During his initial years in NASCAR, Jeff Gordon became a stern rival of Dale Earnhardt. Earnhardt was at his prime at the time, and facing tough resistance from a young Gordon seemed out of character for the seven-time Cup Series champion.

As a result, there had been several instances of rivalry between them, and as per Gordon, some of them were “manufactured”.

Gordon recently sat down to discuss NASCAR and his career on the Racin’ With The Boys podcast. There, he opened up about his biggest regret with Dale Earnhardt: having questioned him about the manufactured rivalry.

“I would do an interview, and they go, well, ‘Hey, we were just talking to Dale and Dale said, well, Rainbow Warrior, Wonder Boy’ and just all these nicknames he had for me,” Gordon said.

“What are they going to do if he wins the championship? He can’t win the championship. What are they going to serve milk at the championship, right? I mean, like it was just constant. Again, I didn’t want to get involved in that.”

Following this, he shed light on how the media made him the primary rival of Earnhardt at the time. Even when they were not fighting for the title, their media antics made one, and this was what made him regret not having enough time to question him.

“I kind of wish, I had a little bit more because I do think he was doing it because he knew it was working, not just to get under my skin, but it was working for the media. It was working for NASCAR and the growth and fans. And of course he could get away with a lot more than most people could too because they’ve forgiven me. So I think that that’s what I’d love to know is how much of it was manufactured,” he further added.

Notably, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt were rivals for nearly a decade. To be exact, right from 1992, a few months after Jeff Gordon made it big in the Cup Series, Earnhardt was already an established driver.

Their rivalry remained till Earnhardt passed away tragically following the on-track accident at the 2001 Daytona 500. During their rivalry, Dale Earnhardt won two titles in 1993 and 1994, while Jeff Gordon claimed the 1995, 1997, 1998, and the 2001 titles.

Jeff Gordon on his rivalry with Dale Earnhardt: “100 percent real”

Last year Jeff Gordon opened up about his rivalry with Dale Earnhardt. Speaking about it in an interview with USA Sports Today, the former NASCAR driver said:

“It was 100 percent real to me because I was just a young driver coming into NASCAR and all I wanted to do is focus on my career, winning races for my team and hopefully being a champion one day, which was even beyond my wildest dreams at that time.”

Following this, he mentioned how unique a character Dale Earnhardt was, and how he truly lived up to the name of the Intimidator. However, his untimely passing ended his racing career prematurely, but left a long-lasting legacy on the sport.