22 Years Ago Hendrick Motorsport Legend and Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon Dominated in Indiana

It’s the summer of 2001. NASCAR fans have gathered around the 2.5-mile-long, rectangular-oval track of Indiana. The occasion? Brickyard 400 of the NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now Sprint Cup). Besides the 160 laps of pure speed and thrill, the race will soon witness Jimmy Spencer getting his first series pole in seven years, nearing a speed of 180 mph.

But August 5th is special for a different reason. A 30-year-old brown-haired man, with a chiseled jawline and a firm resolve in his eyes, seizes his third Brickyard 400 victory. 22 years later, the entire NASCAR community, along with Hendrick Motorsports, is commemorating the valiant win.

Jeff Gordon cruised down the victory lane for the third time at the event

The NASCAR Hall of Famer started the race from the 27th spot. 109 laps down, Gordon scurried along the pack and took the lead for the first time in the race. However, a round of green flag pit stops pushed him back to the fifth. The number 24 team, pioneered by crew chief Robbie Loomis, took a two-tire-change advantage when the yellow flag came out for the sixth time. This helped the HMS star gain a few more valuable positions.

On the next restart, Jeff Gordon lined up second and steered forth to the inside of Sterling Marlin around turn 1 and grabbed the lead. Following that, Jeff dominated the last 25 laps en-route to the checkered flag. With this glorious victory, Jeff Gordon became the first-ever NASCAR driver to win thrice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Coming out of his car after the victory, a reporter asked Gordon, “How does it feel to be 30?”

“I think I got a few new gray hairs after today.” Gordon took a sip from the bottle of Pepsi in his hands and laughed.

He accredited the win to the decision of changing two tires in the pit lane. According to him, had it not happened, he would have been caught in the traffic and would have never managed to come out in the front.

“I just never dreamed, at the beginning, we were way off I think most of just being in traffic, more so than the car being off,” he said, “Here lately we hadn’t had to make pit strategy things go for us but today that was the key…we took two…it was absolutely the perfect thing to do.”

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The win at IMS marked the 56th career victory for Jeff Gordon. However, Brickyard 400 and Indianapolis Motor Speedway are special for the current vice-president of Hendrick Motorsports, for another reason – and that too, an emotional one.

The story of the Smoke and the Wonder Boy

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There was a time when Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon hated each other. The race at Watkins Glen back in 2000 is one of the several instances when things got heated up between the two. Gordon started at Stewart’s tail. While Gordon attempted to take Tony on the second lap, they contacted each other three times.

The last one proved to be detrimental for Gordon as it was hard enough to push the #24 into the guardrail, causing significant damage. To make things worse, fans found their trailers parked next to each other and naturally, the beef began.

“You busted my f*****g b*tt about taking it easy at the beginning,” Stewart said, pointing his fingers at Gordon.

“Hey, buddy,” Gordon snapped, “Speed up and you won’t have that problem.”

Crew members held them off as Tony attempted to charge at Gordon.

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However, all’s well that ends well. Things ended on a different note for these two NASCAR legends. Tony and Gordon paid tribute to each other after the checkered flag dropped on the former’s last Brickyard 400. They drove side by side, raising their thumbs to each other.

Jeff Gordon had come out of his retirement to replace Dale Earnhardt in that race due to the latter suffering from concussion-like symptoms. After the race ended, both hugged and with that, the NASCAR fans at Indianapolis got all choked up.

After the race, the owner of Stewart-Haas Racing opened up to the reporters about his last race at Indianapolis. His voice trembled with emotion and respect for his rival turned friend as he said, “That just ranked in the top 3 through these moments of my 18 years in this series… that’s a moment I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”