Jeff Gordon retired at the end of last season but the four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion confused in an interview on Friday that he would have gotten behind the wheel of Tony Stewart’s No. 14 Chevrolet if not for commitments with FOX.
“I’ll be honest, the way I was feeling about it at the time, if I wasn’t in the FOX booth, I would fill in for him,” said Gordon in the interview with FOX Sports.
“There’s obviously a lot of things and scenarios that they (SHR management) have been running through, but that’s not an option.”
Stewart suffered a burst fracture of his L1 vertebra and is expected to be out of action until May. A three-time series champion, Stewart is retiring at the end of the 2016 season.
Thus far no replacement drivers have been named for Stewart’s car though Stewart-Haas Racing has a partnership with JR Motorsports which could mean opportunities for Elliott Sadler, Justin Allgaier and Alex Bowman. Another option is Ty Dillon who is a Chevrolet driver.