How Dale Earnhardt Jr. once got Jeff Gordon out of a speeding ticket
NASCAR drivers are pretty good at speeding, but they're usually getting paid to go as fast as they can. But every once in a while, even some of the biggest names in racing – from Dale Earnhardt Jr. to Danica Patrick – get pulled over every once in a while. But it's not every day you hear a story about them helping each other wiggle their way out of a ticket.
Well, for Tuesday's episode of the Dale Jr. Download podcast, Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon did a live Q&A segment, and a fan asked them about the time Dale Jr. talked Gordon out of getting a speeding ticket. According to the retired No. 24 Chevrolet driver, it was back around 2007 right as Earnhardt's transition to racing for Hendrick Motorsports was about to be announced.
So Gordon, the older of the then-future teammates, gave Earnhardt a congratulatory call while he was driving and then needed his help getting out of a ticket.
Gordon explained while sitting on a couch next to Dale Jr.:
"I was driving to dinner and I said, I'mma call him. And I didn't have the hands-free set up in the car, so I just call him. So I'm driving along, on the phone, we're talking, I'm congratulating you and welcoming you to the team, and it's cool. You picked up, and we're having a nice conversation. And all of a sudden, I've got blue lights in my rear window, and I'm like, 'Uh oh, I'm getting pulled over.'
"So, I wasn't sure if I should stay on the phone with Dale or not, but I said, 'No no, stay on here. I may need you.' And luckily I did because first, the guy says to me, 'You know you're not supposed to be on a cellphone.' And then second, he's like, 'And you were speeding.' And I just said – and I never do this, but I said this is the moment I've got to pull this off.
"I said, 'I know, I'm sorry. You don't happen to be a Dale Earnhardt Jr. fan, are you?' And he's like, 'Well yeah, why? What does that have to do with anything?' And I said, 'Well I've got him on the phone. I was congratulating him on something.' And he goes, 'What?' And I just handed the phone off and you spoke to him for two seconds and got me out of it!"
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