"Those were the most frustrating times" - When Jeff Gordon reflected on not taking Ray Evernham’s advice with Dale Earnhardt

Throughout the 1990s, Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon were NASCAR's two most dominant drivers. The two combined for seven championships in the span of the decade, bringing out the best in each other and their competitors.

Earnhardt and Gordon duked it out on the racetrack a lot, and their on-track rivalry was encapsulated in a FOX Sports documentary, Unrivaled: Earnhardt vs Gordon, a special that premiered in 2019.

On many occasions, Earnhardt and Gordon were battling it out for the race win. However, Gordon's former crew chief, Ray Evernham, recalls there were times even before the race when the two were going at it on the racetrack.

"Jeff would get out there and mix it up with Earnhardt in practice," Evernham said. "I used to tell him, 'Don't mess with him.' That's like poking a stick at a rattlesnake. You're going to get bit." (0:00 onwards)

There was a day at the Michigan International Speedway back in the 90s when the four-time Cup Series champion didn't take his crew chief's advice. As Gordon made his way out on the 2.5-mile track for practice, he realized his #24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was fast. Up ahead was Earnhardt's #3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, and Gordon was closing in quickly. Yet, Gordon recalls the exchange on the racetrack not going his way.

"I'm like, 'I'm catching him so fast that I'm not going to have any problem passing him,'" Gordon said. "So, I get underneath him going down the backstraightaway, now he's drag racing me. I'm like, 'Great. No problem, my car is so good, I'm just going to dive into this corner and clear.' I drove down in there, so did he. He drove in there as hard as he possibly could on my door and sucked me around and blew my back into the wall. Hard hit, too. It was a really hard hit because we were hauling a**." (0:37 onwards)

It was on-track moments like those where the two champion drivers butted heads. For Gordon, he recalls it being difficult times, and suggested that it was humorous for Earnhardt to watch.

"Those were the most frustrating times that I had with Dale. Moments like that at the track were ones that just pissed me off, and Dale was probably grinning ear to ear." (1:08 onwards)

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Jeff Gordon recently reflected on fifth Brickyard 400 win

In honor of Hendrick Motorsports celebrating 40 years of racing this year, the organization is looking back on many of its iconic wins. One of them being Jeff Gordon's record-breaking fifth win in the 2014 Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The win came 20 years removed from Gordon winning NASCAR's first-ever Brickyard 400 in 1994, his second career Cup triumph. Gordon said via hendrickmotorsports.com that the win was a "game changer" for his career, and to replicate that same magic in 2014 was special.

"To be able to win again and the fact that the Brickyard was celebrating its 20th anniversary, and we were celebrating our 20th anniversary from the first win, was amazing and we were highly competitive that day.”

After retiring from full-time Cup Series competition in 2015, Gordon ventured into broadcasting as he joined the FOX Sports team the following year. The California native spent 2016-2021 as a commentator and left after he was promoted to the Vice Chairman of HMS.