NASCAR: The Darker Side Of Jeff Gordon

Keselowski gets creamed.

It was hard to choose between this fight and Gordon’s fight with Clint Bowyer at Phoenix, but I feel that this one was a little bit more personal for Gordon, which made this the better fight of the two. I also felt that since Gordon actually got a few lucky punches in on Keselowski, that this should be considered the most violent incident of his career.

With that being said, it was the fall of 2015 and both Gordon and Keselowski were desperately vying for a spot in the championship round of The Chase. Both drivers had traded the lead throughout the night, with neither of giving an inch in the process. Finally, with about 20 laps to go, Jeff Gordon got into Keselowski during a restart, causing Gordon to cut a tire and bring out a caution. Gordon was not happy about this, especially with The Chase cut off coming the very next week at Phoenix. Gordon proceeded to make his way to Keselowski’s car and try to talk to him about the incident on the track. Keselowski seemed to shrug Gordon off though and then turned his back on the four time champion.

That decision proved to be a stupid one, as Harvick, who was watching the whole thing, pushed Keselowski into Gordon, causing the two to trade blows. Crew members eventually got involved and one even put Keselowski in a choke hold and dragged him to the ground. It was a chaotic scene to the say the least. After the altercation, both men were visibly beaten and even one had a fat lip during their interview. Gordon got a few more pot shots in on Keselowski, telling reporters that he didn’t know how Keselowski was able to win a championship while driving like that, and how he was glad Johnson beat Keselowski.

While I do not wish to disparage the name of a great legend with this story, I do hope that fans will take a minute to realize that Gordon wasn’t always the clean-shaven, soft-spoken and gentle guy we see in front of us today. Who knows, maybe Gordon has matured since his on track incidents in previous years, but I just want this to serve as reminder that Gordon hasn’t always acted like the perfect legend that many have claimed him to be.