The Indianapolis Motor Speedway has played home to some of the most historic moments in all of auto racing. The Indianapolis 500 is the granddaddy of them all in racing. NASCAR’s Brickyard 400 has also meant a lot as well. NASCAR Hall of Famer and Hendrick Motorsports vice-chairman Jeff Gordon reflects on knowing a thing or two about winning at the yard of bricks.
He’s the only driver to ever conquer the Bricks five times. Yes, you heard that right five. No offense, AJ Foyt, Al Unser, Rick Mears, or Helio Castroneves, your four wins apiece in the Indianapolis 500 are amazing. Yet Gordon’s five Brickyard 400 wins are pretty sweet too.
The Brickyard 400 makes its triumph return this week after NASCAR has run the road course since 2021. That was interesting, to say the least, the last several years, but a return to the oval was waiting, and now feels like the right time. Gordon would be at the top of the list of people who are appreciative of the oval’s return to the NASCAR schedule.
Jeff Gordon Reflects on Inaugural Brickyard 400 Win, Amidst NASCAR’s Return to Indy Oval
It isn’t one bit ironic that NASCAR is returning to the oval, 30 years since the inaugural Brickyard 400 was run. It’s also ironic that Hendrick Motorsports is in the midst of its 40th Anniversary season. They were the team Gordon piloted to victory back in that race in 1994.
So many special memories to be made this weekend in Indianapolis. Jeff Gordon took some time to reflect on that monumental moment from 30 years ago, with motorsport.com’s Jim Utter. He spoke in depth about how when he was young growing up in Indiana he had always dreamed about the chance to race at Indianapolis. That quickly went away once he moved to focusing on stock-car racing. Until right around the time he joined Hendrick Motorsports, then his dream hit a new reality.
“When I moved to North Carolina, I just kind of thought , ‘Well, I’ve got to put that behind me and focus on stock cars, and I was loving everything about that,” Gordon said of his boyhood dream. “Then, they announced that in a couple years (NASCAR) was going to Indianapolis. ‘”I’m pretty sure it was right around the time that I had signed on with Hendrick (Motorsports), so I was very excited. You know, that dream was finally going to come true.”
That dream certainly did come true. He not only got to race at the famed track, but he won, and it changed his life and career and NASCAR as a whole. Gordon then spoke about how winning that race set up the No. 24 team for everything that followed in his Hall of Fame career.
“As for the race, it was just kind of bigger than life and it was just awesome to be a part of it and I had no idea that we were actually going to go there and be that competitive and then win the race,” Gordon said. “So it certainly changed my life forever and set the whole No. 24 Hendrick team on this kind of amazing journey. The rest is history as far as my career. I felt like that year, 1994, catapulted it and it was great too for the sport just to see. … The media coverage , the fan attendance and just what that did for the sport. It’s hard to put it into words. It was an amazing event and day.”
Jeff Gordon Spoke in a interview about his success at Indianapolis over the years on Racing America.com’s website.
Return to Oval Welcomed With Open Arms
Many in the NASCAR community had been pressing to see NASCAR return to the oval at Indianapolis. After three years of running the road course and destroying a lot of cars. Everyone has gotten their wish. The Brickyard 400 is special, no ifs about it. It’s up there with the Daytona 500, the Coca-Cola 600, and the Southern 500. Those are the four crown jewel races, and for NASCAR to put things right and have the Brickyard 400 back was the right move.
Jeff is for one happy to see its return and to be a part of it still 30 years later. If one of the four Hendrick Drivers can get the win, Gordon will be jumping at the chance to kiss the bricks again.
1994, 2004, 2014, so the No. 24 in 2024 right
Something about that No. 24 car and years that end in four. Gordon won three of his five Brickyard 400s in years with a four in them. In 1994, yep Jeff Gordon. In 2004, again Jeff Gordon. 2014, once again Jeff Gordon, and that was the fifth and final time. Well it’s 2024, is Jeff gonna jump in and go for number six? No, certainly not, but why not the No. 24 in 2024? William Byron has shown his skill before in big races, like the Daytona 500 earlier this year, or when he won at Indy in the Xfinity Series in 2017, when he was a rookie.
What’s to say the trend stops with the driver? Keep an eye on that No. 24 car.
