Jeff Gordon interested in joining ‘Live’ with Kelly Ripa

SONOMA, Calif. – Jeff Gordon is open to succeeding Michael Strahan as Kelly Ripa’s new “Live” co-host – so long as he could continue his new job as a NASCAR analyst.

Gordon is calling his final race of the season on Sunday for Fox Sports and then will head into the first significant downtime of his professional career. The four-time NASCAR champion is in his first year in the broadcast booth. He insisted on Saturday he’ll be back next year when Fox resumes coverage of the first half of the season.

However, Gordon didn’t quash recent speculation that ABC is interested in him joining Ripa on “Live.” Gordon co-hosted with Ripa nine times during the “Live With Regis and Kelly” era.

He said he’s flattered to be mentioned, and would be interested if he could also continue his work with Fox.