NASCAR Cup

Jeff Gordon - First Two Time Winner at Fontana

GORDON DUE AS HE LOOKS TO BE FIRST TWO-TIME WINNER AT CALIFORNIA FONTANA, Calif . â€“ Three-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon has the best overall performance after two races at California Speedway. Gordon started third ...

Edited: May 8, 2001, 12:19 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

GORDON DUE AS HE LOOKS TO BE FIRST TWO-TIME WINNER AT CALIFORNIA

FONTANA, Calif . – Three-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon has the best overall performance after two races at California Speedway. Gordon started third and went on to win the inaugural event here in 1997. Last year, he won the pole and drove his DuPont Automotive Finishes Chevrolet to a fourth-place finish, leading to an average finish of 2.5 at the 2-mile oval. Going into this Sunday's California 500, Gordon looks to get back into victory lane and become the first two-time winner of the event. "This has been a good track for us," said Gordon. "I really enjoy racing on tracks like California and Michigan where there's lot of room to pass. I think that type of racing is exciting for the drivers and the fans. "It's also real exciting to race in southern California. Competing in markets like this is what keeps this sport growing." Gordon has two wins after 10 races in 1999. He won the season-opening Daytona 500, but has not seen victory lane since race No. 4 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, faltering from his average win record. With 44 wins in 198 NASCAR Winston Cup career starts, Gordon averages a win every 4.5 races. His career winning percentage is 22.2, the best of all time. Gordon has not won any of the last five events, which would not be an issue if this season mirrored the phenomenal success this team has experienced over the past four years. Three DNF's this season have relegated the No. 24 team to fifth place in the points standings, 210 behind leader Jeff Burton. "I'm more amazed at the good luck that we've had over the last four or five years than I am at the bad luck we've had this year," said Gordon " It's not because we haven't been running good. "These things only make this team stronger. I've never seen them more together and as strong as they are right now." Gordon's crew chief, Ray Evernham, agrees. "We can't be upset over the way things are going this season," said Evernham. "The things that have happened to us have been beyond our control. "We need to keep working hard to make sure that all the elements that we can control are not failing us. We've had good cars all season, and we've had a couple of setbacks. But, this team never gives up and we'll continue to work hard. We're not out of this thing yet." Out of the points chase towards a third-consecutive Winston Cup championship with 24 races remaining? Not Jeff Gordon and his team of Rainbow Warriors. No way.

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Square D Racing Review/Preview

Next article Tony Stewart Fontana Preview

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

The ten closest finishes from the 2026 NASCAR season

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup 5 h

The ten closest finishes from the 2026 NASCAR season

‘Lewis suspected a conspiracy’ – Nico Rosberg explains how Lewis Hamilton F1 rivalry went awry at Mercedes

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1 6 h

‘Lewis suspected a conspiracy’ – Nico Rosberg explains how Lewis Hamilton F1 rivalry went awry at Mercedes

BMW "proud of what we achieved" after securing runner-up in 2026 WEC

WEC

WEC WEC

Monza

7 h

BMW "proud of what we achieved" after securing runner-up in 2026 WEC

The numbers that reveal how sprint races have turned the MotoGP title fight upside down

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Qatar GP

9 h

The numbers that reveal how sprint races have turned the MotoGP title fight upside down

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts