Jr. admits he can’t fill daddy’s shoes
What are the expectations for you at Hendrick?
“To win. I think the expectations will be for us to contend for championships and to be there year after year, contending for those championships. I would not dodge the pressure or dodge the opportunity to put myself in the best situation just because of the fear of failing to do that."
What about your relationship and your fans’ relationship with Jeff Gordon?
“I think that we can still have a healthy rivalry within the walls of Hendrick Motorsports. I race him with respect. I never run into him, he never runs into me. We get aggressive, and we get upset with each other on the racetrack, but rarely. My fans and his fans can still draw a line in the sand between each other."
What will people say if you don’t win?
“He wasn’t as good as his daddy. There is no argument there. I’m sure in a lot of people’s eyes if I don’t win a championship I will have failed. I do want to win a championship, I want that trophy, you know. I want to have that for myself."
What would your dad say about this situation?
“He would be mad that I’ve left DEI, he would be upset that situation went down. But I believe at the end of the day that he’ll be proud of everything that I’ve ever done … that I was my own man and I made my own decisions."
On not going to Richard Childress Racing
“Put yourself in my shoes. That was not my number, that’s my dad’s number. The things I struggled with there were the constant comparisons to my father, the constant discussions about my father and I don’t think I could’ve been that close to it for all those years, you know what I’m saying?"