Jeff Gordon Starts 700th Race Tonight at Darlington Raceway

Tonight it's racing under the lights at Darlington Raceway "the track too tough to tame" and the Bojangles' Southern 500. It's also Jeff Gordon's 700th race.

It's hard to believe that Jeff Gordon has been here over 20 years.  He had his first race in 1992 in Atlanta.  It was the final race of the year and the final race for "King" Richard Petty."  Many have said it was the end of a career for one legendary driver and the beginning for another.

As many know, I'm not the biggest Jeff Gordon fan on the track.  It's not anything that he's done either.  I'm a Joe Gibbs Racing guy and Jeff isn't on JGR.  I even mentioned in a story for the Daytona 500 this year, that it was the first time in NASCAR history that 2 women started on the front row (Danica Patrick and Jeff Gordon.)

That being said, he is a wonderful ambassador for the sport and doesn't embarrass himself or NASCAR off the track.  He has 87 wins with 7 coming at tonight's racetrack, Darlington.  His 700 starts are all consecutive and he is only 88 behind Ricky Rudd for the most starts in a row.  He would break that record in 2015 at Dover in the 29th race.

After 20 years he is still competitive.  He's qualified for the Chase the last 7 years and is currently in 13th place.  He has a lifetime contract with Hendrick Motors. He starts 8th tonight.  I hope he comes in 4th, right behind Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth(JGR drivers) tonight. You can see the race tonight on FOX 40 beginning at 6pm.

Just to prove that I'm not a Jeff Gordon softie now, I thought I would repost this picture from Facebook.  Hows that saying go, We wouldn't pick on ya if we didn't care.  Love ya Jeff