“I’m not thinking about (two tires at all). It was not even on my mind to do anything like that until Ray called for it and I didn’t know why he called for it but I don’t know if I even questioned it. When you came down pit road most of the time, back then especially, you’re thinking, ‘Four tires and fuel.’ That’s just the standard. So, I was a little surprised to hear him say that but I had complete confidence in Ray. So, I was like, ‘He must have something up his sleeve. He must know something I don’t know, so, OK.’”
Jeff Gordon
Editor’s note: This is the 27th 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. - When the floodgates finally break, it can be tough to hold the raging waters at bay.
As was the case with Jeff Gordon's NASCAR Cup Series career.
Gordon had been knocking on the door, specifically at Charlotte Motor Speedway. In his rookie year of 1993, the driver of the No. 24 entry scored a runner-up finish at the 600 as well as a fifth-place result at the track's annual fall date.
Enter 1994.
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| RACE FACTS | |
|---|---|
| Date: | May 29, 1994 |
| Venue: | Charlotte Motor Speedway (Coca-Cola 600) |
| Winner: | Jeff Gordon |
| Hendrick Motorsports win: | No. 35 |
| Laps led by winner: | 16 |
| Starting position of winner: | 1st |
| Top 10: | 1. Jeff Gordon; 2. Rusty Wallace; 3. Geoff Bodine; 4. Dale Jarrett; 5. Ernie Irvan; 6. Ricky Rudd; 7. Harry Gant; 8. Todd Bodine; 9. Dale Earnhardt; 10. Michael Waltrip |
| Did you know? | Gordon is one of seven drivers to have won his first NASCAR Cup Series race in the Coca-Cola 600, a list that also includes fellow eventual champions David Pearson, Bobby Labonte and Matt Kenseth as well as Casey Mears, who also accomplished the feat while driving for Hendrick Motorsports. |
Despite winning the season-opening exhibition race at Daytona International Speedway, Gordon had yet to score a points-paying victory through the first 41 starts of his career. For Charlotte, the team again unloaded with speed. Gordon would qualify on pole for the sports longest race and one of its crown jewels.
But after leading the first lap, Gordon quickly faded from the top spot. While the car was steady and solid, the No. 24 entry, led by crew chief Ray Evernham, did not have next-level speed in which to separate from the competition.
Rusty Wallace, however, sure did.
Wallace's No. 2 machine looked to be the class of the field as the event moved from daylight to the evening. He'd go on to lead an event-high 187 circuits.
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"That particular day we were just fighting a good fight to come away with a solid, second-place finish,” Gordon said. “That’s the way I was approaching it. We just had no chance that I knew of to beat Rusty (Wallace) that day. You’ve got 600 miles to adjust on the car, change up your lines and do anything you possibly can and you’re still getting beat and so, to me it was, ‘Alright, unless something happens to him, we’re in a battle for second.’ Which was still a good day.”
But Gordon stayed within touching distance of the leader. Late in the race, a long green-flag run to the finish would provide the chance he and Evernham needed.
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“We had some races I felt like we had the dominant car and didn’t get it done. In this particular case, we didn’t have the dominant car and we got ourselves in position. By then I felt like I had enough laps and enough experience that I was more comfortable with who we were as a team and in my driving and they got me in that position and it was like, ‘Let me show you what I can do.’ And that’s what happened.”
Jeff Gordon
As the leaders pitted for the final time, Wallace opted for four fresh tires to go along with the fuel he needed to get to the finish line. Evernham on the other hand called an audible. It was a move kept so close to then vest that when a reporter asked Rick Hendrick on pit road what the strategy was, he responded with "I'll tell you after the stop".
Evernham, for his part, said his team was prepared for anything. And that's what it would take to beat Wallace that night.
That and a deciding two-tire call just a couple of laps after Wallace had finished his service.
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“I don’t think a lot of people agreed with the two-tire call but we practiced that. We as a team started to look at a lot of strategy calls," Evernham said in a recent interview with HendrickMotorsports.com. "We had a plan for what we would do if the caution came out here or here or here. We strategized and we were well prepared for circumstances that came up long before other people were thinking about that.
"We could do two tires and make pit stops other people couldn’t do because Jeff was open to it. A lot of great drivers had been out there for a long time and in their minds were thinking, ‘That couldn’t work.’ But with the radial tire still new, the sport was changing so much and Jeff had such an open mind and combined with that was his incredible talent and it was just a great combination."
The No. 24 squad executed flawlessly, needing only took 9.5 seconds to change two tires, putting Gordon in front of Wallace. At the time, the speed on pit road was unheard of and flipped the race on its head.
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After both had pitted, Ricky Rudd briefly inherited the lead but he was forced to peel off for service with 10 laps to go. Gordon then swept past, taking the lead for good. While he would only lead 16 circuits on the evening, he was credited with lap 400 and he earned the first of 93 checkered flags in his career.
“We had some races I felt like we had the dominant car and didn’t get it done. In this particular case, we didn’t have the dominant car and we got ourselves in position," Gordon said. "By then I felt like I had enough laps and enough experience that I was more comfortable with who we were as a team and in my driving and they got me in that position and it was like, ‘Let me show you what I can do.’ And that’s what happened.”
Although the talent was clearly evident for both driver and crew chief, the victory at Charlotte put it all in perspective. Evernham echoed Gordon's sentiments.
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“I think Jeff was ready to win and as a team, we were still not experienced enough and I certainly didn’t have enough experience as a crew chief,” Evernham remembered. “I was still learning and I probably didn’t have the confidence when we jumped in even though I had Hendrick Motorsports supporting me. We were racing against the toughest guys. It was Earnhardt, Rusty, Mark Martin, Davey Allison, Dale Jarrett – we were racing some heavyweights going into Charlotte.
“I was taking a lot of heat for not winning yet and Mr. Hendrick, as he is, is super supportive and Jeff stood by me. We made some decisions that day based on things we’d learned and finally proved that we were ready to start winning. We snookered those guys."
What followed after the pair's first victories were two Hall of Fame careers. The Gordon and Evernham duo would establish themselves as a consistent winning combination winning 47 times in total. They also claimed championships for Hendrick Motorsports in 1995, 1997 and again in 1998.
And to think it all began with two tires and one night at Charlotte.