Don’t call it a comeback.

One of NASCAR’s finest – Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon – returned to the track this Sunday to race at Talledega Superspeedway.

The race marked the virtual debut for Gordon, who raced on a rig he borrowed from Clint Bowyer’s son, Cash.

“I guess Jeff can use my rig this weekend,” said Cash. “But as soon as you get done, I want it back!”

Those two had way too much fun today, even with all their struggles, and yes, there were a lot of them.

Typically, you can expect a “big one” at Talladega because of the track’s design to group multiple cars into tight spaces, and that happened early in lap 11 when Cup Series driver Ty Dillon made contact with 2013 Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to trigger a series of unfortunate events – and Gordon was right in the middle of it.

“Woah, Jeff Gordon up in the air flipping several times!”

Bowyer – despite his seemingly endless struggles each week, usually involving Cup Series driver Bubba Wallace – somehow made it out of this wreck unscathed.

And his reaction from inside his rig during the first big one of the day was priceless.

Bowyer was doing so well, but unfortunately pit stopping isn’t optional on the virtual track, and Clint didn’t listen to his car.

He blew it – literally.

“Oh no, it’s blown up! Well, you didn’t pit when I told you to pit. What did your gauges show, Clint? Was that little red light blinking any indicator?”

Gordon got a laugh out of that one, but he wasn’t chuckling for long. Jeff got clipped by 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year Chase Elliot and unfortunately, it meant the end of Gordon’s day.

If we were Elliot, we’d be a slightly terrified – it’s not everyday you wreck your boss and live to tell the tale.

“I’m in big trouble,” said Gordon. “I’ve got no resets … but we will see. I’ll get back to pit road and see what happens.”

Our winner, Alex Bowman wasn’t involved, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t having problems of his own.

Fuel levels were a concern, although he decided to roll the dice and forgo pit road – living dangerously. We like it.

The risk was worth the reward, and here’s to our 2020 virtual Talladega winner – and of course, his dog, Finn.

While Jeff Gordon didn’t make it to Victory Lane, he loved his first race out on the virtual track:

But who are we kidding, we all did!

This marks the third week in a row that winners have come from Hendrick Motorsports – clearly, that team knows something we don’t.