Only three drivers so far in NASCAR have entered the 7 championship club. “The King” Richard Petty started this club when he bagged his seventh Cup Series championship in 1979. Post this started the era of “the Intimidator,” the legendary Dale Earnhardt Sr. Earnhardt’s first championship came in 1980 and the 7th came in 1994. The latest to join the club was Jimmie Johnson, winning his 7th one in 2016. Since then, no driver has achieved this feat.

Jeff Gordon came closest, winning four championships (1995, 1997, 1998, and 2001). Notably, no one else has entered the 4-championship club. Despite this impressive achievement, Gordon has expressed disappointment about not winning more, given his exceptional skill and numerous near-misses. Recently, he reflected on how he’s sometimes reminded of the opportunities that slipped away.

Jeff Gordon opens up on feeling dissatisfied at times

Gordon, feeling unsatisfied, is something that seems unbelievable. Because, if anything, he had one of the most decorated NASCAR careers in the history of the sport. In a career that stretched for more than two decades, Gordon made 805 race starts in the Cup Series and on 93 occasions the California native visited the victory lane. Making him the third-winningest driver ever, even Jimmie Johnson is 10 short of matching this record. Not just that, his consistency was impeccable, with 325 top 5s, 477 top 10s, and a finishing average of 12.5 over his career.

Recently, Fox Sports had an interview where Jeff Gordon reminisced about some of his past regrets. Gordon said, “I relish the wins, I relish the championships, a lot of great moments and memories that will live with me forever. But it’s also hard not to sometimes be reminded because of FOX or NBC or NASCAR or somebody putting these videos out there to remind me of things that happened at Texas, to remind me of things that happened at different tracks and races along the way that were not so good. You’re always going to wish that you had a few more wins and a few more championships if the opportunities were there. And they were.”

If we look back at Jeff Gordon‘s career, there were definitely some seasons that could have given him more championships leading him to join the prestigious club. Gordon was the most dominant driver in the late 1990s. And what makes it even more impressive is that he was up against Dale Earnhardt Sr. The 1996 Cup Series, (then called the Winston Cup) could have been Gordon’s, he dominated the entire season winning 10 races, however, had to be satisfied with 2nd place to his teammate Terry Labonte. Even in 1999, despite winning 7 times, he could only get a 6th place season finish. He crashed in the Texas race and missed a weekend after that, followed by four more 30th-place or worse finishes in the season, which led to the upset.

Gordon also came really close to bagging a championship in 2004 and finished 3rd after 5 wins. He could have also bagged a championship in 2007 when he finished 7th after bagging 6 wins in the season and finishing in 2nd place. Even in 2009 and 2015, Gordon ended the season in 3rd place. If we count all these near misses, he could have just as easily crossed the 7 Cup championship mark. However, post-2004, Gordon’s performance kept deteriorating, some attribute it to the changing formats, as this is when the playoff system was first introduced. Gordon only managed four top-season finishes.

Some also credit the downfall to Ray Evernham’s exit as Gordon’s crew chief in 1999. The pair were the most dominant in their tenure (’92-’99) together, winning three championships. More than half (49) of Gordon’s Cup career wins came with Evernham. Well, whatever the reason may be, no one can deny that Jeff Gordon is one of the greatest drivers ever. In the interview, Gordon also dwelled on how the championships changed his life forever and his time with Dale Earnhardt Sr.

Jeff Gordon dwells on his championship years

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Gordon further said, “I know they changed my life forever — big events like the Daytona 500, the Brickyard, 400 and championships, that kind of molds your career and your future and where you’re at with your team. Winning that first championship in 1995 was just huge because not only were we going up against the greats at that time, but Dale Earnhardt, Sr, one of the best of all time.”

The Gordon-Earnhardt rivalry is one of the greatest in NASCAR. ’94 was the year Earnhardt won his 7th championship, the same year young Gordon got his first Cup victory and a Cup title in the very next. No one had imagined that the 23-year-old would win a championship in just his third full Cup season, that too against Dale Sr. That year, Sr won 5 races and fell short of Gordon’s 7. The two then went on to race against each other for 8 seasons before Earnhardt died in a crash in the 2001 Daytona 500 race.

Remembering the old days Gordon said, “And to be able to go toe to toe with him (Dale Sr) and Richard Childress Racing and actually pull that championship (1995) off, from that point on, it just felt like, All right, we have a car and a team that can do this every year. Even though that wasn’t necessarily the case, it certainly was a string there for about four or five years that we were one of the top teams and went into every race feeling like we could win it, and every season that we could win the championship because of what we accomplished in ’95.”

What are some of your favorite Jeff Gordon moments? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.