Top moments of Jeff Gordon’s 23-year career

In a career that spanned 23 years across three decades, Jeff Gordon created enough indelible memories to fill a highlight reel a hundredfold. Be it at Daytona or Darlington, Charlotte or Indianapolis, the four-time NASCAR Cup champion won every race of significance and along the way earned a place not just as of one stock car racing’s all-time greats but across the motor sports spectrum.

Thursday Gordon announced he will retire after the 2015 season, so let’s take a look at some of the moments that defined Gordon’s illustrious career.

1993 -- Daytona 500

As a 21-year-old with a really bad wispy mustache, Gordon did what no rookie had done previously: lead the opening lap of the Daytona 500.

1994 -- First Cup Series victory

Following a sensational rookie season the year before, it was only a matter of time before Gordon broke through and grabbed his first win in NASCAR’s top division. That occurred in the Coca-Cola 600, the sport’s longest race, where a late gamble by crew chief Ray Evernham to take just two tires propelled Gordon to Victory Lane.

1994 -- Winner of the inaugural Brickyard 400

Since opening its doors just after the turn of the 20th century, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway had been restricted to open-wheel cars only, with NASCAR not permitted to compete on the historic 2.5-mile track. But that changed in 1994, as stock cars took to the famed oval for the first time. And fittingly, the winner of that race was a driver who had moved to Indiana as a teenager.

1999 -- Outduels Rusty Wallace, Dale Earnhardt for Daytona 500 win

By 1999 Gordon was a three-time Cup champion and had won the Daytona 500 once previously. His second triumph in the “Great American Race” came two years after his first and saw him complete a brazen pass of Rusty Wallace in Turn 1 to snatch the lead with 11 circuits remaining and then fend off a Dale Earnhardt on the final lap.

2003 -- Guest hosts Saturday Night Live

A household name due to his success on and off the track, Gordon’s popularity was such he was asked to be the guest host on Saturday Night Live.

2012 -- Intentionally wrecks Clint Bowyer, triggers garage brawl

The bad blood between Clint Bowyer and Jeff Gordon had started earlier in the year when Bowyer started an accident, costing Gordon a potential win at Martinsville Speedway. Gordon would exact his revenge by intentionally wrecking Bowyer in the penultimate race of the season, which ignited a garage fight between their respective teams.

2013 -- Gordon stars in Test Drive commercial

As part of a commercial for sponsor Pepsi, a disguised Gordon took an “unsuspecting” car salesman on a wild test drive.

2014 -- Pit road fight vs. Brad Keselowski

Upset with an aggressive move by Brad Keselowski, which knocked him out of the way, resulted in a flat tire and ultimately, cost him a chance to win the 2014 Sprint Cup championship, Gordon confronted Keselowski on Texas Motor Speedway’s pit road. The outcome was one of the wildest brawls in NASCAR history.