#24-Jeff Gordon has just hit 72 Cup wins and is closing on the late Dale Earnhardt for sixth on the all-time NASCAR winners’ list, at 76. Next up in Gordon’s windshield are Cale Yarborough, fifth with 83; Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip, tied for third with 84; David Pearson, second with 105 and Richard Petty with the seemingly insurmountable 200. But Gordon got his 72nd win last Sunday at Talladega at the age of 33 years and nine months. (He’ll turn 34 on Aug. 4.) See the chart for the comparisons:
| Rank | Driver | Total Wins | Total Race | Win % | Wins at 33 yrs, 9 mths | Age at 72nd win | Win total at end of 12th season |
| 1 | Petty, Richard | 200 | 1185 | 16.9% | 123 | 30 | 140 |
| 2 | Pearson, David | 105 | 574 | 18.3% | 45 | 38 | 60^ |
| 3 | Allison, Bobby | 84 | 719 | 11.7% | 28 | 44 | 47 |
| 3 | Waltrip, Darrell | 84 | 809 | 10.4% | 27 | 41 | 70 |
| 4 | Yarborough, Cale | 83 | 561 | 14.8% | 14 | 43 | 59^ |
| 5 | Earnhardt, Dale | 76 | 676 | 11.2% | 12 | 48 | 48 |
| 6 | Gordon, Jeff | 72 | 410 | 17.6% | 72* | 33 | 69 |
(* current thru Talladega 5/1/05)(^ ran a combo of part-time/fulltime seasons)
Only Petty at that age had more wins than Gordon, 123. And Petty at that stage was racing in a whole other kind of NASCAR, with seasons as long as 61 races, barnstorming to backwater tracks where the competition for him often was nil. Even counting Gordon’s winless rookie year of ’93, he has averaged 5.88 wins per season in the 12.25 seasons he has completed. But he’s been hinting he might retire at 40. Let’s keep the happy medium of 5.88 wins per season, to allow for the possibilities that his career will get even brighter and then take a downturn that prompts his retirement. Should he quit at the end of the 2011 season, the year he turns 40, that would give Gordon 6.75 more seasons from now. At 5.88 wins per season, he’d have 39 more wins, for a total of 111, moving past Pearson into second place. Somes Stats and article [see much more and projections there] from the Orlando Sentinel/Ed Hinton.(5-5-2005)