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Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, recorded 13 victories, 28 top-10 finishes and seven pole positions en route to his third Cup Series championship and the fourth straight for Hendrick Motorsports.
If the 1997 NASCAR Cup Series season was magical and a bit lucky for Jeff Gordon and the Ray Evernham-led No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team, the 1998 campaign was nothing short of phenomenal.
The chemistry between Gordon and Evernham was at an all-time high and their 13 victories throughout the season forced the motorsports media to scramble for new and creative things to say in headlines and news stories about how well they were performing.
Fans began showing up at tracks with signs and T-shirts that read, “Anybody But Gordon.” They were tired of seeing his Rainbow-colored Chevrolet roll into Victory Lane virtually everywhere it raced.
Gordon’s 13 wins in a single season were third best behind Richard Petty’s incredible season when he won 27 of 48 races. including 10 consecutively, and Tim Flock’s 1955 effort in which he won 18 of 39 races.
Mark Martin, driver of the No. 6 Roush Racing Ford, was Gordon’s closest rival in points but notched only seven wins during the season and was 364 markers back when the schedule ended at Atlanta Motor Speedway in November.
Only two DNFs – at Texas in April for handling issues and a crash at Richmond in June – were the No. 24 team’s only blemishes. With his convincing victory at California’s Sonoma Raceway on June 28, Gordon took the points lead and never relinquished it for the remaining 17 races.
It was truly the best season of Gordon’s NASCAR Cup Series career, which began in 1992 and ended in 2016.
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Driving the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Jeff Gordon won 13 NASCAR Cup Series races in 1998 and amazingly, all of them were on superspeedways or road courses. His biggest wins of the season came with six in a seven-week stretch at Pocono, Indianapolis, Watkins Glen, Michigan, New Hampshire and Darlington. The one race in that stretch that he did not win was at Bristol, where he finished fifth. Gordon’s average finish that season was 5.7.
In the season-opening Daytona 500, Dale Earnhardt, driving the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, finally won NASCAR’s most prestigious race. The second-generation driver from Kannapolis, North Carolina, had come close to winning the Daytona 500 on many occasions over the previous 19 years but couldn’t seal the deal. After leading 107 of 200 laps, the race was finally his. It is known as one of the most memorable races in NASCAR’s storied history.
Jeff Gordon’s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet won 13 times and recorded 28 top-10 finishes in 33 Cup Series starts.
Mark Martin drove the No. 6 Roush Racing Ford to seven victories and 26 top-10 results during the 1998 season.
DATE | LOCATION | WINNER
Feb. 15 | Daytona International Speedway | Dale Earnhardt
Feb. 22 | Rockingham Speedway | Jeff Gordon
March 1 | Las Vegas Motor Speedway | Mark Martin
March 9 | Atlanta Motor Speedway | Bobby Labonte
March 22 | Darlington Raceway | Dale Jarrett
March 29 | Bristol Motor Speedway | Jeff Gordon
April 5 | Texas Motor Speedway | Mark Martin
April 20 | Martinsville Speedway | Bobby Hamilton
April 26 | Talladega Superspeedway | Bobby Labonte
May 3 | Auto Club Speedway | Mark Martin
May 24 | Charlotte Motor Speedway | Jeff Gordon
May 31 | Dover Motor Speedway | Dale Jarrett
June 6 | Richmond Raceway | Terry Labonte
June 14 | Michigan International Speedway | Mark Martin
June 21 | Pocono Raceway | Jeremy Mayfield
June 28 | Sonoma Raceway | Jeff Gordon
July 12 | New Hampshire Motor Speedway | Jeff Burton
July 26 | Pocono Raceway | Jeff Gordon
Aug. 1 | Indianapolis Motor Speedway | Jeff Gordon
Aug. 9 | Watkins Glen International | Jeff Gordon
Aug. 16 | Michigan International Speedway | Jeff Gordon
Aug. 22 | Bristol Motor Speedway | Mark Martin
Aug. 30 | New Hampshire Motor Speedway | Jeff Gordon
Sept. 6 | Darlington Raceway | Jeff Gordon
Sept.12 | Richmond Raceway | Jeff Burton
Sept. 20 | Dover Motor Speedway | Mark Martin
Sept. 27 | Martinsville Speedway | Ricky Rudd
Oct. 4 | Charlotte Motor Speedway | Mark Martin
Oct. 11 | Talladega Superspeedway | Dale Jarrett
Oct. 17 | Daytona International Speedway | Jeff Gordon
Oct. 25 | Phoenix Raceway | Rusty Wallace
Nov. 1 | Rockingham Speedway | Jeff Gordon
Nov. 8 | Atlanta Motor Speedway | Jeff Gordon
