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CUP: Gordon Drives For Five
Written by: Tom Jensen   
07/24/2008 - 09:50 AM
Indianapolis, In.
 
Jeff Gordon is looking to match Michael Schumacher's record of five wins at the Brickyard. (Jason Smith/Getty Images Photo) ยป More Photos

In Sunday’s Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, Jeff Gordon will be looking to match a record that’s only been reached once since the Indianapolis Motor Speedway opened in 1909: Win five major races at the hallowed 2.5-mile track.

Indy Car stars A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears each managed to win four Indy 500s, but the only driver to win five times at the Brickyard is retired German Formula 1 ace Michael Schumacher, who won five U.S. Grands Prix prior to his retirement after the 2006 season.

Gordon, a California native who grew up racing open-wheel cars in Indiana, won the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994 and triumphed again here in 1998, 2001 and 2004. To win for a fifth time would move him even higher up than his already exalted position among the legends of the Brickyard.

“We’ve had a lot of success here, so it’s a race that I always look forward to and this team looks forward to,” Gordon said. “You gear up to win the Brickyard – pretty much every team and driver is geared up to win this race. There is just so much history here, and a win makes you part of that history.”

Like so many of his peers who’ll race on Sunday, Gordon said his fond memories of Indy stretch back to the days when he was just a youngster. “As a kid, I remember taking the
bus around here, going to the museum and just thinking how cool it would be to race on the track one day,” said Gordon. “The opportunity to race here in open-wheeled cars never materialized, and I chose to pursue racing stock cars in NASCAR.”

And he’ll be looking to add to his mystique on Sunday as he chases Brickyard victory No. 5. “Pretty much every team and driver out there, they’re geared up wanting to win that race,” said Gordon. “It’s a big one.”

Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to


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