Jeff Gordon To Make 600th Start In The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 7, 2010) – Jeff Gordon will make his 600th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start on Saturday night in the LifeLock.com 400, at Chicagoland Speedway.
A four-time series champion, Gordon has enjoyed one of the most prolific careers in the sport’s history. Consider the following:
– Four series titles. Only Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson and Hall of Famers Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt have four or more series championships.
– 82 career victories. That ranks sixth all-time. One more win, and Gordon will tie Cale Yarborough for fifth. Two more, and he’ll tie Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip for third.
– 68 poles. That ranks fourth all-time. One more, and he’ll tie Yarborough for third.
– 272 top fives and 371 top 10s rank sixth and eighth, respectively.
Gordon began his NASCAR Sprint Cup career in the final race of 1992 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and has not missed a single event since. All 599 starts have been consecutive.
Below is a timeline of Gordon’s career highlights on his way to 600 starts:
1 – Nov. 15, 1992, he made his first series start. Finishing 31st, an accident ended his day early.
2 – In his first Daytona 500, on Feb. 14, 1993, Gordon finished fifth.
42 – On May 29, 1994 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Gordon won his first race. It was in one of NASCAR’s biggest events – the Coca-Cola 600.
50 – On Aug. 6, 1994,Gordon won the inaugural NASCAR race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
85 – Won another “crown jewel” race, the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, on Sept. 3, 1995.
93 – Despite finishing 32nd in the season finale at Atlanta on Nov. 12, 1995, Gordon won his first series championship.
125 – Became the youngest winner in Daytona 500 history at 25 years, six months, 12 days on Feb. 16, 1997.
132 – Led 431 of 500 laps to win at Martinsville on April 20, 1997, the highest single-race laps led total of his career.
453 – On June 25, 2006, won at Infineon Raceway, his ninth victory at a road course. Gordon is the all-time wins leader at road courses.
503 – On Oct. 7, 2007 at Talladega Superspeedway, Gordon captured his 12th restrictor-plate victory, becoming the all-time leader in that category.
552 – On April 5, 2009, he grabbed his most recent victory, at Texas Motor Speedway, leaving Homestead-Miami Speedway as the only track at which Gordon has yet to win.
