There’s no place Jeff Gordon would rather snap his winless streak at than Indy
Jeff Gordon celebrates in victory lane after winning the inaugural Brickyard 400 at Indy in 1994. // Archive, NASCAR Illustrated
It’s been 15 months and 48 races since Jeff Gordon won a Sprint Cup race, so Gordon wants to win anywhere.
But there’s no track he would rather win at than Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Having spent much of his life and career in Indianapolis, racing at the storied Brickyard means a lot to Gordon. It also is the site of some of his fondest racing memories.
“They're huge for me,” Gordon says of races at Indy. “I wasn't born there, but went to high school there, growing up there. Not just that, but being born in California, racing was everything to me. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indy 500, guys like Rick Mears and A.J. Foyt, Johnny Rutherford, Al Unser, all those guys were heroes of mine that I aspired to be.
“Living in Indiana, racing around Indiana, Indianapolis Raceway Park, the fairgrounds, Bloomington, all over the place, it was every short-track, open-wheel, Sprint Cup driver's dream to race at Indianapolis one day.”
Gordon not only realized that dream when he moved to NASCAR, but he made history at Indy, winning the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994. He now has a record four Cup wins at Indy.
“To be able to do that in the very first ever stock-car race there, win it, then go on to win it three more times is something that I probably put up as the highest accomplishments of my career,” Gordon said.
Winning the 400 a fifth time would be another significant accomplishment at this point in Gordon’s career. The wins don’t come as often as they used to for the four-time Cup champion.
He won six races in 2007, finishing second in the Chase to Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson, but Gordon went winless in 2008 and won just once last year – at Texas in April.
He is having another good season this year with 10 top-five and 11 top-10 finishes, but hasn’t won yet. Breaking that streak at the Brickyard would be fitting for Gordon.
“There's no doubt it would be a huge, huge victory for us because of … not going to victory lane in a while,” Gordon said. “But yet look where we're at in the points, look at the top-fives we've been putting together this year, especially recently. So we're knocking on the door. The timing might be just right.”
Gordon has climbed to second in the standings behind Kevin Harvick and feels good about the direction in which his team is headed.
“[We] had a nice debrief after Chicago last week with the team. We're having another one when I get off the phone here to talk about the Brickyard, things that we're going to be trying during practice, things that our guys have been planning for probably months that we've talked about briefly and we're going to get into it and keep it fresh in our minds,” Gordon said.
“This is a big event. We know that. We know we're capable of winning. It's definitely getting down to crunch time for us getting in the Chase. It's not just about where we're at in points now; we need those bonus points [from wins] to really prove to ourselves and everyone else that we can compete for this championship.
“I can't think of a better place to get 10 of those bonus points than this weekend at the Brickyard. This place has been really good to us in the past. With the way things are going for us, I think we've got an excellent shot at it.”
The list of Brickyard 400 winners reads like a Who’s Who list for NASCAR – Gordon, Earnhardt, Jarrett, Rudd, Bobby Labonte, Elliott, Harvick, Stewart and Johnson.
Johnson, the four-time defending Sprint Cup champion, won the race for the third time last year after Juan Pablo Montoya dominated but got caught speeding on pit road late in the race.
Gordon says there’s a good reason that the top drivers and teams always win at Indy.
“Indianapolis is a really unique race track. It's unlike any track that we go to,” he says. “Track position has always been crucial there, great horsepower.
“Track position has just become more crucial there than at most tracks we go to. It's a one-groove race track. It kind of always has been. You used to be able to get up on a guy, catch the draft on the straightaway, get a run on him, something to where you could make some moves, make some things happen. These days, it just doesn't seem to be the case as much.
“You’ve got to have a fast race car and you can't make mistakes. That's what we saw last year. Juan Pablo had a great race car. I think he had the car to beat. One little mistake took him out of it. That's what you've got to do at the Brickyard to win, is get yourself in position, have a fast race car, then not make mistakes.”
Despite his 82 career wins, Gordon knows what it feels like to let potential victories slip away. He dominated the race at Las Vegas in March only to finish second to Johnson. Gordon was in position to win at Phoenix, Texas and Martinsville as well.
“I think the only frustration I see is letting the wins that I feel like we really could have pulled off slip away,” Gordon said. “… Those are a little frustrating to me, but I'm really proud of the top-fives we've put together.
“I'd like to get back to being more dominant. We need to lead more laps. That's what was putting us in position to win races earlier in the season. We got off that a little bit. We weren't leading like we were. That's what's gonna get us back into victory lane.
“I feel like we're right there, though. We're just so close. The consistency only helps build confidence and puts ourselves in position to get more laps led and get that win.”
