"A gamechanger for my career" - Jeff Gordon reflects on fifth Brickyard 400 win for Rick Hendrick

Four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and current Hendrick Motorsports Vice Chairman Jeff Gordon took a trip down memory lane last week to one of his most iconic wins in his storied career. In 2014, Gordon wheeled the #24 HMS Chevrolet to a record-breaking fifth win in the Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

HMS celebrated 40 years of racing in 2024. As a tribute, the team's website celebrated some of its most significant wins in a series called "Hendrick Motorsports, 40 wins in 40 days."

On Sunday, the website highlighted Gordon's fifth Brickyard 400 triumph, as his record of five wins still stands as the highest of all time. The team posted a snippet of Gordon taking the checkered flag in the 2014 race on Instagram. The caption read:

“This is your day.” - Rick Hendrick

Gordon's fifth Brickyard win came on the 20th anniversary of his first Brickyard victory in 1994, which was also the Cup Series circuit's first-ever race at the track. When reflecting on the two victories, the California native said the first win was monumental for his career.

He said (via hendrickmotorsports.com),

“Obviously, to do anything 20 years later is significant and a big deal in any form of sports and certainly motorsports. That first (Brickyard 400) win in ’94 was just a gamechanger for my career and sent us on the trajectory at Hendrick Motorsports and the 24 car took things to the next level from that point forward.

"So, 20 years later, to be able to win again and the fact that the Brickyard was celebrating its 20th anniversary, and we were celebrating our 20th anniversary from the first win, was amazing and we were highly competitive that day.”

Gordon is arguably one of NASCAR's greatest drivers of all-time. His four championships rank fourth among all drivers in history, only trailing Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, and Jimmie Johnson, who each won seven. The 53-year-old captured 93 career victories, all with Hendrick Motorsports, third on the sport's all-time wins list.

Gordon has also won the Daytona 500, NASCAR's biggest race, three times. He retired at the top of his game after the Championship 4 race in 2015 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway.

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William Byron carries on the legacy of the #24 Hendrick Motorsports car

William Byron burst onto the NASCAR Cup Series scene in 2018 and took over the wheel of the famed #24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, a number and team combination synonymous with Jeff Gordon over the years. In 2020, Byron won his first career Cup Series race at the Daytona International Speedway.

Since then, Byron has carried the #24 banner proudly as he's amassed 13 wins and made two Championship 4 appearances. This year, Byron kicked off the campaign by winning the Daytona 500. He won two more races, at Circuit of the Americas and Martinsville, and made it back to the Championship 4 for the second year in a row. However, Byron failed to win the title and placed third among the championship contenders.