SPARTA, Ky. (June 24, 2013) – It once was the final four, but now only Kentucky remains. For now.
In 2006, Jeff Gordon had victories at all venues on the NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule except four tracks: Chicagoland Speedway, Phoenix International Raceway, Texas Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway. In July of that year, he removed Chicagoland from that list.
The following year, Gordon posted his first victory at Phoenix and, in 2009, the four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion secured that elusive victory at Texas. Only one remained – Homestead-Miami Speedway. That is until Kentucky Speedway was added to the calendar in 2011.
But, in the 2012 season finale, Gordon was victorious and was able to erase Homestead from that group leaving only one (again) for the driver of the No. 24 Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet SS.
“I think it would be cool to win at Kentucky and knock it off the list,” said Gordon in advance of Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 presented by Advance Auto Parts. “I’d love to win at every track – that would be a special accomplishment.
“And I need to win here before more tracks are added to the schedule!”
In two starts here, Gordon has a 10th-place finish in the inaugural event and a fifth-place finish last year. While he would not have considered it one of his “better” tracks, Gordon is buoyed by last year’s effort.
“Prior to last year’s race, I might have considered this to be one of my worst tracks,” said Gordon, who moved up to 13th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings following his runner-up finish at Sonoma last weekend. “But we had a good car and a good run here last year – one that we want to improve upon.
“Of course, we have the Generation-6 car here for the first time. We’re learning every single week with the new Chevrolet SS, and we’re learning every single trip to Kentucky.
“Hopefully, we can put it all together so we can check this one off the list.”
And be the only driver to have won at every track currently on the schedule. Until?
