NEW YORK – After months of waiting, the moment finally came – Jeff Gordon revealed that he will once again drive a Chevrolet featuring the iconic rainbow paint scheme that kicked off his NASCAR Cup Series career.
The No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet SS will hit the track for the Aug. 22 night race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
“It is such an iconic paint scheme,” Gordon said while revealing the car on CBS This Morning. “It is when I got introduced to NASCAR with – now Axalta, used to be DuPont – they are the ones who came out with this bright-colored paint scheme and the fans love it.”
Gordon said he noticed right away that the scheme resonated with a certain segment of his fan base.
“Especially young fans, they were attracted to this car because it was so bright it always stood out,” he noted.
But fans of all ages were celebrating the return of the scheme – within minutes, #Rainbow24 was a trending topic throughout the United States on Twitter.
“I know they love it,” Gordon smiled. “The reason why we are bringing it out is because Twitter, Facebook and social media -- they want this car out on the track.
“So it is exciting for them, exciting for us and for me to get to drive it again – it has been a long time, since 2000.”
Gordon won three of his Cup championships driving the rainbow paint scheme, and now in his final full-time Sprint Cup season with the car making a triumphant return, he wouldn’t mind going out on top once again.
“I want to go out still being competitive,” he said. “I’d like to be a little more competitive than we’ve been this year, but we still have a lot of races left to go and I feel confident we’ve got a team that we can end on top.”
“Thank you for letting us unveil this car to the fans,” Gordon said. “I know they are thrilled about it.”