Rick Hendrick made the suggestion in casual conversation with Jeff Gordon. Call it a desperation pass.
"What are you doing next week?" he asked, trying to find a fallback plan in case Dale Earnhardt Jr. is unable to drive for a second consecutive week because of continued concussion-like symptoms.
"He said he'd be in Indy for one of the appearances he has to make," Hendrick said. "I said, 'Well, bring your driver's uniform just in case.' He said, 'Are you kidding?' And I said, 'No, I'm serious.' So if Dale can't go then Jeff is ready to step in."
And so there you go. The perfect storm of good and bad for the Hendrick Motorsports team.
The good: Gordon, a four-time Cup season champion who retired at the end of the 2015 season, is ready to step in should Earnhardt be unavailable for the 400-mile race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The bad: Earnhardt is still hung up physically, not only putting his chances of qualifying for the Chase in peril but raising questions about his long-term future.
Things are understandably a bit fuzzy right now. Earnhardt missed Sunday's race at New Hampshire after suffering balance issues and nausea. Presumably, he is still feeling the sting of crashes in Michigan and Daytona.
But there's also concern that this is becoming a recurring issue because Earnhardt missed two races in 2012 for concussion-related symptoms as well. The encouraging news is that a test that measures cognitive function showed optimistic results, but the game plan is still TBA for Earnhardt and Hendrick Motorsports.
"I take my health and quality of life as a top priority. ... I am going to take this slow and strictly take the advice of my doctors," Earnhardt said during his weekly race recap podcast, "The Dale Jr. Download."
It was be the epitome of mixed emotions for Gordon to get back in a Hendrick car. That was Gordon's only team in his NASCAR Cup career that spanned 23 full-time seasons. And he still has a business stake in the Hendrick.
It would be an easy fit, under the most difficult conditions.
"I think Jeff will do well," said team owner Hendrick. "He's won that race a lot of times. I expect if he gets in the car, he might be a little bit rusty. But we've got a lot of practice time and I don't think it'll take Gordon long to get back in the groove."
Gordon will have a few days to get over some jet lag if indeed he does drive in Indy. He was traveling back from Europe on Tuesday.
But that's not the pressing physical concern at Hendrick Motorsports these days.
"He wants to race for a long time, so we are going to let the doctors make those decisions," Hendrick said of Earnhardt. "It's really hard at first and then the more you think about it it's the right thing to do for him and it's the right thing to do for the team and everyone else. He wants to get back and we want him back. We will just take it day by day."
