Jeff Gordon, one of the true greats in NASCAR and an assumed first ballot Hall of Famer when eligible, is looking to make history at Kentucky Speedway. If the 42 year old wins Saturday night’s race, it will not only be his landmark 90th victory but also will be his first victory at Kentucky Speedway. More importantly, however, Gordon will join a very lonely club of drivers who have accomplished one of the most remarkable feats in all of sports; he would hold victories at every single track he has ever competed at in the Sprint Cup series, the first and only driver of the modern era to do so.*
The only other two active drivers who are even close to this accomplishment are Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart. Johnson needs a victory at Kentucky, Homestead, Chicago, and Watkins Glen among active tracks, while Stewart needs a victory at Darlington and Kentucky. But even then, they both cannot match Gordon’s level as neither driver holds victories at Rockingham Speedway, where both competed while it was on the Sprint Cup schedule, unlike Gordon, who won four times there. Gordon also holds the distinction of winning the final race at North Wilkesboro, the second oldest track in NASCAR (The first is Martinsville and the third is Darlington), in 1995.
As far as historical greats go; Richard Petty, David Pearson, Bobby Allison, Cale Yarbrough, and Darrell Waltrip never won everywhere. Even Dale Earnhardt couldn’t come close to it, lacking victories at the late 90’s tracks such as Fontana and Las Vegas and missing some other tracks, such as Watkins Glen and Riverside to name a couple.
Here is every track where Jeff Gordon has won at the Sprint Cup level and how many times he has done so, by order of victories at the track:
Key: Track Name (Number of wins)
Martinsville Speedway (8)
Darlington Speedway (7)
Daytona International Speedway (6)
Talladega Superspeedway (6)
Pocono Raceway (6)
Atlanta Motor Speedway (5)
Bristol Motor Speedway (5)
Charlotte Motor Speedway (5)
Sonoma Raceway (5)
Dover International Speedway (4)
Rockingham Speedway (4) **
Indianapolis Motor Speedway (4)
Watkins Glen International (4)
Auto Club Speedway (3)
New Hampshire Motor Speedway (3)
Kansas Speedway (3)
Phoenix International Raceway (2)
Michigan International Speedway (2)
Richmond International Speedway (2)
Chicagoland Speedway (1)
Las Vegas Motor Speedway (1)
Homestead-Miami Speedway (1)
Texas Motor Speedway (1)
North Wilkesboro Speedway (1) **
*- This pertains to 1972 and on. Before Winston came in and cut the number of races by roughly a third, there were all kinds of stranglers and characters who would win a race, maybe run a few more, than vanish, never to be seen again. The best example of this is a driver by the name of Marvin Burke. In 1951, the 33 year old came into Oakland Stadium (Not the modern football/baseball field), a 5/8ths oval based in San Leandro, California, with 62 degree banking in one set of turns and 45 degrees in the other, and won in his only start in the Grand National Series (Sprint Cup’s name at that time) in a 400 lapper. This technically not only gives him Gordon’s possible record, but also gives him the best winning percentage in Cup history.
**- Signifies track no longer on the schedule
All stats in this article are thanks to the fine folks at http://www.racing-reference.info/. If there is ever a statistical question that needs to be answered, in just about any major racing series, that’s the place to go.
