Gordon has already accumulated 31 Winston Cup career victories, including two wins so far in 1998; the GM Goodwrench 400 at Rockingham and the Food City 500 at Bristol. He captured 10 wins in the 1997 season on his way to his second championship. He began last year in blazing fashion by capturing his first Daytona 500 victory, becoming the youngest-ever winner of that race at age 25. He followed that by winning the Goodwrench 400 at Rockingham the next week. At Bristol in April, he won the Food City 500 race in dramatic style, passing Rusty Wallace on the final turn of the last lap, to grab the victory. The very next week he won the Goody's Headache Powders 500 at Martinsville in dominating fashion. Gordon also captured The Winston all-star race at Charlotte in May, and followed that by winning both the pole position and the race in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. In June, Gordon repeated as winner of the -Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania. Win number seven for Gordon in 1997 came at Fontana, CA, in June when he won the inaugural running of the California 500 at the new California Speedway. Gordon added his eighth victory of the season in August at the Bud at the Glen at Watkins Glen, NY, marking his first career road-course win. In late August, Gordon became the first driver in NASCAR history to win the Southern 500 classic at Darlington three years in a row. That win also earned him the coveted "Winston Million" bonus, for winning three of NASCAR's premier events in one season. Two weeks later at New Hampshire, Gordon posted his 10' win of the year by capturing the CMT 300 race.

Gordon, who earned his first career Winston Cup victory in the Coca-Cola 600 race at Charlotte in May of 1994 and won the inaugural Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in August of 1994, is in his sixth year with Hendrick Motorsports in 1998 as driver of the #24 DuPont Refinish/Quaker State Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Gordon, who finished second in the 1996 Winston Cup point standings and was named the inaugural winner of the True Value Man of the Year Award, also captured 10 wins in 1996, taking the checkered flag in the Pontiac Excitement 400 at Richmond, then posting victory in the TranSouth 400 at Darlington. The following week, he won the Food City 500 at Bristol. In early June he captured a dominating victory in the Miller 500 at Dover after winning the pole position, and followed that by winning the UAW-GM Teamwork 500 at Pocono also from the pole. He then won the Diehard 500 at Talladega from the outside pole, and captured a win in the Mountain Dew Southern 500 at Darlington, also from the outside pole. His eighth win of 1996 came at Dover in the MBNA 500. The following week, he won the Hanes 500 at Martinsville, then took the Tyson Holly Farms 400, the last ever Winston Cup race at North Wilkesboro. Gordon posted seven victories in 1995 en route to the championship. Gordon also has 17 career pole positions, including one in 1998 (California 500), and one in 1997 (Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte).

Despite his age, there is no denying Gordon can easily be labeled a veteran when it comes to driving race cars. Born in Vallejo, CA, but raised in Pittsboro, IN, Gordon began his racing career at age 5 and by age 20, with numerous victories and racing achievements, was named, for the second straight year, to the 1991 All-American Team by the American Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association, joining such notables as Dale Earnhardt, Harry Gant, Michael Andretti and Gordon's racing hero, Rick Mears.

Gordon joined with car-owner/crew chief Bill Davis in 1991 and began competing on the NASCAR Busch Grand National circuit, finishing second three times and third once. He had five top-five and 10 top-10 finishes, notched one pole position and two outside poles and placed 11th overall in the BGN point standings. Those successes in his inaugural season earned him the Vortex Comics Rookie-of-the- Year honors.

The boyish-looking Gordon continued to excel in the 1992 season by capturing - after only 35 starts - his first BGN victory at Atlanta from the pole. He then set a BGN record for single race money winnings at Charlotte in May when he won the pole position and the Champion Spark Plug 300 race, earning $113,844. He won his third career BGN race by repeating as pole-winner and victor in the fall race at Charlotte, and his race earnings of more than $72,000 boosted his yearly winnings to more than $349,000, a BGN record for a single season. Gordon also set the BGN record for pole positions in a single season, capturing the number-one starting spot 11 times.

Prior to his BGN successes, Gordon logged more than 600 victories in 15 years of driving in open-wheeled and NASCAR competition. During the 1970s and early 1980s, Gordon won three national quarter-midget championships and four national go-cart class championships. He became USAC's youngest-ever 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 fives and 66 top 10s in just 93 starts.

In 1990, at age 19, Gordon won the USAC Midget Series National Championship, becoming the youngest driver ever to win that title. During the title year, he produced nine wins in 21 races and was the fastest qualifier 10 times. He followed that in 1991 by capturing the USAC Silver Crown Division National Championship, including victories in the prestigious Copper Classic in Phoenix and the Hulman 100 at Indianapolis Fairgrounds during the Indianapolis 500 weekend.

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 Winston Cup contract for the 1993 season and beyond.

"A talent like Jeff does not come along very often," said Hendrick. "We didn't have it in our long-range plan to add another team, but Jeff made the decision for us. We feel he is NASCAR's next superstar."

Also realizing the talents and great potential of the bright, young, but racing mature Gordon, DuPont Automotive Refinish agreed to a multi-year sponsorship of the Hendrick effort. Carrying a bright, colorful DuPont Automotive Finish paint scheme, the #24 Chevrolet Monte Carlo that Gordon pilots is easily recognizable by racing fans as he streaks around the Winston Cup tracks.

With his amazingly smooth, yet aggressive driving skills; his racing background, and wealth of on-track experience, Gordon is rated one of the top race-driving prospects to come along in many years. He made his mark very quickly on the Winston Cup circuit in 1993 winning one of the 125-mile qualifying races for the Daytona 500, then placing fifth in the Daytona 500, and became the first rookie in decades to lead the Daytona 500 on the first lap.