A Farewell To Jeff Gordon

Jeff Gordon’s legendary career is over. Take a look back at what all he did and how he impacted the sport of NASCAR.

I’ll never forget the first time I was old enough to understand the great sport of NASCAR. I was just a young boy and my dad had introduced it to me early. I sat and looked at the cars going around the track on the television in my living room and was instantly fascinated but one in particular caught my eye. This car had fiery red flames on the front half and the word “DuPont” written across the hood. That moment happened to be the beginning of a my life as a fan of Jeff Gordon.

Jeff Gordon’s career summed up in one word would be “success,” but that is a vast understatement of the many things he accomplished as a driver. His electrifying wins, his eye-catching cars and his incredible dominance over certain parts of his career defined how much he impacted the sport of NASCAR.

It all started for him back in 1993 when he began his first full-time season in the Cup Series. His rainbow paint scheme caught the eye of many viewers and that earned him a lot of fans. Though he didn’t capture a win during the season, he finished with the Winston Cup Series Rookie of the Year award, something that was a huge kickstart to his incredible career.

From that point on, Gordon began to get better and better. Instead of finishing 14th, like he did in his rookie season, he moved up to 8th in 1994. In that same season, he captured his first win as a driver in the Cup Series. It was certainly a fitting one to start to his career considering the fact that it was at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Coca-Cola 600, one of the toughest races to win.

Then he hit the best stretch of his entire career, spanning from 1995-2001. In 1995, Gordon exploded onto the scene, winning 7 races, capturing 8 poles, and finishing with 17 top-5’s. In just his second season, he had win a Winston Cup Series Championship and that set him up for pure domination in the next three seasons.

Despite finishing 2nd in the standings at the end of the season, Gordon won 10 races and finished with 21 top-5’s in 1996. In 1997, he won 10 more races, except he came away with his 2nd Championship. At this point, fans didn’t think he could get any better, but they were wrong.

The 1998 season was Gordon’s best year as a NASCAR driver and one of the best all-time. He had 13 wins, winning 4 in a row and 7 out of 9 at one point. When he wasn’t winning, he was acting as a contender, finishing in the top-5 26 times and the top-10 28 times. That was no surprise considering his average finish was 5.7. Gordon won his third Championship that season and his second consecutive and had already changed NASCAR just six seasons into his storied career.

He slowed down a little in 1999 and 2000 but still managed to win 7 races and 3 races respectively. Though he finished below the top-5 in the standings in both of those seasons, it didn’t get to him as he would come back in 2001 to win his fourth Championship in just 7 seasons.

Over the next 13 years, Gordon would go on to solidify his position as one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history. With multiple wins in all but 4 of those seasons and consistency in his driving, the NASCAR world enjoyed seeing him hit the track every weekend.

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In 2015, Gordon announced his retirement (though he never actually called it that) as a driver and after 23 seasons, decided it was time to walk away. A few things that fueled his decision were the fact that he had two small children growing up and he wanted to be more involved in their lives. Also, he had some ongoing back issues that had given him trouble during the 2014 season.

It was later announced that 19-year-old Chase Elliott would take over the No. 24 car as Gordon would go to the broadcast booth for 2016, joining Mike Joy and Darrell Waltrip as an analyst on Fox Sports.

Gordon’s final season did not start off like he had hoped and he had lingering issues throughout the season. From missed opportunities, like leading late at Martinsville in the year before getting a penalty, t0 cars that just didn’t seem to be fast enough to keep up with the pack, Gordon had a tough time during the regular season.

He managed to make his way into the Chase and that was when he began to operate on his best stretch of the season. Though he was still struggling to stay in the top-5, his solid finishes kept him in the Chase and his inability to make mistakes lifted him through the first two rounds.

Then, he faced his best chance to get a win during the season. It was the first race of the Eliminator 8 round and that meant racing in Martinsville. Gordon had managed to stay consistent throughout the whole day before he began to get a lot of breaks.

First, Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch, two contenders throughout the day, were involved in a wreck that Gordon narrowly avoided. Then, Matt Kenseth, multiple laps down at the time, wrecked race-leader Joey Logano which ultimately led to Gordon’s first win of the season (93rd of his career) and an automatic spot in the Championship 4.

At Homestead, Gordon faced Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. With the way the new format works, he wasn’t required to get a win, he just had to finish higher than the other three drivers involved in order to win the Championship.

Early on in the race, Gordon looked strong and he even made a bold move to take the lead, which he held for 9 laps. However, after it got dark, his handling turned bad and that ultimately doomed his chances, despite finishing 6th. He capped off an incredible career that night in Miami.

Gordon was lucky enough to have a few tracks that he simply owned. There aren’t too many drivers in NASCAR that can say they were the best at a certain track and there wasn’t only one track that was special to Gordon either, he had a few where he was simply better than the other drivers on the track.

Sonoma Raceway was the first of those tracks. In Gordon’s career he logged 5 wins, 5 poles, 14 top-5’s, 18 top-10’s, 92 laps led in a race, 23 starts and 2,343 completed laps. All of these accomplishments rank as the best of all-time, leaving no doubt that Sonoma was one of Gordon’s favorite tracks to race at.

However, it wasn’t just his racing that made Sonoma a special place, it was his impact. During his early years at the raceway, road racing was not that popular and it was not as important as it was today. No one was able to go in and dominate like he could and that is one of the reasons why it ended up being such a special place. Gordon helped transform road racing into a celebration every time the Cup Series was in town.

Jul 27, 2014; Speedway, IN, USA; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Jeff Gordon (24) kisses the brick after winning the Crown Royal Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports

Indianapolis was another special place for Gordon. His hometown is Pittsboro, Indiana, which created a sense of homecoming whenever he was around. Again, at this track, Gordon accomplished many feats that were the best of any driver: 5 wins, 3 poles, 12 top-5’s, 17 top-10’s and 124 laps led in a race.

His fifth win at the track in 2014 was a rather memorable one. With 17 laps to go, Gordon was in second place and would re-start next to his teammate Kasey Kahne. As they hit turn 1, Gordon took the lead and never looked back. The celebration was emotional as he stated that he “made the restart of [his] life” in order to take command and finish the deal.

Kansas, though it didn’t open until 2001, was a track that Gordon wasn’t as dominant at as he was in the previous two tracks mentioned, but a place where he still had great success. He had 3 wins, 11 top-5’s and 14 top-10’s to finish his time there.

Throughout his career, Gordon was lucky enough to work with some of the best crew chiefs in the sport. From 1992-1999, he worked with the legendary Ray Evernham, who was a Hall of Fame candidate this past year. Evernham, the choice of Gordon’s stepfather, John Bickford, was with Gordon every step of the way and helped him through the best part of his career.

From 2000-2005, Gordon had Robbie Loomis. Loomis helped him win his fourth championship in 2001 and always provided him with great insight, since he worked with Richard Petty in the 1990’s. From 2006-2010, Steve Letarte was Gordon’s crew chief. The current commentator for NBC sports was a part of Hendrick Motorsports for 20 years and ended his career by working with Gordon’s teammate, Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Finally from 2011-2015, Gordon had Alan Gustafson as his crew chief. Though he took some criticism over questionable decisions in Gordon’s final season, Gustafson always showed pride in working for the No. 24 team and knew when to take chances in order to secure a win.