Jeff Gordon has won 92 races and led 24,826 laps in NASCAR’s premier division -- stellar numbers which has the four-time Cup Series champion firmly established as one of the sport’s all-time greats.
Jeff Gordon pursuing milestone Kentucky win
A Kentucky victory would make Jeff Gordon the only driver in NASCAR history with a win on every track.
Sarah Crabill/Getty Images
None of those victories or any of those laps led, however, has come at Kentucky Speedway. And in the midst of his final season before retirement, Gordon’s last crack to achieve success at Kentucky comes in Saturday night’s Quaker 400.
A Kentucky win would also give Gordon a rare distinction: a victory at every venue he’s competed on in a 23-year career, which would make him the only driver to hold the distinction of wins on all 23 current Sprint Cup Series tracks,
“It would mean a lot to accomplish that, that’s something hard to do,” Gordon said Friday. “I love doing things that are hard to do and set those kinds of stats.”
Part of why Gordon remains winless is the few opportunities he’s had to race at Kentucky. The Cup Series has only been visiting the 1.5-mile track since 2011, with just stop per year.
And it’s not as if Gordon is bad at Kentucky, either. Along with Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson, he has finished in the top 10 in all four races. But unlike Busch and Kenseth -- who own victories -- and Johnson -- who’s contended on a couple of occasions -- Gordon hasn’t really been a factor, something he’s hoping to change Saturday.
“I’m going to be disappointed if we finish second to come that close -- that would be a little disappointing as far as the stats go,” Gordon said. “But I would like to have a good strong finish here and just have a shot at it. It would be pretty cool if we pulled it off.”
Gordon announced in January that this season would be his last. To commemorate his final Kentucky race, track officials presented him with 24 bottles of bourbon from the top four distilleries within the commonwealth.
The gesture is one of many tracks have bestowed upon Gordon in this final season before retirement. Atlanta Motor Speedway presented him with a Bandolero car with the names of his two children over each door; Sonoma Raceway gave him an 18-liter bottle of wine.
But the gift Gordon would really like to leave Kentucky with is a victory.
“It would just mean a lot to win,” Gordon said.
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