To win the Daytona 500 once, etches a driver’s name in racing immortality.
However, for the select few to experience the exuberance of triumph multiple times in the Great American Race, it’s a feeling that only grows sweeter.
For 2019 NASCAR Hall of Fame Inductee Jeff Gordon, the emotion of hoisting the famed Harley J. Earl Trophy came three times during his illustrious NASCAR Cup Series career.
While each victory had its special moments, the uniqueness of each winning scenario allowed the four-time Cup Series champion to enjoy the triumph in a multitude of ways.
“I am very fortunate to be able to win it three times. I think I have a greater appreciation for winning it three times after losing it for the next 10 or so years after the last win,” Gordon told SPEED SPORT. “The first one is just overwhelming, just blown away.
“If you look at where I was at, our team was at, at that point, we were just crushing everything. We were winning a lot. We were winning championships. So, we had a tremendous amount of confidence.
“When we won it in 1997, it was overwhelmed, but at the same time it’s like, ‘Yeah, this is the ride that we are on right now. There’s no reason why we can’t just go win it every year.’ But obviously that is much harder to do than you think.”
Aboard the polarizing rainbow-colored No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet, Gordon and the Hendrick Motorsports team were on a tear in the mid-1990s, securing three titles, and countless victories.
A second trip to victory lane in the 500-mile event came in 1999.
“I was able to go, ‘OK, I know how great this is, I know what this feels like, and I need to enjoy it a little bit more, take it all in a little bit more. Now I know what to expect.’
“I was able to enjoy it even more because I wasn’t just so shocked with everything coming my way,” Gordon said.
Gordon waited six years before his third and final Daytona triumph. By the time 2005 rolled around, the driver of the No. 24 viewed the race in a different light, allowing him to soak in the glory.
“Now 2005, what I will tell you is that I was in a position in 2005 to enjoy that victory, probably more than I did any other victory in my entire career,” Gordon said.
“The unique thing about Daytona is you’re going to do media and go on this kind of whirlwind tour after the Daytona 500. So, some of your team sticks around to induct the car over at what used to be Daytona U.S.A.
“So you get to enjoy this moment with your team more than any other event. Normally everybody’s hopping on a plane and they’re going back to their homes, and it’s this short window in victory lane that you get to kind of enjoy it with your family when you leave.
“That 2005 Daytona 500, we all stuck around and we had a huge party. It was just a blast, just reminiscing all night long. Of course, it was a rough morning, but all night long with the team and everybody that made that happen,” Gordon continued.
“It was just spectacular. So, I’ll certainly never forget that Daytona 500 for the victory as well as for the way that I was able to soak it all in.”
While Daytona presents numerous challenges to younger drivers, the track seemed to suit Gordon’s style from the beginning. In his first start in the 500-mile race, Gordon turned heads after battling for the win with Dale Earnhardt and Dale Jarrett, before finishing fifth.
“For whatever reason, Daytona just started off right for me,” Gordon said. “My very first Daytona 500 I was up battling for the lead. Won the duel, was up front basically hooked onto Dale Earnhardt’s bumper in second place for a big portion of that race, certainly toward the end of that race.”
While three victories in the event ties Gordon for the second-most all-time, he couldn’t help but look back and view his first crack at the prestigious race as a missed opportunity.
“I look back at the race, I think I saw it the other day, and I said, ‘I could’ve won that race.’ If I knew what I knew five years later, I could’ve won that race,” Gordon said with a smile. “Through those ’90s, and when I first came into the sport, we just had everything nailed down.”
What was it that made Gordon and the No. 24 team so lethal at Daytona?
“I feel like the way I kind of viewed the draft, the way my cars were handling, the things that I wanted to do, I had it,” Gordon said. “The decision making was right there along with it. That evolved again over time.”
With the evolution of superspeedway racing, tied in with a new generation of race car, has brought a new approach to Daytona.
As Gordon has transitioned from a stock car driver to a business role within Hendrick Motorsports as vice chairman, the 51-year-old has witnessed the sport’s greatest race undertake a new attitude — for better or worse.
“To me, it’s just been more aggression, more aggression, more aggression. So I feel for these guys today, because they’re doing that,” Gordon said. “They’re being more aggressive and then they’re getting caught up in wrecks, and they go, ‘Why are we being so aggressive?’
🗣️"To me, it's just been more aggression, more aggression, more aggression," @JeffGordonWeb said.
— SPEED SPORT (@SPEEDSPORT) February 18, 2023
The three-time #Daytona500 winner described how the approach on-track has changed in the Great American Race.#NASCAR pic.twitter.com/6FMPmtrMGC
“But it does seem like that’s what it takes to get yourself in position today. That might be also why I didn’t win another Daytona 500 after 2005. My style was, ‘Yeah, there were moments to be aggressive,’ but I was never aggressive through the whole entire race of just taking big risks,” Gordon continued.
“I tried to get myself in a position where I could capitalize on being there at the end when maybe some others weren’t.”
Despite tremendous change through the years, Gordon believes the core elements that make The Great American Race what it is, remain.
“The history, is there, the prestige is there, the fans are there, the viewers at home,” Gordon said. “I look back, and I feel so fortunate that I’ve won three, and it’s still one of the greatest accomplishments that I’ve ever achieved in racing.”
Follow @DHoffmanMedia22