NASCAR’s Five Modern Day Villains

Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

Jeff Gordon

I know what you’re thinking, why in the hell would Jeff Gordon be on a list of modern day villains? Well, the answer is quite simple actually, and it has a lot to with Gordon’s actions during the closing years of his Sprint Cup career. While some of these may not have even been his fault, how he reacted showed a villainous side to the four time champion.

First it was the fist fight in Texas with Jeff Burton in 2010. Burton had accidently ran into Gordon during a caution and instead of talking about the incident, he decided to land a few punches on Burton and scream in his face until officials could pull them away.

The next incident happened at Phoenix in 2012 with Clint Bowyer. The two drivers had multiple incidents with each other throughout the season and Gordon felt like it was finally time for a little payback. Unfortunately for Boywer, that payback involved punting him into the wall and taking him out of championship contention in the final race of the season. Needless to say that Gordon cost Bowyer a championship that year.

Finally there was the incident at Texas between Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski. Keselwoski and Gordon were both battling for position during a restart, when the two drivers made contact with each other. The contact caused Keselwoski’s fender to rub one of Gordons tires, making Gordon lose control of his car and bringing out the final caution of the race.

Gordon went to have words with Keselowski after the race on pit road, but ended up coming to blows with the former Sprint Cup Champion. An all-out brawl ensued and let both drivers, along with their teams pretty beaten and battered after it was all said and done.

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While Gordon doesn’t fit the usual profile of a villain in the sport of NASCAR, his quick temper and abrupt actions in his later years of racing are more than enough to capture him the number one spot on this list.