CONCORD, N.C. – Jeff Gordon racked up the wins at Bristol Motor Speedway in the mid-1990s. The eventual NASCAR Hall of Famer and four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion won four consecutive races in the spring at Bristol.
Gordon accounts for nearly half (five) of Hendrick Motorsports' 12 wins at Bristol. Those victories came in many forms: full-on domination, fast work in pits and the ol' bump-and-run.
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In Hendrick Motorsports' 40th anniversary, we look back at each of these victories.
April 2, 1995: Gordon led a race-high 205 laps, including the final 99 circuits, for the victory. He won by a margin of 5.74 seconds over Rusty Wallace (who will reappear in this piece in just a bit in a much closer fashion). The win was Gordon's third in the season's first six races and he later went on to become the Cup Series champion for the first time in his career.
March 31, 1996: Gordon headlines a one-two finish with teammate Terry Labonte in a race shortened by rain (from 500 to 342 laps). Gordon leads a race-high 148 circuits, taking the lead for good from Wallace on lap 295. The victory was the driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet's third in four races and came in a stretch of six consecutive top-three finishes on the season.
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April 13, 1997: In a race that saw Gordon and Wallace battle most of the way, the Hendrick Motorsports driver chased down the 1989 Cup Series champion in the closing laps. A tap from the No. 24 to the No. 2 pushed Wallace up the track far enough for Gordon to dive inside to take the lead coming to the checkered flag. The win was Gordon's third of the season. That fall, he would go on to win his second championship.
"Once I got on his bumper, I just tried to put as much heat on him as I could," said Gordon after the race, per The Charlotte Observer. "... I came off (Turn) two on the white-flag lap and got a great run. I kind of pushed Rusty all the way down the back straight. As we got into (Turn) three, he got a little bit loose and we touched a little bit. A hole opened up and I went for it.
"I've seen things like that happen many times here at Bristol, but I was never part of them. It was definitely the most exciting finish I think I've ever had in my career."
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March 29, 1998: Gordon's final victory in the streak came with a helping hand from "The Rainbow Warriors" – the No. 24 team pit crew. Following a caution with 64 laps to go, the leaders pitted and Gordon came down for service in third. He left pit road with the lead, a position he would not relinquish the rest of the way. From there, he had to navigate two more cautions and hold off teammate Labonte for the win. This was Gordon's second of 13 victories in his third championship season in four years.
This year's spring race at Bristol returns to the traditional concrete layout. The past three spring events were contested on a dirt-covered version of "The Last Great Colosseum." From 1961 to 2020, the track located on the border of Tennessee and Virginia hosted two dates annually on its concrete surface.
