Car: #24 Dupont Chevrolet
Drives for: Hendrick Motorsports
Crew chief: Steve Letarte
Born: August 4, 1971 in Vallejo, California
Teammates: Jimmie Johnson (48), Kyle Busch (5), Casey Mears (25)
Marital status: Married; Ingrid Vandebosch

Career highlights: Gordon is one of the most successful and popular drivers in NASCAR history, though he is also arguably the most hated driver in NASCAR history. Fans are sharply divided on Gordon; they either seem to love him or hate him.

He is a four-time Cup Series champion, and has 79 victories in his career, including three wins in the Daytona 500 and four wins at Indianapolis.

Gordon was married to Brooke Sealey, a former Miss Winston he’d met in Victory Lane at Daytona. The couple went through a messy public divorce, after Sealey’s lawyers subpoenaed closely guarded information from many of the NASCAR teams to attempt to figure out how much money Gordon made.

• Gordon began racing at age four after his stepfather, John Bickford, brought home go-karts one day for Gordon and his sister. He immediately proved himself to be a racing prodigy, and the family moved to Indiana so Gordon could pursue his racing career.

• In 1989, he was the USAC Midget Car Racing Rookie of the Year, and won the title the following year. In 1991, he moved up to the USAC Silver Crown and became the youngest driver to win the title, when he captured it at the age of 20

• In 1991, he moved up to the NASCAR Busch Series, where he competed for two years. In 1992, he made his Winston Cup Series debut in the Hooters 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, which was also the final race for Richard Petty.

• In 1993, Gordon raced a full season in the Cup Series for Hendrick Motorsports, finishing 14th in the points and capturing Rookie of the Year.

• In 1994, he won his first race, the Coca Cola 600 in Charlotte, and then won the inaugural Brickyard 400 in his hometown of Indianapolis.

• In 1995, at age 24, Gordon won the first of his NASCAR Winston Cup Championships.

• In 1997, he won his second Cup Championship and, at age 25, became the youngest-ever winner of the Daytona 500.

• He repeated as Cup champion in 1998, and won the Daytona 500 again in 1999.

• In 2001, he won his fourth Cup Championship, putting him second to Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt for the most championships (they each have seven).

• In 2005, Gordon captured his third Daytona 500, but suffered a disappointing season, failing to make the Chase for the Championship and finishing the season in 11th place. With 10 races to go, Gordon’s longtime crew chief, Robbie Loomis, departed from the pit box and was replaced by Steve Letarte, who continued on as Gordon’s crew chief for the 2006 season.
  
  
• Gordons first win of the 2006 season came at Infineon Raceway where he climbed back into the points standings. He was eleventh coming from MIS, but went up to eighth following his victory. This was a very special weekend for Gordon because he announced his engagment to his longtime girlfriend, Ingrid Vandebosch, a month after he proposed.

• Jeff Gordon has a racing link to Richard Petty. Gordon's first Cup race, in Nov. 1992 at Atlanta, was Petty's last. In '98 Gordon also equaled NASCAR's all-time winningest driver for the most victories in a season in the Modern Era (1972-present) with 13.Gordon also has four Cup championships. Only Petty and Dale Earnhardt, with seven each, have more.
  

• Gordon's path to NASCAR stardom began at age 5 when his grandfather put him behind the wheel of a Quarter Midget. The next year Gordon won 35 main events en route to the Western States Championship. In 1979 he won his first Grand National Championship. Gordon's domination of Midgets -- in 1980 he took the fastest time award in all 50 events he in which he competed, winning 46 races -- nearly drove him out of the sport. The California native was becoming interested in waterskiing before he grandfather intervened.

• While too young to race competitively, a 13-year-old Gordon started driving sprint cars. When he was finally allowed to race, Gordon posted 22 USAC victories and had 55 top-fives and 66 top-10s. In 1990, at age 19, Gordon became the youngest USAC National Midget champion in history and the following year won the USAC dirt title to become the youngest Silver Crown winner.

• In 1991 Gordon attended two-time Cup champion Buck Baker's driving school at North Carolina Speedway and his stock-car career began in earnest.

• Gordon made his Busch Series debut in 1990 and raced a full-time slate in '91, but Gordon's breakout year came in '92. He recorded his first victory in the season's fourth race at Atlanta. He finished the year with three victories, 10 top-fives, 15 top-10s and 11 poles to rank fourth in the final point standings.

• Team owner Rick Hendrick put Gordon in his No. 24 Chevrolet for the final race of the 1992 season, but Gordon managed 164 laps before a crash ended his run. In his first full season in '93 Gordon finished 14th in the points with seven top-fives and 11 top-10s. Gordon recorded his first Cup victory in the series' longest race, the Coca-Cola 600, in May 2003. Also that year he won the inaugural Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Gordon ended the season with seven top-fives and 14 top-10s to finish eighth in points, beginning a record string of 11 consecutive years of ranking in the top-10 in the final standings.

• Gordon began a dominating stretch in 1995 by winning his first Cup title. That season he posted seven victories, 17 top-fives, 23 top-10s and eight poles. The next year he recorded the first of his three consecutive double-digit win seasons with 10, finishing second in points.

• Gordon won back-to-back titles in 1997-98 with 10 and 13 victories, respectively. In '97, at age 25, he became the youngest winner of the Daytona 500. His '98 season included 26 top-fives and 28 top-10s in 33 races.

• Gordon won his fourth championship in 2001, beginning a four-year run of finishing in the top five in points. He became the first driver to eclipse $10 million in season earnings in 2001 and holds numerous other records, including all-time money won. He also has won consecutive races 20 times.

• Going into the 2006 season Gordon has amassed 73 victories, 199 top-fives and 269 top-10s in 437 starts spanning 14 years.
  
  
• Jeff won 2 races the 2006 season. The first came at the Dodge/Save Mart 350 at the Infineon Raceway and the second came as a controversial win at Chicagoland Speedway in the USG Sheetrock 400 after an altercation late in the race with Matt Kenseth!