NASCAR History: When Jeff Gordon Repeated Brickyard Win 20 Years Later, Became First Driver to Do So

Jeff Gordon has achieved everything there is to achieve in the NASCAR Cup Series. The four-time Cup Series champion was a master of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, winning the Brickyard 400 five times in his career. He became the first driver to win a race 20 years apart with his first and last Indianapolis wins in 1994 and 2014.

Several race fans believe that Gordon’s final Brickyard win was his greatest. It’s hard to argue with that assessment as it was a moment when the Hendrick Motorsports star delivered when no one expected him to.

Kasey Kahne was the dominant driver on the day as he led 70 laps. However, on the final restart, Gordon snatched the lead in the race and took the checkered flag. He had a chance of doing that in an earlier restart but missed the opportunity. He wasn’t going to miss again. “God, I finally had the restart of my life,” he belted on the team radio. Team owner Rick Hendrick felt that it was the #24 driver’s day and his intuition turned out to be true.

“I’m not very good on restarts and wasn’t very good today, and I finally made the restart of my life when it counted most. I knew we had a great race car, we just needed to get out front,” Gordon had said to the media after winning the race. It was his second win of the season in which he went on to win two more races and finish sixth in the championship. He retired from full-time racing the season after.

It was not just a special moment for the driver of the #24 car. Several drivers in the Cup Series at the time felt there was something beautiful about Gordon winning at the Brickyard towards the end of his career. “To see Jeff Gordon win is pretty special — it’s kind of like Junior winning the 500 this year,” Kyle Larson had said.

At the end of his career, he finished with a whopping 93 Cup Series wins and 477 top-ten finishes in 805 races. You’d have a hard time finding a track where Gordon has never won. The Brickyard today is synonymous with the former driver of the #24 car and everyone tries to live up to his incredible legacy at the track.