put a yardstick on what he wanted to accomplish in this stint as a super-sub for the only team he ever raced for in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

“I think what this is like for the team is getting a second opinion,” he said. “I think every driver out there sometimes would like to have a second opinion of their set-up or their car.  To me if I’m saying the same things that Dale is saying, if you are seeing the same results in qualifying, let’s say, then there are obviously some things that need to be worked on besides the driver behind the wheel.  This is going to be a very difficult thing for me to evaluate because not being in the car enough, like today we had limited practice because of the weepers [water seeping up from below the track surface].  I needed every lap that I could get, as much time as possible to give a fair assessment of where we are.

“I think the other thing is just trying to keep the excitement and spark in the team and make sure that in a time like this they don’t get down.  That you keep them up, keep them energized, and keep them motivated for when Dale comes back.  Any kind of momentum that you can gain by a good lap, a good qualifying run, a good race, they had great pit stops last week, so I felt like from a team standpoint and I told Dale this, he should be really proud they’ve got a great team.  What I want to make sure I do is give them the results that they deserve and I don’t know if I’m quite there yet, but just like last week over the runs during a race I felt like I started getting comfortable and being in the position to give them what the car was capable of.  We need to start further forward, better track position and less restarts.  Last week was just a teaser for restarts.  They will be five-, six-wide going into Turn 1 here.  I can’t wait.”