Jeff Gordon is set to retire from full-time competition in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series after the 2015 season. In a storied career that includes 92 wins and four championship titles, he has nothing left to prove. However, there is one accomplishment that would set him apart from any other driver in NASCAR history. A victory at Kentucky Speedway Saturday night would give Gordon a win at every track on the current Sprint Cup circuit.
He described the track as “no different than any other track,” then added, “The difference is that it is the only one left on the list.”
But make no mistake; Gordon may be retiring, but his competitive spirit is alive and well.
“It would mean a lot to accomplish that,” he said in a press conference at Kentucky Speedway Friday afternoon. “That is something hard to do. I love doing things that are hard to do and set those kinds of stats. It wouldn’t mean so much to me if I hadn’t won on all the other ones.”
The inaugural Sprint Cup race at Kentucky Speedway was held in July 2011, with a total of four events to date. In those four races, Gordon has captured four top-10 finishes but has never led a lap. He will start in the third position for this weekend’s Quaker State 400 and hopes this will give him an opportunity to change that statistic.
“This is just a tough racetrack,” he explained. “I feel like we have always run well towards the end of the race, but maybe didn’t always start off as strong. Maybe it’s a qualifying thing too. We just haven’t qualified up front. Hopefully, that changes this weekend.”
Gordon also reflected on his memories of Kentucky Speedway as he anticipates his last race at this venue.
“When I think of this track,” he said, “I just think of how challenging it is and how rough it is, how much my back hurts and how much I’d like to win here because we never have. I love that fact that when we came here, especially the first time, the way that racing is supported in this part of the country. It reminded me of Indiana. I used to race in Evansville; not too far from here, I raced sprint cars, and it just didn’t surprise me how when we come here, there’s a lot of huge race fans, not just NASCAR fans, but just huge race fans, that want to see a great race and came out to support us here.”
Gordon is currently 12th in the Chase Grid standings. If he can conquer this track and emerge victoriously, he’ll not only set a new NASCAR record but will secure a berth in the Chase for the Sprint Cup with his first win of the season.
