Jeff Gordon on cusp of setting NASCAR’s record for consecutive starts – ESPN

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LOUDON, N.H. — The superstitious part of Jeff Gordon would rather talk about breaking NASCAR’s record for consecutive starts after he actually sets the mark Sunday afternoon at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

The four-time Sprint Cup champion, who has competed in each of the 788 scheduled races since his debut in the 1992 season finale, certainly knows that it takes talent, commitment and a little luck to break the record set by Ricky Rudd, which Gordon will do as long as he takes the green flag for the Sylvania 300.

Reflecting on the streak, Gordon thinks about how his ribs were bruised in a 1999 wreck at Texas, an injury that likely would have kept him out a for week if there hadn’t been an off weekend between that event and a race at Bristol. He thinks about the back pain at Charlotte last year that forced him to miss practice the day before the Coca-Cola 600.

“When I’m laying on a table and they’re injecting big, long needles into my back so I can race [at Charlotte] on Sunday, when you look back on it, you go, ‘That’s kind of crazy. Why did I do that?'” Gordon said after practice Friday. “I probably didn’t need to do that.

“But I did because I wanted to be in the race car.”

If Gordon competes in the remainder of the scheduled events in 2015 — his final season — he will finish his career with 797 consecutive starts. Rudd broke Terry Labonte’s record of 655 at age 45 in 2002. Rudd’s streak ended when he temporary retired from full-time racing after the 2005 season only to return for the 2007 season.

“I remember when Ricky Rudd did that and Terry Labonte and other guys that had these incredible records and streaks, I thought, ‘Man, they are old. I will never be around long enough to set that record or do anything to achieve that,'” said the now-44-year-old Gordon. “Now here I am.

“Yeah, I’m old, too. But I appreciate what those guys did, the effort they put into it and the commitment.”

Matt Kenseth is the active driver with the second most consecutive starts, 565. He would need more than six years to catch Gordon, who has 92 career victories and has made all his starts with Hendrick Motorsports.

Gordon doesn’t believe he is as tough as the racers of yesteryear. Rudd raced the 1984 Daytona 500 with his eyelids taped open so he could see above the swelling in his face — something that likely wouldn’t even be allowed today.

“I don’t know the full significance of this in today’s more modern era,” Gordon said. “I certainly didn’t go through what Ricky did. The things that he did to make it into a race makes my needles in my back look like nothing.

“But I’m curious to see what happens in the more modern era of safer cars, safer race tracks and how that affects what drivers do in the future. Will they not race as long and not get to it? Or will they blow this number out of the water and it won’t even be significant?”