Jeff Gordon interview

As promised (but ultimately delivered tardy), here's a rundown of a roundtable interview I participated in with four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon Tuesday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Gordon was in town to promote the Kobalt Tools 500, set for March. We covered a wide range of topics with Gordon, including his impressions of Atlanta Motor Speedway, his thoughts on the Car of Tomorrow, his new team alliance with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the concept of NASCAR drivers plotting exit strategies for careers.

Sadly, we ran out of time before we could ask him about the sizzling hot photo of his supermodel wife on the pages of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue.

Anyway, here's a transcript of the Q&A:

Q: The Car of Tomorrow seemed to take a pretty bad beating at Daytona. Your thoughts?

Gordon: ''Daytona is probably the toughest challenge we have. During testing, we cracked a lot of pieces in the chassis because of the pounding that car takes. You see the car bouncing. We saw some things. ... It definitely was a wake-up call for all of us as far as the stress that we're putting on the suspension components. I don't think any place is as bad as Daytona. It's 500 miles, the corners are so big that the loads are huge and the bumps ...''

Q: Where does Atlanta Motor Speedway rank in your estimation?

Gordon: ''This is one of my favorite tracks. Here, Michigan, Charlotte ... I like the road courses, too ... Bristol. This is an awesome race track. I hated to see them reconfigure it because I liked the old track. But I've gotten to where I really like the new track almost even more. Most of that is because of the surface that's there right now.''

Q: Do you think AMS will remain one of the fastest, if not the fastest, stop on the circuit?

Gordon: ''I would think so. We saw some laps drafting at Daytona that might be faster. Overall, grip is grip. This track has got a lot of grip. And, compared to all the other tracks, I still think it will play out as the fastest track.’’

Q: At Daytona, it seemed a lot of teams were having tire-wear issues with the Car of Tomorrow. Is that a result of set-up choices?

Gordon: ''‘It's the Car of Tomorrow. This car has a higher center of gravity. We can't even put lead in the car. It's just very heavy to the right side. We're trying to get grip in the car, but yet, at the same time, we're using the right side tires harder than we ever have. We knew that going in. From a set-up standpoint, you need to be a little more on the conservative side. Your set-up can make it worse. It's really more the fundamentals of this car versus the old car. We're going to see a lot more right-side tire wear. ... The car doesn't stop as good. You have to be smoother with this car. It's harder to get the car to slow down, harder to get the car to turn. We learned a lot last year and we're learning even more now. It's driving as good as what the old car did.’’

Q: Are you getting more comfortable with the Car of Tomorrow?

Gordon: "I think it plays into my skills pretty well. You have to be a little more patient with this car.''

Q: How's your new teammate (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) doing?

Gordon: "I'm pretty excited about having him onboard. ... I've seen nothing but good energy. I've read so much about how this is going to work. I think we all kind of questioned what this is going to be like. The way Junior has handled it has probably been the biggest surprise. He's down to earth, he's humble, he's appreciative. He's not a guy who's got an ego. He's not sitting there saying, I'm the man, you have to listen to me. He's excited and having fun.’’

Q: Have you picked up unexpected fans because of having him as a teammate?

Gordon: "Typically, that would be like a sin to ask me to sign an Earnhardt die-cast or hat. I see some people, say, hey they're teammates, it's OK. We still have our rivalry and our fans. The only difference I really see is we now have team debriefing meetings, he's there. He and I have always gotten along good.''

Q: Are more NASCAR drivers coming up with exit plans now?

Gordon: "I think we all think about it. I'm seeing guys earlier in their careers are thinking about it. You see how much money is coming in and they're saying, I have to invest, I have to think long-term. Before, I think if you didn't make a lot of money you didn't worry a whole lot about it. Now, you're seeing a time frame or a lifespan of an average career in this sport. You look at guys who are outside the sport and it starts to make you think about it a little bit more. You think about where you want to be. I didn't think about it much ... (Gordon's sponsorship contracts run through 2010) Once I knew there was that number out there that could be close to when I want to step away from a full-time schedule. I don't have a full plan or anything in place, but I certainly have thought about it a lot more.’’