Jeff Gordon was honored during the recent NASCAR race weekend at Dover International Speedway in Delaware that culminated in the May 6 running of the 2018 AAA Drive for Autism 400 race for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. A plaque detailing the four-time NASCAR champion-turned TV broadcaster’s Dover success was recognized on a plaque that was attached to the base of the facility’s Miles the Monster statue.
“For all of Gordon’s on-track success, as well as his special attachment with the Delaware community, he is forever honored, here, in Victory Plaza,” the plaque reads.
Gordon won five times at Dover International Speedway during his NASCAR premier-series career that spanned the last race of the 1992 season at Atlanta Motor Speedway and officially concluded with the 2015 season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway but was unexpectedly expanded with a handful of races as a substitute for the injured Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the second half of the 2016 season. That win tally ties Gordon with NASCAR Hall of Famer David Pearson for fourth on the Dover all-time wins list and gives him a track average finish of 11.38 in 47 races there. His stats also include 18 top-fives at DIS.
Gordon’s former Hendrick Motorsports teammate and seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson is the all-time winningest driver at Dover with 11 wins.
When Gordon began winning at Dover, he really started winning there. He claimed his first Dover International Speedway win in the fall 1995 race, and that win was the first of three-straight at the track, as he swept the two Cup Series races there in 1996. He won at Dover again in 2001 and claimed his last “Monster Mile” win in September 2014.
“Jeff provided millions of NASCAR fans, both at Dover and across the country, with plenty of thrills and excitement during his incredible career,” Dover International Speedway President and CEO Mike Tatoian said during the plaque unveiling ceremony. “Only the best drivers in the sport have their names on the Monster Monument, and only the best of the best receive the honor of a marquee plaque. Jeff has certainly earned his place among that accomplished group.”
Gordon is first in the modern era and third, overall, on the NASCAR premier-series wins list with 93 trips to victory lane, trailing only NASCAR Hall of Famers Richard Petty and David Pearson. Gordon, himself, is among the nominees under consideration for 2019 induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.