“I remember Randy Dorton slid up under a fender to help remove the engine from the primary car. He had a nice gold Rolex on, he wasn’t the flashiest guy but he had a nice watch, and he caught it on something and it broke or scratched it or whatever. Well, he just takes it off, stuffs it in his pocket and keeps going. That was the moment of the night. All the members of the other teams, executives, anyone that had the confidence to turn a wrench jumped in to help.”
Steve Letarte, NASCAR analyst for NBC, former No. 24 crew member
Editor’s note: This is the 13th in a 40-part series highlighting 40 of the greatest wins in the history of Hendrick Motorsports to finish its 40th anniversary season. A new installment will be released each day from Nov. 22, 2024 through New Year’s Eve. Votes were taken from Hendrick Motorsports employees as well as representatives of the NASCAR Hall of Fame and Racing Insights with all unanimous selections being ushered in automatically. The remaining wins were deliberated and decided upon by a small panel.
CONCORD, N.C. - As he watched lightning flash in the distance and droplets beginning to splatter on his windshield, Jeff Gordon waited for NASCAR to wave off the scheduled green flag on the 2001 NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race, an event then known as The Winston.
And yet, the next voice he heard on the radio only confirmed the race's start.
With that, a field of 21 cars sailed past the start-finish line and into turn one. Not near as many made it out.
Steve Park nearly spun out on the start, but it was just a precursor of chaos a few hundred feet away as Gordon, Jeff Burton, Michael Waltrip and Kevin Harvick slipped, slid and slammed the wall and each other as a sprinkle became a deluge.
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| RACE FACTS | |
|---|---|
| Date: | May 19, 2001 |
| Venue: | Charlotte Motor Speedway (All-Star Race) |
| Winner: | Jeff Gordon |
| Hendrick Motorsports win: | All-Star Race win No. 4 |
| Top 10: | 1. Jeff Gordon; 2. Dale Jarrett; 3. Tony Stewart; 4. Bobby Labonte; 5. Jerry Nadeau; 6. Ward Burton; 7. Dale Earnhardt Jr.; 8. Todd Bodine; 9. Johnny Benson 10. Bobby Hamilton |
| Did you know? | Hendrick Motorsports' 11 wins in the All-Star Race are more than double any other organization with the next-closest at five. Gordon's win in 2001 tied him with Dale Earnhardt for the most with three at the time, a mark that has since been surpassed by Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson (four) and matched by Kyle Larson. |
“I remember there was lightning in the distance down off of turn one and two and NASCAR was kind of in this speed-up process of, ‘Let’s get the green,’” Gordon recalled in an interview last week. “And we went through one and two and it’s spitting. On the radio I said, ‘We should not be going green.’ And we come around and it’s, ‘Pace car is off!’
“So, you go barreling down in there because you have to and everybody wrecks and you go, ‘Yep, I saw this coming.’”
But sometimes, the greatest of victories come in response to adversity. And with a little help from NASCAR, which rewrote the rule book for one night, and the crews of his Hendrick Motorsports teammates, Gordon's night was about to take a dramatic turn.
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Since the event was an exhibition race, NASCAR allowed the teams that crashed to run their backup cars once racing resumed after the delay. Suddenly, the garage became a flurry of action as members of other teams scrambled to help their brethren prepare new cars to hit the track.
Steve Letarte, a future crew chief and NASCAR analyst for NBC was a member of the No. 24 team at the time and remembers the frenzied cooperation from all Hendrick Motorsports employees available including lead engine builder, Randy Dorton.
“In that event, it was never dreamt of and that’s what made it so unknown,” Letarte said. “We unloaded the car but the backup was half put together and it wasn’t close to being race-track ready. In that event, you’d never assume you’d need it in a hurry so we’ve got half the crew removing the engine from the primary car and the other half getting the backup car ready with all the parts and pieces. It was chaotic for sure.
“I remember Randy Dorton slid up under a fender to help remove the engine from the primary car. He had a nice gold Rolex on - he wasn’t the flashiest guy but he had a nice watch - and he caught it on something and it broke or scratched it or whatever. Well, he just takes it off, stuffs it in his pocket and keeps going.
"That was the moment of the night. All the members of the other teams, executives, anyone that had the confidence to turn a wrench jumped in to help.”
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“I thought we had a shot to win it regardless but once (the crash) happened, I’m like, ‘Now we’re out.’ And then I’m like, ‘OK, we’re back in but we’re not going to win. We’re not going to be as competitive.’ And we were unbelievable.”
Jeff Gordon
Upon crashing and sliding to a stop in the turn one grass, Gordon and just about everyone else involved was resolved in the fact that his race was over just as it began. But after the tireless work of his crew, and others, the 24 lined up on the grid, albeit in dead last, as the field set for another green flag, this one on a dry race track.
Most NASCAR All-Star races come with a unique format and the 2001 version was no different. That year's race was broken up into three segments. The first two were scheduled for 30 laps with a 10-minute break in between with the third and final segment set for 10 circuits.
During the 10-minute intermission, part of the field was inverted based on a fan vote. Fans were given the option to flip the top six, eight, 10 or 12.
After a couple of laps of tip-toeing, Gordon began to make his move. He moved up from 21st to 16th in the first 10 laps and by the end of the first segment, had clawed all the way back to fourth.
With fans voting to flip the first 12 cars, Gordon lined up ninth for the start of segment two and advanced five more spots in two laps, following the No. 20 car of Tony Stewart through traffic. He'd finish the segment in second to Stewart.
Then came a decision. With just 10 laps remaining, teams could take four tires, two tires or not stop at all. Gordon's car was fitted with four fresh Goodyears and came out of the pits in fourth. However, speeding penalties for Jeremy Mayfield and Rusty Wallace pushed him to the outside of the front row, alongside Ward Burton, who'd only taken two.
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Burton got a jump and third-place Dale Jarrett pulled to Gordon's inside as the field got to turn one. But Gordon clung to the right-rear quarter panel and was able to power back past Jarrett down the backstretch. He used that upper lane to get alongside Burton in turns three and four and by the time the field raced around again, he'd cleared for the lead.
From there, Gordon coasted it home.
Certainly, the event's status as an exhibition race means there are likely bigger, more important wins in terms of championships and prestige throughout Hendrick Motorsports' decorated history. However, the 2001 All-Star Race still serves as one of the organization's biggest testaments to resilience and teamwork and it's one Gordon and company still take pride in.
“It was pretty frustrating, to be honest, because I knew we had a really good race car,” Gordon said. “I thought we had a shot to win it regardless but once (the crash) happened, I’m like, ‘Now we’re out.’ And then I’m like, ‘OK, we’re back in but we’re not going to win. We’re not going to be as competitive.’ And we were unbelievable.”