Jeff Gordon

Despite his age, there is no denying that Jeff Gordon can be labeled a veteran when it comes to racing.

Born in Vallejo, Calif., but raised in Pittsboro, Ind., Gordon began his racing career at age 5. By age 20, with numerous victories and achievements, he was named, for the second straight year, to the 1991 All-American Team by the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association, joining such notables as Earnhardt, Harry Gant, Michael Andretti and Gordon's racing hero, Rick Mears.

Gordon logged more than 600 victories in 15 years of driving in open-wheeled competition. During the 1970s and early 1980s, he won three national Quarter-Midget championships and four national karting championships.

He became USAC's youngest driver when he was granted his race driver's license for that circuit on his 16th birthday. In four different USAC divisions in more than four years, he recorded 22 victories, 21 fast times, 55 top-5s and 66 top-10s in just 93 starts.

In 1990, at 19, Gordon won the USAC Midget Series national championship, becoming the youngest driver ever to win that title. He followed that in 1991 by capturing the USAC Silver Crown national championship.

Gordon joined with car owner Bill Davis in 1991 and began competing on the Busch Series, finishing second three times and third once. He had five top-fives and 10 top-10s, notched one pole and placed 11th overall in the standings. Those successes in his inaugural season earned him the Vortex Comics Rookie of the Year honors. He continued to excel in the 1992 season by capturing his first series victory at Atlanta from the pole. He set the series record for pole positions in a single season, capturing 11.

Rick Hendrick, a keen judge of racing excellence, was so impressed with the talents and unlimited potential of the young racing phenom, that he signed Gordon in early May 1992 to a Cup Series contract for the 1993 season. Gordon has since become an equity owner of his race team.

Gordon actually made his Cup debut at Atlanta in 1992 in Richard Petty's final race. He got his first Cup victory at the 1994 Coca-Cola 600 and won the inaugural Brickyard 400 the following August.

He won the first of his four Cup titles in 1995. He hasn't finished outside the top 10 in points since he was 14th in 1993.

His fourth series title in 2001 came just two seasons after crew chief Ray Evernham left the Hendrick Motorsports operation after the pair had won three titles in just five years.

At age 30, he became the youngest driver ever to win four Cup titles and is only the third, along with Earnhardt and "King" Richard Petty, to achieve that plateau.

For any driver other than Gordon, his 2002 season would be termed a success, but a 31-race winless streak kept him out of Victory Lane until the Sharpie 500 at Bristol. He followed that victory up by taking the checkered flag at Darlington the very next week and winning at Kansas in late September.

Gordon ended the year fourth in the standings with four Bud Pole Awards, 13 top-five finishes and 20 top-10 efforts.

Gordon again finished fourth in the standings in 2003. He won three races, sweeping Martinsville’s two events and winning at Atlanta in the fall.

In 2004, Gordon finished third in series points, only 16 points behind champion Kurt Busch. He won five races, including two back-to-back victory performances: Talladega-California in the spring, and Infineon-Daytona in the summer. Gordon also won the Brickyard 400 and became one of only four drivers to win four races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway; four-time Indy 500 winners A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears and Al Unser are the others.

After starting the 2005 season with a bang and winning the Daytona 500, Gordon's season took a turn for the worse. The No. 24 DuPont team struggled in the early portion of the year, despite winning at Talladega in May, and suffered through a series of disappointing finishes.

The frustrating year came to a head in September at Richmond when Gordon failed to make the "Chase for the Championship." The Hendrick Motorsports team quickly went into "2006 mode," as Gordon would call it, and replaced crew chief Robbie Loomis, who left for Petty Enterprises, with young Steve Letarte.

The chemistry between Letarte and Gordon seemed to click almost immediately and included a win at Martinsville in October as well as several solid finishes down the stretch.

Gordon found himself in the late season battle for the 11th spot in the standings, eventually beating out Jamie McMurray for the spot, but insists he never thought about the honor.