Top 25 Lowe's Motor Speedway moments: Jeff Gordon's first Cup win
By Jeff Owens - Executive EditorMonday, May 11, 2009
The tears, that’s what most people remember.
When Jeff Gordon won the 1994 Coca-Cola 600 for his first NASCAR Cup victory, he cried like a baby, tears flowing down his face for all to see.
He cried in his race car. He cried in the arms of his mother. He cried on the shoulder of his wife. He cried while celebrating with crew chief Ray Evernham and his team.
He even choked back tears hours later as he discussed his historic victory in the press box.
Understandable. He was just 22 years old, and he had just won the biggest race of his still-young career.
“This is everything you ever work for. It’s unbelievable. I can’t describe the way I feel,” he said then.
“I’ve won a lot of races, but the memory and feeling I have about this one will be with me for the rest of my life.”
This month, SceneDaily is looking at 25 of the top moments at Lowe’s Motor Speedway as the track prepares to celebrate the 25th running of the all-star race and the 50th Coca-Cola 600. To mark the anniversaries, LMS has offered fans the chance to vote on top moments at the track, with highlight videos available. Among the top 25 moments SceneDaily selected is Gordon’s first Cup victory.
Gordon, who now has 82 career victories and four Cup championships, was a fast-rising star in 1994. After a successful move to NASCAR from sprint cars, he was NASCAR’s Cup rookie of the year in 1993.
It was not exactly a stellar season, though, not by today’s standards. He won a 125-mile qualifying race at Daytona and had seven top-five and 14 top-10 finishes. But he also wrecked a lot of cars at Hendrick Motorsports and finished 14th in points.
When he won the exhibition Busch Clash to start the ’94 season, there was little doubt that Gordon would eventually win a points race.
That it came in NASCAR’s longest and one of its biggest events – and on American racing’s biggest weekend – was only fitting. It was the next big step in the building of NASCAR’s next superstar.
“It was beyond a dream come true to win a race at the Cup level, and to do it at Charlotte,” Gordon, now 37, said recently. “Everybody knows how special Charlotte is, just its history within the sport but also because it’s located in the backyards of all the race teams. They all consider that their home and take a lot of pride in winning that particular race. Plus, it’s a huge event. It came down to a pretty dramatic ending.”
Adding to the emotion and drama was the fact that Gordon did not have the dominant car. Rusty Wallace and Ernie Irvan dominated the race, with Wallace leading 187 of 400 laps.
Wallace, in fact, held the lead until the final round of green-flag pit stops. That’s when Evernham, Gordon’s brilliant crew chief, outsmarted everyone.
After Wallace, Irvan, Dale Jarrett, Geoff Bodine and the rest of the leaders pitted for four fresh tires, Evernham called for Gordon to take only two, allowing him to take the lead after green-flag stops were complete.
Gordon then pulled away from Wallace for a 3.91-second win.
“Ray Evernham made a great call in the pits to take two tires when Rusty [Wallace] pretty much dominated the race all day,” Gordon said recently. “He took four, and we took two and won the race. That was certainly the start of a lot of history for me in this sport and something I will never forget.”
That was also when the tears started to flow – before he even took the checkered flag.
“I’ll be honest with you,” Gordon said that night, "I was trying not to hit the wall because of all the tears running down my face. And on the white-flag lap, I got choked up. I completely lost it.
“Dale Earnhardt and a couple of other guys drove up alongside me after the race to congratulate me, and I really don’t know who the others were. I had my head down.
“It was just an emotional moment.”
By Jeff Owens - Executive EditorMonday, May 11, 2009
The tears, that’s what most people remember.
When Jeff Gordon won the 1994 Coca-Cola 600 for his first NASCAR Cup victory, he cried like a baby, tears flowing down his face for all to see.
He cried in his race car. He cried in the arms of his mother. He cried on the shoulder of his wife. He cried while celebrating with crew chief Ray Evernham and his team.
He even choked back tears hours later as he discussed his historic victory in the press box.
Understandable. He was just 22 years old, and he had just won the biggest race of his still-young career.
“This is everything you ever work for. It’s unbelievable. I can’t describe the way I feel,” he said then.
“I’ve won a lot of races, but the memory and feeling I have about this one will be with me for the rest of my life.”
This month, SceneDaily is looking at 25 of the top moments at Lowe’s Motor Speedway as the track prepares to celebrate the 25th running of the all-star race and the 50th Coca-Cola 600. To mark the anniversaries, LMS has offered fans the chance to vote on top moments at the track, with highlight videos available. Among the top 25 moments SceneDaily selected is Gordon’s first Cup victory.
Gordon, who now has 82 career victories and four Cup championships, was a fast-rising star in 1994. After a successful move to NASCAR from sprint cars, he was NASCAR’s Cup rookie of the year in 1993.
It was not exactly a stellar season, though, not by today’s standards. He won a 125-mile qualifying race at Daytona and had seven top-five and 14 top-10 finishes. But he also wrecked a lot of cars at Hendrick Motorsports and finished 14th in points.
When he won the exhibition Busch Clash to start the ’94 season, there was little doubt that Gordon would eventually win a points race.
That it came in NASCAR’s longest and one of its biggest events – and on American racing’s biggest weekend – was only fitting. It was the next big step in the building of NASCAR’s next superstar.
“It was beyond a dream come true to win a race at the Cup level, and to do it at Charlotte,” Gordon, now 37, said recently. “Everybody knows how special Charlotte is, just its history within the sport but also because it’s located in the backyards of all the race teams. They all consider that their home and take a lot of pride in winning that particular race. Plus, it’s a huge event. It came down to a pretty dramatic ending.”
Adding to the emotion and drama was the fact that Gordon did not have the dominant car. Rusty Wallace and Ernie Irvan dominated the race, with Wallace leading 187 of 400 laps.
Wallace, in fact, held the lead until the final round of green-flag pit stops. That’s when Evernham, Gordon’s brilliant crew chief, outsmarted everyone.
After Wallace, Irvan, Dale Jarrett, Geoff Bodine and the rest of the leaders pitted for four fresh tires, Evernham called for Gordon to take only two, allowing him to take the lead after green-flag stops were complete.
Gordon then pulled away from Wallace for a 3.91-second win.
“Ray Evernham made a great call in the pits to take two tires when Rusty [Wallace] pretty much dominated the race all day,” Gordon said recently. “He took four, and we took two and won the race. That was certainly the start of a lot of history for me in this sport and something I will never forget.”
That was also when the tears started to flow – before he even took the checkered flag.
“I’ll be honest with you,” Gordon said that night, "I was trying not to hit the wall because of all the tears running down my face. And on the white-flag lap, I got choked up. I completely lost it.
“Dale Earnhardt and a couple of other guys drove up alongside me after the race to congratulate me, and I really don’t know who the others were. I had my head down.
“It was just an emotional moment.”
