There’s no denying that Jeff Gordon is one of the brightest stars in the history of NASCAR. But for someone who has four Cup championships to his name and 98 wins across the three tiers along with a massive cultural impact in and out of the sport, Gordon has one win in particular which he describes as his most cherished.
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This win came in the second full-time season of his Cup career as a 23-year-old in a fixture that was changed by NASCAR a few years ago, but one which may come back again next year. That win was at the IMS in the Brickyard 400 in 1994.
That win was Gordon’s most prized one.
Gordon reveals why his ’94 Brickyard 400 win was the biggest of his career
In a recent interview, Gordon opened up on the win out of the 98 in total that stands out to him, the 1994 Brickyard 400. “I think back to the Brickyard 400 in 1994, which still to this day is probably the biggest win of my career,” he said.
Gordon described that race as “a horsepower battle” between them and Robert Yates. The former #24 driver reflected back on the back-and-forth battle between him and Ernie Irvan as he said, “He’d get ahead of me and I’d get a run and use that power down the straightaway to draft up behind him, go by him and lead for a couple of laps. And then Ernie would get a run on me.”
“I’ll never forget that day and that moment because I knew that the differentiator that we had was how good our car was on the straightaways because of the horsepower we had. That was just one moment.”
Is there a new Jeff Gordon in NASCAR?
While Gordon’s success and impact may never be replicated again, let alone be surpassed, what can happen is that NASCAR finds a driver who, as a racecar driver, is like the former #24 driver, or one who can have one of those Gordon-esque seasons. According to Kyle Petty, that driver this season could be William Byron.
“He could have that Kevin Harvick, that Jeff Gordon-type season where you have eight, nine, ten wins by the time we rolled through the playoffs, they’re that type of team,” Petty recently said about Byron’s success this year.
The question now is whether Byron would go on to add more wins to his name. Currently, he is in everyone’s final 4 predictions, with many predicting he would go on to win the whole thing. But if he does, could Byron be a good candidate to be considered the next Jeff Gordon?
Time will tell.
