14: Jeff Gordon’s Traffic Ticket
NASCAR drivers are formidable rivals on the track, but in real life, they form some close bonds. Earnhardt Jr. was working overtime to win over one of the biggest names in the business. Jeff Gordon detailed in the Dale Jr. Download how Earnhardt got him out of a traffic ticket one night “I was driving to dinner, and I said,’ I’ma call him,” Gordon explained on the Dale Jr. Download, according to USA Today. “And I didn’t have the hands-free setup in the car, so I just call him. So I’m driving along, on the phone, we’re talking, I’m congratulating you and welcoming you to the team, and it’s cool. You picked up, and we’re having a nice conversation. And all of a sudden, I’ve got blue lights in my rear window, and I’m like, ‘Uh oh, I’m getting pulled over.”
“The police officer explained that not only was Gordon using a cell phone while driving, but he was also speeding. At that moment, though, the driver pulled an ace out of his sleeve. “I said, ‘I know, I’m sorry. You don’t happen to be a Dale Earnhardt Jr. fan, are you?’ And he’s like, ‘Well yeah, why? What does that have to do with anything?’ And I said, ‘Well, I’ve got him on the phone. I was congratulating him on something,” Gordon continued. “And he goes, ‘What?’ And I just handed the phone off, and you spoke to him for two seconds and got me out of it!” Dale Jr. then quipped that he was trying to make a good impression on his new teammate. And according to Gordon, it worked.