Jeff Gordon Wasn’t Supposed To Drive The No. 24 Machine?

Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports

When it comes to the world of NASCAR numbers rule supreme. The number that a driver has on the side of their car is just as important as the number any other professional athlete wears on a jersey or uniform. When it comes to four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon, the No. 24 is what it’s all about. Gordon has been behind the wheel of the No. 24 Chevrolet for his entire NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career.

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Although Gordon and the No. 24 have become synonymous with one another there was once a point where Gordon was supposed to driver with a different number on his car. Below is a tweet from Gordon’s former crew chief Ray Evernham in which he shows off a photo of would could have been for Gordon and all of his fans.

Gordon’s classic No. 24 rainbow paint scheme simply doesn’t look right with the No. 46 or any other number for that matter. In a recent interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Evernham explained why Gordon’s number went from the 46 above to the 24 that we all know and love today.

"Our number was originally supposed to be number 46, and they ran into some… I don’t know if it was a full-time licensing issue or whatever with the ‘Days of Thunder’ movie or Paramount or whoever. But we had to change to number 24 because we had actually built some and I think we might have tested some cars and actually had some cars with the number 46..We did a car for Buddy Baker because Buddy helped us a good bit on the speedway stuff when we first started. We had to run a car, and we just slapped number 46 on it. To my knowledge, it’s the only time that we ever had a number 46 on the DuPont paint scheme…When I went to work (at Hendrick Motorsports), the general manager at that time, Jim Johnson, I remember talking to him, and he said, ‘OK, your number is going to be 46.’ And I think even our tools and whatnot were ID’d No. 46. That licensing issue, I believe that’s what it was, came, and Sam Bass did the No. 24 DuPont paint scheme and we kind of forgot about the 46."

Thinking about Gordon in a racecar that doesn’t have the No. 24 on it is a strange thought now given everything that he has accomplished in his career. However, the car number would not have changed his success. Had Gordon kept the No. 46 there would be millions of fans all over the country right now with rooms filled with No. 46 memorabilia.

It’s interesting how little things like this didn’t seem like a big deal at the time but would make all the difference to some fans now. Which number would you prefer to see Gordon in? The historic No. 24 that he races now or the No. 46 that he would have made historic?

Christopher Olmstead is the Editor of BeyondTheFlag.com on the FanSided Network. Follow us on Twitter @Beyond_The_Flag and “Like” us on Facebook.