NASCAR: Revisiting Jeff Gordon’s Career At Indianapolis And Pocono
By Cole Mentzel
Jeff Gordon will be driving the No. 88 car for the next two weekends, so let’s take a look at his NASCAR career at Indianapolis and Pocono.
In one of the biggest stories of the NASCAR season so far, Jeff Gordon is officially coming out of retirement to replace Dale Earnhardt Jr. as the driver of the No. 88 car is recovering from concussion-like symptoms.
At New Hampshire, the team elected to place 23-year-old Alex Bowman in the car, as Gordon wasn’t available, but once it became apparent that Earnhardt Jr. would be missing more than just one race, Gordon became “the obvious person” for the job according to Hendrick Motorsports GM Doug Duchardt.
Gordon will be in the car for at least the next two weekends, meaning he’ll be racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Pocono Raceway–two of his best tracks.
During Gordon’s career, he managed to pile up wins as he has the most all-time victories at both tracks mentioned. Let’s dive in deeper and see just how good he was at two of NASCAR’s most unique tracks. All stats were gathered from racing-reference.info and jayski.com.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Stats:
- Wins: 5 (most all-time)
- Top-5’s: 12 (most all-time)
- Top-10’s: 17 (most all-time)
- Poles: 3 (most all-time)
- Laps Led: 528 (most all-time)
- Average Finish: 9.9
Indy has always been a special place for Gordon. He won just the second race of his career there, which also made him the winner of the first ever Brickyard 400.
In a span of 11 years, he won four races at the track (1994, 1998, 2001, 2004), but it was his fifth win (2014) that was arguably his biggest.
During a critical restart with just 18 laps to go, Gordon lined up next to teammate Kasey Kahne for the moment that would go on to determine the race. Gordon got what he called the “restart of [his] life” as he cleared Kahne at the exit of Turn 2 and took a lead that he would hold for the remainder of the race.
The win stood as Gordon’s fifth at the track. That still stands as the most wins in NASCAR history and it’s tied with Michael Schumacher (F1) for the most at the track among all major racing series.
In terms of NASCAR racing, Gordon is by far the best driver to ever race at Indy. He has the most wins, top-5’s, top-10’s, poles and laps led of all-time. In the process, he has become the youngest race winner ( 23 years old), he’s led the most laps in a race (124 of 160) and he has won after starting in 27th (2004)–the worst starting spot for a race winner.
Pocono Raceway
Stats:
- Wins: 6 (most all-time)
- Top-5’s: 20 (tied for most all-time)
- Top-10’s: 32
- Poles: 2
- Laps Led: 1,040 (most all-time)
- Average Finish: 9.8
The Tricky Triangle is certainly not a place that drivers want to race at every weekend. With crazy restarts and three different turns, you have to put together a nearly flawless race to capture a win, but Gordon was able to do that six different times–more than any other driver in NASCAR history.
Just like at Indy, Gordon has some special wins at the track, but nothing quite matches his last one there. Gordon pulled off wins in 1996, 1997, 1998, 2007 and 2011, but 2012 provided one of the most unique endings to a race.
Rain was imminent when the race restarted on Lap 90 of 160. Gordon was in sixth place as the field got ready for a key moment in the race. He was able to clear Kahne and get to fifth when all four drivers ahead of him (Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, Greg Biffle) were involved an accident, leaving Gordon in the lead as the caution came out.
That would end up being the race as heavy rain came soon after. Gordon had earned his sixth win at the track thanks to a bizarre late-race wreck.
Throughout his career at Pocono, he has led more laps than any other driver (1,040) and is the only driver to eclipse the 1000+ laps led mark. He’s led at least 100 laps in three different races with his most dominant day coming in 1998 when he made it to Victory Lane after leading 164 of 200 laps.
must read: Jeff Gordon Is A Perfect Fit For The No. 88 Team
Gordon will have the opportunity to come out of retirement and run at two of his five best tracks–in terms of average finish. While we don’t know just how good he’ll be with such short notice, there’s no doubt he’ll be ready to race at a couple of tracks he has dominated in the past.