As Jeff Gordon prepares to start his final season as an active competitor in the NASCAR circuit, he started things off perfectly by winning the pole for the upcoming Daytona 500 next weekend.
“This is one of the more gratifying poles here at Daytona that I’ve ever had, not just because it’s my final Daytona 500, but because you’ve got to try and plan it out and play that chess match and play it really really well,” Gordon said.
For years, Gordon has been one of the most polarizing figures in all of professional sports. His flashy good looks have earned him plenty of fans but also plenty of haters as old school NASCAR fans have often stated that they feel Gordon is too commercial for the sport.
Rather than that being a bad thing, Gordon’s overall presence in mainstream commercial society has been a good thing for the support at it continues to bring mainstream attention to one of the fast growing sports in America.
He has been a great sponsor for many years of Pepsi and Dupont. Gordon was great for the sport and succeeded well for many years since turning professional in 1990 with the Busch Series.
He has dominated NASCAR with a laundry list of achievements, including a 4 time Winston Series Champion (1995, 1997, 1998, 2001) 3 time Daytona 500 winner (1997, 1999, 2005) and 5 time Brickyard 400 winner (1994,1998,2001,2004,2014) He is also tied for Sprint Cup Series moder- era record for most wins in a season (13 wins in 1998) Holds the Sprint Cup Series record for most consecutive seasons with a pole (22).
At only 43 years old, Gordon still has a lot of years left in which he can just sit back and enjoy retirement. He has been smart with his money and avoided most controversies his entire career which will continue to make him marketable well after his career is done.
This reporter wishes nothing but the best for the one of the very best not only in NASCAR, but all of sports. Here is to one more time around the track for one of the greatest of all time! Give them hell Jeff!