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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
ALL-STAR: Craving Victory - Jeff Gordon
Jeff Gordon has won four NASCAR Sprint Cup Championships and three All-Star Races...
Jared Turner  |  Posted May 16, 2010   Charlotte, NC
Jeff Gordon poses in victory lane after winning the 2001 NASCAR All-Star race. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Impala
First All-Star start: 5/21/1994
Best finish: 1st (1995, 1997, 2001)
How he made the race: All-Star winner and series champion in last 10 years

Editor’s note: Eighteen drivers are guaranteed to start in the May 22 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, which will be televised live on SPEED, starting at 7 pm Eastern. Following is profile number 14 of 18 of those drivers locked into the field.

With 82 points-paying wins and four NASCAR Cup championships, Jeff Gordon has showcased his driving talents many times over his lengthy career.

There are few if any events where those skills have been more evident than the Sprint All-Star Race.

With three wins in the prestigious exhibition at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Gordon is tied with the late Dale Earnhardt for most All-Star wins in the race’s 25-year history.

It’s been nine years, however, since the Hendrick Motorsports driver last celebrated an All-Star victory.

Will this be the year that Gordon finally breaks through and becomes the elusive four-time winner of the popular non-points-paying affair? If recent performances mean anything, it could be.

He's finished fourth or better in four of six starts entering Sunday's Autism Speaks 400 in Dover, Del. None of those performances has produced a win, however, as it’s been just over a year since Gordon’s last trip to victory lane.

While another All-Star triumph might not go in the record books as an official points win, it would be significant to Gordon’s legacy by allowing him to write his name in the history books as the race’s only four-time winner to date.

“To know that we've won it three times in the past really means a lot,” Gordon said. “And those have been all very special occasions and events for me to be a part of in the past. To do anything that Dale Earnhardt's done and be in that same category, certainly, even more special.

“We'd love to get another one. I never really look at events as stats and trying to break records and that; I look at it as it is a race that we want to win badly.”

It certainly didn’t take Gordon long to find All-Star glory. He won the race in just his second appearance, in 1995, after capturing each of the then-three segments.

Two years later, the California native spanked the field in a Jurassic Park, ‘T-Rex’- themed car that was later notoriously banished from competition after being ruled right on the edge of out-of-bounds for its experimental parts.
Jeff Gordon is mobbed by the media after his 2001 NASCAR Sprint All-Star race. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Gordon’s most bizarre All-Star win undoubtedly came in 2001 when NASCAR unexpectedly allowed him and other drivers to pull out backup cars after rain caused a major crash on the opening lap.

Gordon then promptly went out and won the race, which he considers probably his most memorable All-Star outing.

"I thought we were going to win the race that night - the race home," the now 38-year-old said. "First turn, first lap, and we're wrecking.

"But since it was caused by rain on the track, NASCAR allowed us to use our backups. I'll never forget the sight of walking into the garage area and seeing all the Hendrick Motorsports teams helping us prepare our backup car. And then to go out and win the event after that was just incredible."

He’s fallen short on nine occasions since, including 2009 when he was in contention before a spin in the final 10-lap segment ruined his shot at $1 million plus in winner’s earnings.

Gordon was racing three-wide for the lead with Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman when he bounced off Busch and slid through the infield grass before striking the wall.

His night was done, but he was hardly devastated.

Wrecks are just par for the course when a million dollars - and no points - are up for grabs.

“The attitude has always been, you know, you push as hard as you possibly can, all the way to the limit without – without having as many thoughts in the back of your mind,” Gordon said of the All-Star Race. “I mean, the thoughts are always there – you don't want to crash. But the thought has even been double that in most races because you're thinking, 'Don't crash because it's not worth it because of the points, and you need those points.'

“So now it's just push, push, push, don't wreck, because you've got to win the race, and you've got to be in one piece to win it. But if you do, you'll get into a position where that move is going to win you the race. You're going to push a little harder, and that might cause you to lose traction and lose control, and have that wreck. So those are the things you think about a little bit more.”

2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series All-Star Week • The Stars Come Out. The Gloves Come Off. • Saturday, May 22nd at 7 pm ET
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