The Top 10 Defining Moments of Jeff Gordon's Career

1992 1st career Sprint Cup race

In 1992, Roush Racing owner Jack Roush expressed interest in signing Gordon, which would keep him in the Ford Racing stable, but Gordon's stepfather John Bickford had wanted Ray Evernham as crew chief, but Roush stated he selected crew chiefs, not his drivers.During the year, Rick Hendrick watched Gordon compete in a Busch race at Atlanta, and two days later, signed him to Hendrick Motorsports Gordon made his Winston Cup debut in the 1992 Hooters 500 at Atlanta, the last race of that season, and finished 31st after crashing.

1993 Daytona Twin 125's race winner

Gordon began driving the No. 24 full-time in the 1993 Winston Cup season, with Evernham as his first crew chief. Gordon started his rookie season by winning a Gatorade Twin 125's race,becoming the youngest driver to win a Daytona qualifying race.He followed this with a fifth-place finish in his first Daytona 500.

1st career points win 1994 World 600

In 1994, Gordon opened the season with a win in the Busch Clash; on lap 19 of the 20-lap race, Gordon and Brett Bodine passed Dale Earnhardt, who was attempting to pass the leader Ernie Irvan, in turn 2, and Gordon held off Bodine to win by .3 seconds.Gordon described the pass as a "desperation move" with a "one-in-10" chance of succeeding, and stated he had "to give Earnhardt a little nudge off turn two, and it worked, because Brett [Bodine] went with me and that's why it worked."He followed the exhibition race win with a 4th-place finish in the Daytona 500,and in the next nine races, recorded two top tens at Richmond and Atlanta. However, Gordon also had five finishes outside the top 30, though he was able to rebound from his 37th-place finish at Sears Point Raceway by collecting his first career victory at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Coca-Cola 600, the longest race on the NASCAR circuit, from the pole; late in the race Gordon decided to take two tires on a green flag pit stop instead of four

Winner of the 1st Brickyard 400 1994

A popular hometown victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the inaugural Brickyard 400, passing Irvan for the lead late in the race when Irvan cut down a tire.

1995 Winstion Cup Champion

In 1995, Gordon had a rough start in the Daytona 500, finishing 22nd after starting 4th. The following week at Rockingham, Gordon won the pole with a lap speed of 157.620 miles per hour (253.665 km/h), breaking the previous track record of 157.099 mph (252.826 km/h) set by Ricky Rudd.Gordon eventually won the race, leading a race high 329 laps. At Richmond, Gordon clinched the pole, but a fuel pump ended his day, finishing 36th. A week later, Gordon won at Atlanta, followed by his third pole of the season at Darlington, but crashed. Gordon won his third race of the year at Bristol, followed by another pole at North Wilkesboro. He won his fifth pole at Charlotte, but after the race, NASCAR officials found unapproved wheel hubs on Gordon's car, and fined the team $60,000 while placing Ray Evernham on probation indefinitely. Gordon later won four more poles during the season (Dover, Michigan, Indianapolis, Martinsville), along with winning at Daytona, New Hampshire, Darlington and Dover.The results during the season gave him a 300-point lead over Dale Earnhardt,and Gordon won his first career Winston Cup championship. The team's consistency was much better as well, having 3 DNF's in 1995,[40] compared to 21 in his previous two seasons combined.

1997 Daytona 500 Champion

In 1997, Gordon won his second Busch Clash; after finishing in 12th in the first segment, Clash rules inverted the field for the second segment, allowing Gordon to start third. He passed Bobby Labonte on lap 12, and dominated the rest of the race. Despite allegations that he had sandbagged to claim a better starting spot for the second segment, Gordon stated once the drivers began running on the racing line, it became difficult to pass without assistance. Later in Speedweeks, Gordon won his first Daytona 500, becoming the youngest driver in history to win the race,a record that would stand until Trevor Bayne's 500 win in 2011.

1998 Winstion Cup Champion and the most dominant modern era season ever

In 1998, Gordon opened the year with a 16th-place finish in the Daytona 500. Gordon eventually won the following week at Rockingham, along with Bristol four weeks later; from 199598, Gordon has won at least one of the two events at Bristol each year. Gordon would win a total of 13 races, a modern-era record, at Charlotte, Richmond, Sonoma, Pocono, Indianapolis (which provided at the time the largest amount of prize money in auto racing with $1,637,625), Watkins Glen, Michigan, New Hampshire, Daytona, Rockingham, and Atlanta, clinching the championship at the penultimate race at Rockingham. Gordon won the 1998 championship with a 364-point lead over Mark Martin.[54] Gordon set Cup records during the season, including four consecutive wins, 17 consecutive top-five finishes; he ended the season with seven poles, 25 top-fives and 27 top-tens.

2001 4th Winstion Cup championship

Many people questioned Gordon's ability to win championships without Evernham, especially after Gordon's 9th-place points finish in 2000. Gordon answered those doubts in 2001 by winning six races beginning at Las Vegas. In May, at The Winston, rain caused the track to become slick, which led to Gordon spinning in turn 2 on the first lap, and was t-boned on the driver's side by Michael Waltrip. However, NASCAR permitted drivers who had crashed to use their backup cars, and Gordon would win the event, tying Dale Earnhardt with three wins in the All-Star Race. Gordon would later win at Dover, Michigan (the 100th win for Hendrick Motorsports), Indianapolis (Gordon started the race 27th, the lowest starting position for a winning driver at Indianapolis), Watkins Glen, and the inaugural race at Kansas. Gordon became the third driver to win four Cup championships in NASCAR history, then second only to Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt (7 times), and with a 344-point margin ahead of Tony Stewart

2004 4th Brickyard 400 win

2004 was a huge rebound for the team. Gordon won the Brickyard 400 in August 2004, obtaining his 4th Indy win (1994, 1998, 2001, 2004). Gordon holds the title for the NASCAR driver with most Brickyard 400 victories at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with five, and one of only five drivers to have four victories at the historic track.

2015 End of the road

On January 22, 2015, Gordon announced that 2015 would be his last as a full-time driver, but did not rule out retirement entirely. Three days later, USA Today writer Jeff Gluck reported that Gordon was hired by NASCAR on Fox to work as a rotating analyst for Xfinity Series races alongside Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski

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