NASCAR legend Jeff Gordon issues 16-word message to Hendrick Motorsports star

Hendrick Motorsports vice-chairman Jeff Gordon has spoken out about one of his team's drivers miraculously making the playoffs.

Alex Bowman entered the final race of the year on the playoff bubble, needing to either overhaul Tyler Reddick's points lead or hope that the notoriously chaotic Daytona International Speedway didn't throw up a new winner.

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Bowman's chances of the former ended before the first stage was over, getting caught up in a huge wreck and seeing his car damaged so badly that he could not continue.

In the end, five of the top six finishers were candidates to win-and-in – but it was Nashville winner Ryan Blaney who took the chequered flag, ensuring that all four Hendrick cars continue to the postseason.

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Jeff Gordon 'excited' for playoffs

Posting a series of pictures from the track on Twitter, Gordon wrote: "Love the way this team fights. Excited to see what they can do in the playoffs."

Bowman talked after the race about how the team tried to deal with the tension of waiting in their hauler while the race continued.

“We were talking about dumb stuff," he said, "trying to (lighten) the mood. And then that last restart happened, and it was like, ‘Holy cow, we’re in a really terrible situation right now'.”

He added: “That last lap was rough. It’s not a good time to be me. I don’t want to let my team down. They’ve worked really hard; they’ve done a lot of really good things. The situation that we’re in coming here, it’s (been) tough, and we crash – something that’s outside of our control. Then you just have to sit and watch.”

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