Jeff Gordon relives ‘The Hangover’ at Caesars

Sarah Feldberg

Jeff Gordon gets primed for his closeup amidst the chaos in a suite at Caesars.

By Sarah Feldberg (contact)

Friday, Feb. 26, 2010 | 12:10 p.m.

Yesterday, Jeff Gordon had the worst hangover of his life.

Which is weird, since he wasn't drunk.

Picture this: It's a sunny day in Vegas, and Gordon is in a suite at Caesars Palace, one of those two-level affairs with grand windows and plenty of space for the whole pit crew. From the looks of things, last night either went very well or unbelievably badly. The couches are torn and broken; there are wrenches in the flowerpots; and the Roman statue in the corner is wearing a headset and goggles. The maids — three strikingly attractive women in black-and-white uniforms and towering stilettos — are attempting to pick up the pieces, and the pit crew — still in uniform — is an even bigger mess. One has passed out face down/ass up on a broken couch. Another is out cold on the floor wearing a racing helmet and clutching a jug of motor oil with a steering wheel balanced on his chest. A third has taken to cuddling on another couch, a white tiger (Mike Tyson's perhaps?) splayed across his lap.

Sound familiar? That's because Gordon's Thursday headache wasn't just any hangover, it was The Hangover.

A crew of photographers, models and marketing wizards took over a suite at Caesars yesterday to recreate The Hangover's beloved morning-after scene a la NASCAR for a Pepsi Max advertorial spread to run in the October issue of Maxim magazine. Gordon, who will be driving the No. 24 Pepsi Max Chevrolet this weekend at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the 2010 NASCAR Weekend, took center stage for the image, surveying the chaos around him while faithfully clutching a Pepsi Max. If he'd had a hangover that rough before, Gordon didn't mention it.

But the veteran driver won't be the only star of the carefully orchestrated image. Keep an eye out for his famous car in the photo, too. Like the tiger, which was absent for today's shoot (one of MGM Mirage's flock and apparently in heat), the car will be Photoshopped back into the finished image attached to a crane and being hoisted out of the Caesars pool.

— Originally published on LasVegasWeekly.com