Jeff Gordon

Jeffery Michael "Jeff" Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He drives the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger/Axalta Coating Systems Chevrolet SS for Hendrick Motorsports in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. He is a four-time series champion and a three-time Daytona 500 winner. He is third on the all-time wins list, with 87 career wins, and has the most wins in NASCAR's modern era (1972–present). He is also the active iron man leader for consecutive races participated in. In 2009, Gordon became the first NASCAR driver to reach $100 million USD in career winnings.

Gordon, along with Rick Hendrick, are the co-owners of the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet, driven by Jimmie Johnson, who won five consecutive Cup championships from 2006 to 2010. Gordon also has an equity stake in his own No. 24 team.

Gordon was born in Vallejo, California, raised in Pittsboro, Indiana, and currently resides in Charlotte, North Carolina with his wife, Ingrid Vandebosch, and their two children: Ella Sofia and Leo Benjamin.

Early career

Gordon began racing at the age of five, racing quarter midgets. Before, he originally rode a BMX bike that his stepfather bought for him. The Roy Hayer Memorial Race Track (Previously the Cracker Jack Track) in Rio Linda, California is noted as the first track Gordon ever competed on. By the age of six Gordon had won 35 main events and set five track records. By the age of 13, Gordon took an interest in the 650 horsepower-hours (Template:Convert/) sprint cars. Gordon and his family had to overcome an insurance hurdle. The minimum age for driving the sprint cars was 16. His persistence paid off with an all Florida speed weeks. Supporting his career choice, Gordon's family moved from Vallejo, California to Pittsboro, Indiana, where there were more opportunities for younger racers. Before the age of 18, Gordon had already won three short-track races and was awarded USAC Midget Car Racing Rookie of the Year in 1989. That season was highlighted by winning Night Before the 500 midget car race on the day before the Indianapolis 500. In 1990, Gordon won his second consecutive Night Before the 500, the Hut Hundred, and the Belleville Midget Nationals on his way to winning the USAC national Midget title.  In 1991, Gordon captured the USAC Silver Crown, and at the age of 20 became the youngest driver to win the season championship. He also won the 4 Crown Nationals midget car race that season. In his midget car career between 1989 and 1992, he finished in the Top 3 in 22 of 40 USAC midget car events.

Busch Series career

In 1990 Gordon met Hugh Connerty, who owned some Hooters restaurants and was also a partner in Outback Steakhouse. Connerty secured some sponsorship for a car through Outback, and they tested for the last few Busch Grand National races left in 1990. Ray Evernham was called in to work with Gordon in his stock car debut.  His first Busch race came on October 20, 1990 at Rockingham in the AC-Delco 200. Gordon drove the No. 67 Outback Steakhouse Pontiac for Connerty. Gordon ran the second fastest lap during qualifying and started on the outside of the front row of the field. Gordon would however, get involved in a wreck on lap 33. He ended up with a 39th place finish.

In 1991 and 1992, Gordon went on to the Busch Series driving Ford Thunderbirds for Bill Davis Racing. In his first year as a Busch driver he won rookie of the year. In 1992, Gordon set a NASCAR record by capturing 11 poles in one season. His time with Bill Davis Racing introduced Gordon to Ray Evernham as his crew chief. He was sponsored by Carolina Ford Dealers in 1991 and Baby Ruth in 1992.

Cup Series career

Gordon made his Winston Cup debut in the history-making 1992 Hooters 500 at Atlanta in the last race of that season; in addition to the race being Richard Petty's final race in NASCAR and the championship battle among six drivers (eventually won by Alan Kulwicki by virtue of his second place finish in the race), this was Gordon's first start in the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports that he has driven for his entire Cup Series career

Gordon began driving the No. 24 full-time in the 1993 Winston Cup season, in which he won a Daytona 500 qualifying race, the Rookie of the Year award, and finished 14th in points. Ray Evernham was placed as Jeff Gordon's first crew chief. Gordon's success in the sport reshaped the paradigm and eventually gave younger drivers an opportunity to compete in NASCAR.  However, during the 1993 season, many doubted Gordon's ability to compete at such a level at such a young age because of his tendency to push the cars too hard and crash. His last-place finish at the 1993 First Union 400 was a firm example of this theory. Also, he was given the nickname "Wonder Boy" by Dale Earnhardt, and his crew was called the "Rainbow Warriors".

1994

In 1994, Gordon collected his first career victory at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Coca-Cola 600, the longest race on the NASCAR circuit. Additionally, Gordon scored a popular hometown victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the inaugural Brickyard 400, passing Ernie Irvan for the lead late in the race when Irvan cut down a tire. Gordon finished eighth in the Winston Cup point standings for the '94 season, as Dale Earnhardt grabbed the driving championship for his 7th and final time.

1995–2001

1995 saw Gordon win his first NASCAR Winston Cup Championship.  He won it by battling 7-time and defending champ, Dale Earnhardt into the final race of the season. Many see this as a symbolic passing of the torch, as Gordon collected his first championship the year after Earnhardt won his final championship. (A similar situation befell Earnhardt early in his career, as he won his first championship after Richard Petty, whose record seven titles he would eventually tie, won his last). Gordon finished the season with eight poles, and seven victories, winning at Rockingham in the second race of the season, Atlanta, Bristol (starting a streak of four consecutive wins in the spring event), Daytona (in the Pepsi 400), New Hampshire, Darlington (Starting a streak of four consecutive wins in the Southern 500 event), and Dover, which gave him a 300-point lead over Earnhardt. The team's consistency was much better as well, having 3 DNF's in 1995, compared to 21 in his previous two seasons combined.

Gordon got off to a rocky start in 1996, but rebounded to win ten races, the series high. The 24 team collected wins at Richmond, Darlington (winning both the spring event and the Southern 500), Bristol, Dover (winning both events of the season), Pocono, Talladega, Martinsville, and North Wilkesboro (winning the final official NASCAR event at the track). This would start a three-year streak of winning double digit races.  He finished 2nd to teammate Terry Labonte for the championship, losing by 37 points.

Gordon won his first Daytona 500 in 1997, becoming the youngest driver in history to win the race, a record that would stand until Trevor Bayne's Daytona win in 2011. He won the second race of the season at Rockingham the following week. Later in the season he also won the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte and had a chance to become the first man since Bill Elliott in 1985 to win the "Winston Million."  Gordon completed the feat by holding off a determined Jeff Burton in the final laps of the Southern 500 at Darlington.  While Elliott failed to win the Winston Cup in 1985, Gordon claimed his second Winston Cup championship in 1997, completing one of the most impressive single-season performances in NASCAR history. He finished the season with 10 victories (Daytona, Rockingham, Bristol, Martinsville, Charlotte, Pocono, California, Watkins Glen, Darlington, and New Hampshire) for the second straight season. His victory at California was in the track's inaugural race, and his victory at Watkins Glen began a streak of seven consecutive road course victories. In 1998 Gordon set a modern era record with 13 victories, including the first superspeedway race held at night, easily winning the Winston Cup for the third time.

In 1999, Gordon along with crew chief Evernham formed Gordon/Evernham Motorsports. Though short lived, the race team enjoyed success. The co-owned team received a full sponsorship from Pepsi and ran six races with Gordon as driver and Ray Evernham as crew chief in the NASCAR Busch Series.  GEM only survived one year as Evernham was pulled away by Dodge, ending one of the most dominant driver/crew-chief combinations in NASCAR history. Gordon extended his Busch experiment one more year, through 2000 as co-owner, with Rick Hendrick buying Evernham's half.  After the departure of Evernham (who left Hendrick Motorsports to begin his own team, Evernham Motorsports, reintroducing Dodge into the series), the race team was renamed JG Motorsports. While winning seven times in 1999, Gordon also had seven DNF's, and finished 6th in the series standings. Brian Whitesell was named the interim crew-chief for remainder of the season after Evernham's departure in September. Whitesell scored back to back victories in his first two races.

2000 saw Gordon enter his first campaign with Robbie Loomis as crew-chief. Loomis had been with Petty Enterprises for years prior. The team struggled as the rebuilding process went on. Gordon scored his first victory of 2000 at Talladega in the spring event, winning his 50th career victory in the series. He went on to win at Sears Point Raceway (now Infineon Raceway) and Richmond. Gordon finished the season 9th in points.

Many people questioned Gordon's ability to win championships without longtime crew chief, Ray Evernham, especially after Gordon struggled to a 9th place points finish in 2000, winning only three races. Gordon answered those challenges in 2001 by winning 6 races (including a third Brickyard 400 win, and the inaugural event at Kansas Speedway) en route to his 4th Winston Cup championship.  Jeff Gordon became the third driver to win four Cup championships in NASCAR history, then second only to Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt (7 times). The 24 car's paint scheme was changed for the first time this season, abandoning the 'Rainbow Warrior' scheme in favor of a flames-themed car.

2002–03

Gordon entered the 2002 season as defending champion, but the year was far from perfect. A strong showing in the Daytona 500 was ruined when Sterling Marlin sent Gordon spinning in the infield grass with a handful of laps remaining, while leading the race. Gordon had won his 125 qualifier, but finished ninth in the Daytona 500 after the contact with Marlin. It was announced to the media during the spring event at Darlington that Gordon's then-wife, Brooke, was filing for divorce. Many think that the addition of the 48 team with Jimmie Johnson as driver in 2002, also took away from Gordon's season as the 24 team helped to build the 48 team. Gordon did not win until the Sharpie 500 night race at Bristol in August, his first victory in the night race at Bristol. He followed that up with a fifth victory in the Southern 500 at Darlington a week later. Gordon won for the third and final time in 2002 at Kansas Speedway, his second consecutive at the track. The 24 team finished the season 4th in points.

In 2003, Jeff Gordon returned with Robbie Loomis for a third season together. Gordon won early in April, winning Martinsville, and winning Atlanta and Martinsville again in the fall. He finished the year 4th in the NASCAR standings, with 3 wins, 15 Top-5 finishes, and 20 Top-10 finishes. Gordon also was in second in rank to Matt Kenseth for the championship early in the season.

2004

2004 was a huge rebound for the team. Gordon won the Brickyard 400 in August 2004, obtaining his 4th Indy win (1994, 1998, 2001, 2004). He is the only NASCAR driver with four Brickyard 400 victories at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and one of only five drivers to have four victories at the historic track. Prior to this victory, Gordon won at Talladega (ending the DEI dominance on restrictor plate tracks, as well as their winning streak at the track), and followed that up with a victory the following weekend at California. He also won at Infineon Raceway, and followed that up with a victory the following weekend in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona, his second consecutive restrictor plate win. He finished 3rd in the 2004 NEXTEL Cup points standing behind Kurt Busch and teammate Jimmie Johnson even though he scored the most total points throughout the whole season, a consequence of the new Chase system implemented that year. While the Hendrick Motorsports team enjoyed success with Johnson and Gordon finished 2nd and 3rd in the points, respectively, the team suffered a major off-track tragedy. On October 24, during the race weekend at Martinsville, a Hendrick Motorsports plane carrying engine builder Randy Dorton, team President John Hendrick (Rick Hendrick's brother), Vice President Jeff Turner, Ricky Hendrick (Rick Hendrick's 24-year old son) and more crashed on its way to the track, killing everyone on board. The team was clearly affected by this, but continued with impressive performances.

2005

Gordon started the 2005 season with a win in the Daytona 500, his third win in the event. However, inconsistency would plague him throughout the year. At Chicagoland Speedway, Gordon was wrecked by Mike Bliss, which led to a confrontation at a local airport. A late season (notably top 10s at Indy and Bristol) run put him in position to qualify for the Chase, but in the last race before the Chase at Richmond, Gordon made contact with the wall and failed to start for the chase. Despite this disappointment, on October 23 Gordon won the Subway 500 at Martinsville Speedway, his first win in 22 points races, and his 7th career victory at the 0.526-mile (Template:Convert/( 0.526 )*1609.344) track, which leads all active drivers at the facility. He went on to finish 11th in the Championship and received a $1,000,000 bonus as the top driver finishing outside the Chase. It was Gordon's first time outside the top 10 in the point standings since 1993.

On September 14, 2005 Crew Chief Robbie Loomis resigned from the No. 24 team. Loomis stayed on with Hendrick Motorsports as a consultant for Jimmie Johnson's No. 48 team through the Chase for The NEXTEL Cup in 2005. Steve Letarte, Gordon's car chief for most of the '05 season and longtime member of the 24 crew, replaced Loomis as crew chief effective at New Hampshire International Speedway on September 18, 2005

2006

Gordon won his ninth road race, the 2006 Dodge/Save Mart 350, at the Infineon Raceway – his first win of the season and fifth at Infineon.  The day before the race, he announced his engagement to Belgian model Ingrid Vandebosch.

On July 9, 2006, Gordon won his first race at the Chicagoland Speedway at the running of the USG Sheetrock 400 (this was also the first win for Hendrick Motorsports at this track).

Gordon made the "Chase for the NEXTEL Cup" with his improvements on the intermediate 1.5/2-mile downforce racetracks from 2005. Though he started the chase with back-to-back third place finishes, three straight sub-24th place finishes diminished his chanches, and eventually finished 6th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Standings.

Jeff Gordon attended the awards ceremony at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City for his top-10 finish in the NEXTEL Cup Standings. While there he collected a check for his 2006 winnings of $7,471,447 which brings his career winnings total to $82,838,526.

2007

Gordon started the 2007 Cup season off by winning his Gatorade Duel qualifying race. Due to a rear shock bolt breaking during the race on his car, he failed the post-race inspection which found that the rear of his car was too low and, as a result, had to start 42nd in the 2007 Daytona 500. He went on to finish 10th in the race despite being involved in a crash during a spectacular last-lap finish.

On March 23, 2007, Gordon won his 58th career pole for the 2007 Food City 500 at Bristol, the first race for the Car of Tomorrow. He went on to a 3rd place in the race, which gave him the points lead for the first time since the 2005 Daytona 500. At Texas Motor Speedway, Gordon started on the pole because qualifying was rained out. He led the most laps before brushing the wall coming out of turn 4 and finishing 4th. On April 19, 2007 at Phoenix International Raceway, Gordon won the pole, and tied Darrell Waltrip's modern day record of 59 career poles.

Two days later, at the Subway Fresh Fit 500, he won for the first time at PIR, ending also a streak of 21 races of non-pole winners at the track. With the win, he also tied Dale Earnhardt for 6th all time in overall number of NASCAR NEXTEL Cup series wins (second in the modern era). After winning the race, he held a black flag with the number 3 to honor the late Dale Earnhardt.

On April 28, 2007, Gordon earned the pole at Talladega Superspeedway, his 60th career pole (and third consecutive in 2007), passing Darrell Waltrip's record of 59 to become the modern era pole leader.  One day later, he passed Earnhardt for sole position of sixth on the all time wins list with 77 by winning the Aaron's 499.

On May 13, 2007, Gordon held on despite an overheating car and a late charge by Denny Hamlin to win the Dodge Avenger 500, the 78th win of his career, and his 7th at Darlington Raceway.

In the 2007 Coca-Cola 600, Gordon crashed after contact with Tony Raines and AJ Allmendinger on lap 61 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, only 91.5 miles (Template:Convert/(91.5)*1609.344) into the race, ending his streak of completing every lap during the season. Gordon finished 41st.

On June 11, 2007, Gordon earned his 4th win of the year and 79th of his career in a rain shortened race at Pocono Raceway. Six days later, he scored a ninth place finish at the Citizens Bank 400 at Michigan International Speedway, the 300th top-ten finish of his career.
On September 8, 2007, Gordon earned a place in the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup. With his four wins in the first 26 races, he earned the "Regular Season" Championship, and the second seed (teammate Jimmie Johnson earned the top seed with six wins) in the chase.

On October 7, 2007, Gordon led only the final lap in winning the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway for his 80th career victory, using a strategy of staying near the end of the field until nearly the end of the race to avoid the inevitable "big one", especially with the unknowns involved in racing the Car of Tomorrow. With the win, he swept the 2007 season races at Talladega, and won his 12th race at a restrictor plate track (Daytona and Talladega), making him the all-time leader for restrictor plate wins.

On October 13, 2007, Gordon led 71 laps and, although fuel was a question near the end of the race, he was able to finish the race and earned his 81st career victory in the Bank of America 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Finishing fourth in the 2007 Ford 400, Gordon finished the 2007 Chase for the Nextel Cup 2nd in the standings to Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson, trailing by 77.  However, Gordon's top-ten finish at Homestead left him with a total of 30 top-ten finishes for the season, setting a new modern era Cup Series record. This was the second time that Gordon lost a championship because of the Chase points system. As with 2004, he recorded the most points over the entire season, but lost the title because of the ten race championship system. Gordon has been the only driver to lose the title because of the Chase more than once.

2008

Gordon finished fourth in the Budweiser Shootout and finished third in the Gatorade Duel qualifying race. He started the 50th annual Daytona 500 from the eighth position and led eight laps, some under caution, but on lap 159 suffered suspension failure and finished in 39th position.

Jeff Gordon wrecked with 5 laps to go at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (LVMS), claiming that it was one of the hardest wrecks he's ever had, and leading him to call for safety improvements on the inside walls of LVMS and other similar tracks. The wreck has had drivers and owners from all around NASCAR now concerned with the lack of a SAFER barrier on the inside walls at tracks and the design of the wall where it allows access for emergency vehicles. Greg Biffle went as far to say that the wreck should be taken as seriously as the one that took Dale Earnhardt's life in 2001. Other drivers who have publicly supported Gordon's call for safety improvements include Jeff Burton, Tony Stewart, Robby Gordon,  and Kurt Busch.

Gordon collected his 64th career pole for the Kobalt Tools 500 on March 7, 2008, then went on to finish 5th in the race leading 3 laps.

Gordon collected his 65th career pole for the Goody's Cool Orange 500 on March 28, 2008 at Martinsville Speedway.  Gordon went on to finish second in the race after being caught up in a crash caused by Aric Almirola and coming back from the tail end of the field. Gordon led 90 laps in the race.

Gordon finished 3rd in the Dodge Challenger 500 making that his 4th straight top 3 finish in that particular event.

Gordon scored a 3rd at the Toyota/Save Mart 350 making this finish his 4th top 3 finish in the last 8 events at Sonoma.

On September 7, 2008, with his 8th place finish at Richmond, Gordon will make his 4th appearance in the Chase for the Sprint Cup earning the 10th seed out of 12 drivers.

Gordon collected his 66th career pole at the Dover International Speedway for the Camping World RV 400. Gordon led 30 laps in the race and scored a top 5, while Greg Biffle won.

On October 31, 2008, Gordon earned his 67th career pole, his fourth of the 2008 season, and first ever at Texas Motor Speedway. Gordon finished 2nd to Carl Edwards.

Gordon finished 7th in the 2008 Chase for the Sprint Cup, 368 points out of first place.  He finished winless for the first time since 1993. This was also the final season the team ran the flames paint scheme that was introduced in 2001. In 2009, the 24 car would unveil its third 'regular' paint scheme. The new scheme was not much different than the previous flames design, but the color blue was replaced with black. This was the first time in Gordon's career that his primary paint scheme did not feature the color blue.

2009

Gordon started off the 2009 season by drawing the 28th and final position of the Budweiser Shootout. Gordon finished 4th at the Shootout, the same finish he had in 2008 after getting through three wrecks, including a last lap crash. He held off Tony Stewart to win his 5th Gatorade Duel. It was his first win in forty-one races. As a result of the win Gordon started 3rd in the Daytona 500 and, after overcoming a tire issue late in the race, finished 13th.

Despite leading 64 laps, Gordon finished runner-up to Matt Kenseth in the Auto Club 500. It was Gordon's 9th top-5 finish at California.

Gordon led 17 laps in the Shelby 427 but cut a tire coming into the pits and as a result he finished 6th, despite having a shredded fender. Gordon took his first points lead since 2007.

Gordon led 35 laps in the Kobalt Tools 500 and finished second to Kurt Busch for his second top five finish of the season.

Gordon finished 4th in the Food City 500 to collect his third top five of the season and extended his point lead to 77 points.

Gordon led 147 laps in the Goody's Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville, but finished fourth. His teammate Jimmie Johnson won the event. Gordon extended his point lead to 90 points over Clint Bowyer.

Gordon ended his 47 race winless streak, winning the Samsung 500 for his 82nd career victory and his first at Texas Motor Speedway. He held off teammate Jimmie Johnson for the win and extended his points lead to 162 points. Gordon also led 105 of the 334 laps, earning him 10 bonus points.

Gordon scored a 5th place in the Southern 500; despite a loose wheel in the beginning of the race. It was Gordon's 5th straight top 5 finish at the track. He extended his point lead to 31 points over Tony Stewart.  Gordon scored second place finishes behind teammate Mark Martin, in both the June LifeLock 400 at Michigan and the July LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.  Because Martin and Gordon finished 1–2 in both races, LifeLock will pay a $1 million bonus to a Colorado family.

Gordon qualified for the 2009 Chase by virtue of his second place standing in the points following the Chevy Rock & Roll 400. However, reseeding eventually dropped him to sixth in the points.

Gordon scored two consecutive second place finishes at the Kansas Speedway and the Auto Club Speedway. He finished second to  Tony Stewart and teammate Jimmie Johnson in those races and sits 3rd in points behind by 112 points. (After Texas) He was behind 169 points after Phoenix. He finished 3rd in points giving Hendrick Motorsports the first team ever to finish 1–2–3 in the points. He finished behind teammate Mark Martin and Jimmie Johnson. Johnson became the first driver to win four straight titles, but under the new Chase points system. Gordon's four came under the season long points standings. Had this system still been in place, instead of the Chase, Gordon's Cup total would be at six championships, as he scored the most season long points in both 2004 and 2007.

2010

Gordon started off the season slow, starting with a 26th place finish at Daytona and a 19th place finish at Auto Club Speedway. However, at Las Vegas, Gordon dominated, leading 219 of the race's 267 laps. Unfortunately for Gordon, crew chief Steve Letarte opted to take two tires instead of four, arguably costing Gordon the win, as his teammate Jimmie Johnson passed him on four fresh tires. Gordon finished 18th at the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta. Gordon was leading with 2 laps to go at Martinsville in the spring, but a bump from Matt Kenseth and a charge from Denny Hamlin relegated the No. 24 DuPont team to a 3rd place finish.

Gordon scored a runner-up finish in the Subway Fresh Fit 600 to eventual winner Ryan Newman. Gordon led 124 laps at Texas, but was involved in a multi-car wreck late in the race. Gordon went on to lead 4 laps at Talladega but was caught up in a wreck with Jeff Burton near the end of the race and dropped him down to a 22nd place finish. Gordon was leading on the final restart of the Crown Royal Presents the Heath Calhoun 400, but was passed by the winner of the race, Kyle Busch. This was Gordon's eighth second place finish since his last win came at Texas a year ago. At the Southern 500 at Darlington, Gordon led a race-high 110 laps, but was shuffled back to the end of the lead lap as a result of pitting early under caution. He eventually worked his way up in the last 20 laps to finish fourth.

In Dover, Gordon finished 11th after he was a top 15 car all day in a 400 lap event. Gordon recorded a 6th place finish at Charlotte, after opting for track position over pitting with 20 laps to go. Gordon did not have a very fast car, but managed to hold on to a top-10 finish. Gordon made his 600th career NASCAR Sprint Cup start in the 2010 Lifelock.com 400 on July 10, 2010 at the Chicagoland Speedway and finished 3rd. Gordon cut a right front tire late at the Carfax 400 at Michigan, resulting in a 27th place finish, but remained 2nd in the points standings. Gordon finished 13th at the Emory Healthcare 500 in Atlanta, and remained 2nd in the points standings. The Chase started well for Gordon. He finished 6th at Loudon. after struggling at Dover, he finished 5th at Kansas, and 9th at Fontana. He earned his first pole of the season at Charlotte and he was the pick to win the race, but unfortunately, he had battery issues and he was caught speeding on pit road finished a disappointing 23rd place finish.

At Martinsville, he got wrecked by rival Kurt Busch, ending his championship hopes. At Texas, he was running well, until an incident occurred between him and Jeff Burton on lap 192. Burton clipped the back of Gordon's car, sending him into the wall, which eventually caused them to have a shove and a physical fight. He would finish 37th. In the Ford 400, he started 11th and finished 37th, due to an engine failure. He went winless again, and it would be the third time in his career he went winless (also in 1993 and 2008).

2011

Gordon started the 2011 season in Daytona driving the No. 24 "Drive to End Hunger" Chevrolet Impala, plus new crew chief Alan Gustafson. He started the race in the 2nd position but after a pileup in turn 3 on lap 29, finished the race in 28th, right behind teammate Jimmie Johnson. The following week at Phoenix, Jeff Gordon won for the first time since Texas in April 2009 (a span of 66 races), and his second win in the previous 3 seasons. Over the next 5 races, Gordon only had one top 10.

Gordon won his 70th pole at the 2011 Aaron's 499 at Talladega, breaking a 3rd-place tie with Cale Yarborough for most poles. All four of the Hendrick Motorsports cars swept the top four positions, with Jimmie Johnson starting on Gordon's outside, with the second row being filled by Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt, Jr.. Gordon drafted with Martin for the entire race. He led a few laps at the beginning of the race, but then purposely fell outside the top 30 to avoid any trouble. With ten laps to go, Gordon and Martin started their charge to the front, taking the lead at the white flag. Then, while side-by-side with Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick, coming through the tri-oval, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who had also been drafting together the entire race, squeezed to their inside. Earnhardt rubbed fenders with Martin, killing his and Gordon's momentum. Gordon finished third, in a 3-wide photo-finish won by Johnson over Bowyer by 0.002 seconds.

Over the next four rases, he finshed outside of the top 10. At Kansas, in the 13th race, Gordon finished 4th behind some fuel-strategy winners. After starting third at Pocono, Gordon won for 2nd time, his 84th career win, tying for 3rd all-time with Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison, and his fifth win at Pocono, tying him with Bill Elliott for all-time wins at the racetrack.  At Michigan he had a poor finish of 17th. At Infineon he finished second. This started a streak of nine races in the top 13. At Bristol, Gordon led 206 laps, but finished third behind Martin Truex, Jr. and Brad Keselowski due to the placement of his pit stall (at the start of the backstretch) slowing him down because of NASCAR's timing lines for the track.

The following Sunday race at Atlanta was delayed by to rain, and was moved to Tuesday, due to tropical storm Lee on the track on Monday. Gordon held off his protégé and teammate Jimmie Johnson for the final lap and took his 3rd victory of the season as well as his 85th career win, placing 3rd on the all-time win list, behind Richard Petty and David Pearson. At Richmond, Gordon had poor start, but shot back with a finish of 3rd at Richmond, with Kevin Harvick winning the race, and Carl Edwards in second. Jeff Gordon commented on how it was interesting that Paul Menard, a Richard Childress teammate of Harvick's, caused the caution by just spinning into the grass.

Gordon's summer hot streak made him a top pick for the 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup. He was seeded 3rd for the Chase, because of his 3 wins. His Chase started off with a disappointing 24th finish at Chicagoland Speedway, making a deep hole to climb out of early in the Chase. At New Hampshire Motor Speedway, looked to be a rebound race for Gordon, as he ran well in the spring race. A 4th place finish boosted him to 5th in points. At Dover International Speedway, the third race in the Chase, a solid 12th place finish relegated him to ninth in points. At Kansas Speedway, Charlotte, and Talladega, Gordon had poor finishes of 34th, 21st, and 27th. At both Martinsville and Texas, he finished inside the top 10. But at Phoenix, he finished 32nd, 118 points behind the leader.

To close out the 2011 season, Gordon was hoping to scratch Homestead-Miami Speedway off his list of tracks he has failed to win at in the Cup Series. He was fast all weekend, but Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards were the class of the field as both were fighting for the win and the championship. Gordon wound up leading a few laps and coming home with 5th place finish. He closed out 2011 8th in the points with his first multi-win season since 2007.

2012

Gordon's 2012 season started on a frightening note in the Bud Shootout. With two laps to go, Gordon got into a very loose No. 18 car of Kyle Busch and spun him around, collecting other cars. Gordon moved up the race track to avoid the spinning 18, but came across the nose of the No. 51 of Kurt Busch, Kyle's older brother. This was the first time that he ever flipped a stock car.

In the Daytona 500, Gordon finished 40th after a blown engine on Lap 81, but rebounded with an 8th place finish the following week at Phoenix.

At Martinsville, Gordon led a race-high 328 laps, but Gordon would crash on the 504th lap after Clint Bowyer collided with Gordon and Jimmie Johnson on the restart and Gordon would ultimately finish 14th.

At Talladega, Gordon won the pole position, and immediately began experiencing overheating issues with his car and was forced to ride in the mid 20's for a majority of the race, but was eventually caught up in a crash on lap 142 that took out him out along with Carl Edwards, Juan Pablo Montoya, Landon Cassill, Dave Blaney and Martin Truex, Jr.. 

In the 2012 Toyota/Save Mart 350, Gordon would reach a milestone by reaching the 23,000 laps led mark after leading 13 in the race, the most of the current Sprint Cup drivers and ranked 7th all-time. However, Gordon would then run out of fuel and ultimately finish 6th.

At Pocono, Gordon took advantage of teammate Jimmie Johnson's right-rear tire failure on a late restart just immediately before an expected large thunderstorm rained onto the track thus giving him his 86th NASCAR Sprint Cup victory and his 6th at Pocono (Interestingly, Gordon's victory at Pocono in 2007 was also rained out). This was the first time since 2007 that Gordon had consecutive seasons with at least one win.

At Atlanta, pit strategy put the 24 team in the hunt for a victory, but Gordon couldn't muster past the 11 of Denny Hamlin and wound up in second. At the end of the race, Gordon said that he wished he had "moved him out of the way" to win.

The following week at Richmond, despite troubles early in the race that mired him a lap down, Gordon rallied to finish second to Clint Bowyer, and made his 8th Chase for the Sprint Cup. At Chicagoland Speedway, Gordon started 19th and raced his way up to the 4th position, but on Lap 188 Gordon's throttle became stuck, sending him crashing into the turn 1 wall. He would then finish 35th, the tenth time in the 2012 season that he finished 21st or lower.

At the November Phoenix race, Gordon was running near the front until Clint Bowyer again made contact and forced him into the wall. Gordon then cut a tire and hit the wall, and was black-flagged for not maintaining minimum speed, but with just two laps to go in the race Gordon retaliated by intentionally wrecking Bowyer, collecting Joey Logano and Aric Almirola in the process thus ending Bowyer's hopes to win the cup title. The two crews began brawling while a furious Bowyer climbed out of his car. Bowyer frantically sprinted to Gordon's hauler, but he was restrained by officials just in front of Gordon.

Both drivers along with crew chiefs Alan Gustafson and Brian Pattie were summoned to the Oval Office. Gordon was fined $100,000, docked 25 points, and placed on probation until December 31 while Alan Gustafson was fined $50,000.

He recovered from his penalty by winning the season finale Ford EcoBoost 400 the next week for his 87th Sprint Cup victory of his career. Ironically, Bowyer finished in second place behind Gordon. It was Gordon's (and Hendrick Motorsports') first win at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and heading into the 2013 season, leaves Kentucky Speedway as the only Sprint Cup track where Gordon has not won at least one race. In victory lane Gordon gave his public apology for his behavior at Phoenix but maintained that NASCAR should have tried to handle he and Bowyer's year-long feud before the Phoenix race.

2013

Gordon's 2013 season started with a crash in the Sprint Unlimited. He qualified second for the Daytona 500 and led the first 31 laps. However, he had some water temperature issues throughout the race and would end up finishing 20th after he lost drafting help near the end of the race. He rebounded at Phoenix, finishing ninth, but then had a 25th place finish at Las Vegas. At Bristol, he cut a tire while leading late in the race, collecting second-place Matt Kenseth in the ensuing crash. However he managed a 11th place position in Fontana after experiencing problems in a crash in the early stages of the race, forcing him to drop down to 28th. However later he had a good pace and managed to resurface in top 20. His next top-five finish was a third place finish at Martinsville, finishing behind Jimmie Johnson and Clint Bowyer. In the NRA 500 at Texas, he led 15 laps, but the right-front hub broke on his car, and finished 38th.

Other racing

Gordon has also participated in some off-road events, including a winning drive with Team USA at the 2002 Race of Champions. He was slated to run it again in 2004 against Formula One Champion Michael Schumacher but was sidelined by the flu, and Casey Mears took his place. In 2005, Gordon competed in the Race of Champions event again, this time held in Paris, France, where he was partnered with famed motocross racer/X Games winner Travis Pastrana. In 2007, Gordon competed in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona for the first time. He raced the No. 10 SunTrust Pontiac Riley for Wayne Taylor Racing. His teammates consisted of Max Angelelli, Jan Magnussen, and Wayne Taylor. His team went on to finish third, despite problems, two laps behind the winning team of Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Pruett, and Salvador Durán.

Gordon won one race in IROC at Daytona International Speedway in 1998. In the race, Gordon led only two laps, but was the race leader by lap 30.

In June 2003, Gordon went to Indianapolis Motor Speedway to take part in a test with then-F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya. The two switched rides, with Gordon driving an F1 car for the first time. Montoya would eventually join the NASCAR Cup series in 2007.

Sponsorship and paint

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The Rainbow Warriors doing a pit stop in 1997

Gordon and his team have carried the nickname "The Rainbow Warriors" throughout the years. He has always carried DuPont as a sponsor. From 1993 to 2000, Gordon carried a rainbow scheme that got the team their nickname.  Throughout the years, Gordon has sometimes carried different paint, such as Jurassic Park the ride in 1997, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace in 1999, and Snoopy in the 2000 Brickyard 400, and a Superman theme.  In 1997, Gordon signed a long-term contract with Pepsi that is still in place today.  Every year Gordon has driven a car with the Pepsi scheme (he almost always has a car with a Pepsi paint scheme at a night race, particularly Daytona International Speedway in July). In 2001, Gordon debuted a new scheme designed by NASCAR artist Sam Bass, which kept a blue base but changed the rainbow pattern to flames. In 2002, Gordon raced with a special scheme in honor of DuPont's 200th Anniversary. In 2006, Gordon acquired a new sponsor, Nicorette.  In 2007, Gordon increased his partnership with Nicorette, and ran the paint scheme in 4 races.  At Talladega in 2007, Gordon had a fan design contest. The design got a real treat, as Gordon won the race.  Since 2007, Gordon has had the same design with different colors. (e.g. Nicorette scheme, green and yellow flames). Gordon will occasionally run a scheme that will support a different type of DuPont paint such as Cromax Pro.

Gordon announced that the primary scheme of the DuPont No. 24 Chevrolet was to change for 2009 & beyond on the QVC show For Race Fans Only. The 2009 scheme kept the flames format but the colors were radically changed to red and orange flames on a black base color. The new 2009 DuPont paint scheme was unveiled on NBC's Today show. In 2009, the National Guard signed a contract with Gordon, replacing Nicorette. The National Guard was the primary sponsor on Gordon's car for 6–8 races per season through 2010. Occasionally, a one-race sponsor steps in to sponsor Gordon's car for one race. For example, Gordon ran a Megatron scheme at Charlotte in the summer of 2009 to promote the movie Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen that was soon to come out on June 24, 2009.

Hendrick Motorsports owner, Rick Hendrick, said in November 2009 that he is working on signing a contract extension with DuPont, Gordon's primary sponsor since the beginning of his career. DuPont's current contract with Jeff Gordon expired at the end of 2010, and Hendrick said he wants it to be Gordon's primary sponsor for the rest of his career. In 2010, reports surfaced that Hendrick Motorsports was in talks with Walmart to be a sponsor for the No. 24 car, the deal never materialized. In October 2010, Hendrick Motorsports announced a scaled-down three-year extension of its sponsorship agreement with DuPont: DuPont will be Gordon's primary sponsor for 14 races, with AARP picking up 22 of the remaining races and long-term sponsor Pepsi continuing as primary sponsor for 2 races. In 2012 at Bristol, online game developer Zynga teamed with AARP and Gordon ran a FarmVille-themed scheme. Gordon also had a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle paint scheme on his car for the race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on October 13, 2012. In 2013, DuPont Performance Coatings was sold to Carlyle Group and became Axalta Coating Systems, which will run with Gordon for 14 races.

Personal life

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Gordon with first wife Brooke

Gordon's parents are Carol Ann Bickford (née Houston) and William Grinnell Gordon of Vacaville, California. He has an older sister named Kim. He graduated from Tri-West Hendricks High School in 1989.

Gordon met first wife Brooke Sealey after he won a Busch race. Sealey was then a college student and had been present as Ms. Winston in the victory lane in 1992. The pair began dating in secret, due to a rule that did not allow drivers to date Ms. Winston, and they were married in 1994. In 2003, Gordon's divorce from Sealey became tabloid fodder. In court papers, she asked for "exclusive use of the couple's oceanfront home, valued at $9 million, as well as alimony, two cars and periodic use of their boats and an airplane."

Gordon was introduced to Ingrid Vandebosch by a mutual friend in 2002, but they did not begin dating until 2004. Gordon announced their engagement on June 24, 2006, at a croquet event at Meadowood Resort in St. Helena, California. According to Gordon, they had kept the engagement secret for the following 30 days.  Gordon and Vandebosch were married in a small, private ceremony in Mexico on November 7, 2006. On June 20, 2007, Vandebosch gave birth to their first child, Ella Sofia Gordon in New York City. On February 4, 2010, Gordon revealed that he and his wife are expecting their second child in August, and on March 16, he revealed that the baby is a boy. Gordon had Scott Pruett ready to step into the 24 at Watkins Glen because his wife was due to give birth the weekend of August 8.  On August 9, Vandebosch delivered their son, Leo Benjamin Gordon, at 8:53 am. He weighed 7 lbs., 2 oz., and was 19 inches long.

In 1999, Gordon established the Jeff Gordon Children's Foundation to help support children facing life-threatening and chronic illnesses. In 2007, Gordon, along with Andre Agassi, Muhammad Ali, Lance Armstrong, Warrick Dunn, Mia Hamm, Tony Hawk, Andrea Jaeger, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Mario Lemieux, Alonzo Mourning, and Cal Ripken, Jr. founded Athletes for Hope, a charitable organization which helps professional athletes get involved in charitable causes and inspires millions of non-athletes to volunteer and support the community.

Gordon is a Christian. He has talked about how in the early 1990s he got curious and followed some drivers to the weekly chapel one week, which is how he first started to learn more about God.

Awards and honors

He was inducted in the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame at the January 10, 2009, Chili Bowl Nationals race at Tulsa. Most recently Gordon was inducted into the Watkins Glen International Hall of Fame because of his outstanding success on the track. It was announced in 2009 that Gordon would receive the Silver Buffalo Award, the Boy Scouts of America's highest award for his work as a Scout Recruiter and humanitarian work. Two days before the 2012 Pennsylvania 400, Gordon announced that he will be the first NASCAR driver to be awarded the Heisman Humanitarian Award for his work in children's causes.                            

In 2012, Interstate 85 in North Carolina from Charlotte to Mecklenburg/Cabarrus was named Jeff Gordon Expressway in his honor.

References

This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Jeff Gordon. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.