Gordon comes of age, gets first win at Charlotte

CONCORD, N.C. (May 29, 1994)

Mark the date down in history. It's the day when "the boy" became a man in the NASCAR Winston Cup ranks.

22-year-old Jeff Gordon surprised almost everyone, posting his first NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory in only his 42nd career start by a whopping 3.91 seconds over second-place Rusty Wallace.

Gordon's victory in the No. 24 DuPont Refinishes Chevrolet was the result of a late-race decision on the part of crew chief Ray Evernham to take on two tires on his final pit stop, which put him in the lead over Wallace, who had dominated the closing laps of the event.

Gordon took the lead from Ricky Rudd on lap 392 and never relinquished it. Rudd, who had led laps 382 to 391, wound up finishing sixth.

Gordon also won his second career Bud Pole, both at Charlotte, with a fast lap of 181.439 mph. He won an additional $7,600 in Unocal 76 Challenge money for winning from the pole in addition to his race winnings of $195,500.

Geoff Bodine finished third, followed by Dale Jarrett and Ernie Irvan. Harry Gant posted his best finish of 1994, seventh, and overcame adversity as his car was missing a fender.

Irvan boosted his NASCAR Winston Cup points lead to 62 points over Dale Earnhardt, gaining 22 points as Earnhardt finished ninth. For Irvan, it was his fifth top-5 finish in his last five races. Irvan was the only driver to post nine top-5 finishes in the first 11 races of 1994.