NASCAR: A Look Back On Jeff Gordon’s Career At Martinsville

Every Martinsville race since 1993 has included Jeff Gordon, but that won’t be the case this Sunday. Take a look at his career at the paperclip.

Jeff Gordon provided NASCAR fans with some of the best racing the sport has ever seen throughout his 23 years of competing. It didn’t really matter where the race was being held at. Gordon was considered a favorite to win most of the time, and he was always a common rooting interest.

Gordon was great at many tracks like Sonoma, Talladega, Daytona and many other popular attractions during his time behind the wheel. That’s just another reason why he climbed to third on the all-time wins list with 93 career victories.

Though he was known for his dominance at a few tracks in particular, Martinsville will always hold a special place in his heart. He won more races there than at any other venue and happened to capture his final victory at the track during his last run in the Chase.

As a retired driver and an analyst for Fox, Gordon will miss his first race there since 1993. Throughout all of the dominant races and all of the success, the people near Martinsville Speedway will always remember his greatest moments.

Let’s go back in time and check out some of Gordon’s notable outings and statistics from his time Virginia.

The first thing to take into consideration is the finishes Gordon had at Martinsville. His nine wins are less than only Darrell Waltrip (11) and Richard Petty (15), who both had more starts. Out of all of his victories, he won back-to-back races at the track three different times.

To go along with all of the clocks that Gordon won, he also had nine poles and he was able to finish with 29 top-5’s and 37 top-10’s, all of which came from 46 starts at the track. He finished outside of the top-15 just four different times and had a streak of 11-straight top-5 finishes ranging from 2005 to 2010. Gordon ended up with an average start of 7.2 and a average finish of 6.8.

Whether he won a particular race or not, he had many opportunities to pace the field, leading laps in all but 10 races and leading at least 100 laps on 14 different occasions with a few incredible totals like 211, 313, 329 and 431.

It was obvious that Gordon loved racing at the paperclip, and for that reason, he had some very memorable days there.

Think back to 2003 when he swept the season at Martinsville, winning both poles and both races while leading 503 laps in the process. Then there’s 2005, when he went three laps down before coming all the way back to take the lead with 34 laps left and win the race.

How about 2012 when Gordon and Clint Bowyer made contact in a race Gordon had dominated? Though it wasn’t a great race to remember for No. 24 fans, it’s one of those things that will never be forgotten due to the events that would unfold later on between both Gordon and Bowyer.

In 2013, Gordon won late in the season to keep his team afloat in the Chase and in 2015, we saw him win his final race in a thrilling event sparked by wrecks, some intentional and some accidental, that opened a hole for him late. Gordon’s emotions after the race were, for the most part, not seen throughout the majority of his career, as he had secured a spot in the final race at Homestead during his final month in the sport.

It’s obvious that Gordon had a special connection to Martinsville. Just about every time he visited the track, he was putting on a show with his incredible racing at one of NASCAR’s signature short tracks.

The question will always arise as to when/if Gordon would consider making a comeback and racing in an event. There’s no doubt that Martinsville would be one possible option should he come to a point in his life where he feels like getting back behind the wheel again.

More racing: NASCAR: Four Tracks That Need To Hit The Reset Button

Though racing full-time may be over for Jeff Gordon, he will always be remembered as one of the best drivers to ever compete at Martinsville Speedway.