Jeff Gordon wins Winston Million, third Southern 500 in 1997 | 40 wins in 40 days

Editor’s note: This is the 23rd 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. - Maybe a million dollars won't go quite as far as it used to. 

Not that it isn't still a large sum of cash, but when Jeff Gordon raised a seven-figure check over his head in Darlington, South Carolina in the summer of 1997, well...

"It was a big deal to me!" he exclaimed with a grin during a recent interview on the Hendrick Motorsports campus. "I don't think there's ever any era, especially in racing where a million dollars isn't a lot." 

It's a fair point but as he and then-crew chief Ray Evernham would point out, cash will only go so far. Prestige and history are forever. 

So yes, as the NASCAR Cup Series headed toward one of the sport's holiest of cathedrals, there was a million smackaroos on the line but only for Gordon. 

That year would serve as the last for the Winston Million, a promotional initiative from NASCAR's primary sponsor at the time that ran from 1985-1997. The premise was simple: If a driver could win three of the four crown jewel races in one season - DAYTONA 500, Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Southern 500 at Darlington - he'd pick up a million-dollar bonus. 

Up to that last race in the final year, Bill Elliott had been the only driver to complete the task, winning the 1985 DAYTONA 500, Winston 500 and Southern 500. He was forever minted, 'Million Dollar Bill' and though there may not have been a punny phrase to put with Gordon's name, the desire to join that list burned brightly. 

"The way I always looked at prizes like that was, what's the biggest prize? It's not necessarily a monetary number but it could be the coolest trophy, it could be the most prestigious race or it could be the highest-paying race," Gordon said. "Those are the goals we set." 

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By 1997, there weren't many goals the No. 24 team wasn't accomplishing. The team was square in the middle of an eventual championship campaign, which would be their second. They'd follow it up with yet another to go with 13 wins in 1998. 

Comparatively speaking, winning 10 races in '97 seems downright modest, but there was no doubt right from the start that Gordon and the team had hit a new gear. They won the season's first two events - the DAYTONA 500 and the following week at Rockingham Speedway - and had piled up six more victories before the Southern 500. That included an important triumph in the Coca-Cola 600, one that gave Gordon a pair of crown jewel victories and made him eligible for the final Winston Million bonus. 

Now, over 27 years later, it's easy to forget the promotional frenzy surrounding the Winston Million. It was so big, in fact, Gordon filmed a TV show called, "Million Dollar Date" in the lead up, where he helped narrate a brief history of the sport and the promotion. It still exits on YouTube.  

Come race day, for the longest time, it looked as if Elliott would defend his position as the lone driver to pull off the feat. He led a race high 181 laps including much of the early going. Gordon started seventh and though he ascended into the top five fairly quicky, he battled a loose condition that would persist off and on throughout the day. 

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The work of the team would be a determining factor, however. Evernham continued to take big swings at adjustments involving spring rubbers, wedge and the sway bar and importantly, Gordon was still able to maintain in the top 10, staying in shouting distance as the gruelingly long, hot race unfolded. 

Then, inside of 100 laps to go, the team found the winning combination. Gordon was able to slip past Michael Waltrip for second and then pursued Dale Jarrett for the lead, closing the gap slowly, lap-by-lap. 

On lap 295, a caution was displayed for rain. The leaders pitted with Gordon coming out with the lead. The team executed the second-best pit stop of the day right in the nick of time, giving Gordon all valuable track position.

 "We had a good car, I don't think we had the best car but we got ourselves in position at the right time to control the race," Gordon said.

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A final pit stop and restart would come with 31 laps to go after Ward Burton spun out in front of the leaders. Again, the pit crew got Gordon out first. 

But Jarrett continued to shadow the No. 24 car the rest of the way, hovering within a few car lengths. With 10 laps to go, Jeff Burton joined the party, creating a three-way breakaway and a heated battle for the victory. 

Burton passed Jarrett for second with three to go and pulled alongside Gordon with the white flag flying. The two made contact down the frontstretch and Burton entered turn one with the preferred lane. But Gordon wasn't about to relent. 

"Burton was better and I made some mistakes," Gordon recalled. "He really gained on me in a big way. But for a million bucks, you were going to have to take me out to beat me." 

Fortunately, despite arguably having the better car, Burton didn't go that far. 

And Gordon held on. 

In victory lane, bags of money were piled onto the hood of the No. 24 car as Gordon gave his interview. In the moment, the cash may have been king. After years of reflection, however, it's the accomplishment that still resonates for Evernham. 

Well, mostly. 

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 “In ’97 a million bucks was still a million bucks,” Evernham laughed. “That was one of the things we did that justified our place in history. We don’t have the most wins, we don’t have the most championships, there’s a lot of things that we don’t have the most of. But when people look at Jeff and I, we had 216 starts together and if you take that block of races and look at the things we accomplished, it’s pretty good. That Winston Million is one of the things that sticks out.” 

For Gordon, so too is the success he had at one of the venues that built NASCAR. The first Southern 500 was run in 1950. Gordon's six wins remain the most all time. 

He'd follow that victory in '97 up with yet another in 1998, giving him four in a row. And for as often as Gordon's name is synonymous with tracks like Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Martinsville Raceway and even Daytona, those victories in one of the sport's most arduous events only to continue to gain importance to him as the years go by. 

"I'm super proud of that," Gordon said. "Everybody knows it's one of the toughest tracks. Managing tires, staying out of the wall, strategy - and you're compromising constantly because both ends of the race track are so different - the surface, it's a long race so you have to have reliability, pit stops; all of those things factor into that being a tough, tough race. 

"To win it that many times and go into the record books with the top drivers in the history of the sport is something that maybe I didn't recognize as much at the time because you're in it, you're so focused on the next race and the championship and that season. But once you get to step back from your career and look back on it and the things you're most proud of, that's really high up there for me."