Jeff Gordon kicked off his final full-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season the best way he possibly could – by winning the Daytona 500 Coors Light Pole.
The 43-year-old will attempt to launch his farewell full-schedule campaign in even grander fashion in Sunday’s 57th running of “The Great American Race” (1 p.m. ET on FOX) by becoming the 10th Daytona 500 winner to visit Victory Lane from the pole.
“I can’t think of anything cooler than to start this season, the Daytona 500, my final Daytona 500, final full season, on the pole,” he said.
Gordon won his second of three Daytona 500s from the pole in 1999. The other drivers to accomplish the feat are NASCAR Hall of Famers: Fireball Roberts (1962), Richard Petty (1966), Cale Yarborough (1968, ‘84), Bill Elliott (1985, ‘87) and Dale Jarrett (2000), as well as 19-time race-winner Buddy Baker (198).
Despite competing for the championship for the final time this season, Gordon claims to have tunnel-vision as he tries to tackle the 2.5-mile behemoth.
“I want to win the championship, I want points, but right now it’s the Daytona 500,” he said. “All I want to focus on is winning the Daytona 500. I’m just enjoying the ride, enjoying the moment.”
Fellow Chevrolet drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr. and 2014 NSCS champion Kevin Harvick are set to spoil Gordon’s Daytona 500 swan song.
Earnhardt, last year’s Daytona 500 victor boasts two wins in “The Great American Race” and will attempt to become just the fourth driver to repeat at the event (Petty, 1973-74; Yarborough, 1983-84; Sterling Martin, 1994-95). A skilled restrictor-plate driver, Earnhardt owns eight career checkered flags at superspeedways.
“If that 500 car is still in one piece when we put that thing on the starting grid, I got a good feeling about it,” Earnhardt said. “We got some qualifying races, got to get through some practices, and if we can knock that car on the grid, I think it’s going to be a fast one. I don’t think anyone here has a car as fast as ours from what I just saw today.”
Harvick, who won the final two races last season to capture his first NSCS crown can join Gordon (1999), Lee Petty (1959), Richard Petty (1973), Yarborough (1977) and Jarrett (2000) as the sixth defending premier series champion to win the Daytona 500.
The pilot of Stewart-Hass Racing’s No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet is primed to become the 11th driver in NSCS history to secure consecutive titles.
“As you come into this year, knowing we can do the things that we accomplished last year is very rewarding,” Harvick said. “And it is a great confidence builder for our guys and team.
“We know we can thrive in those situations, be successful in those situations and win races if we put all the pieces together correctly.”
Source: NASCAR Wire Service
