Top 25 NASCAR Drivers at the Brickyard | 5-1

Editor’s Note: This is the last of a five-part series looking back at the top 25 drivers to race in the 24 editions of the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard Powered by Florida Georgia Line, based on victories, results, laps led, qualifying performance and other factors. The drivers will be unveiled five at a time, starting with No. 25 and finishing with No. 1. The 25th Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard Powered by Florida Georgia Line is scheduled for Sept. 7-9 at IMS. View Top 25 NASCAR Drivers at the Brickyard | 25-21 | 20-16 | 15-11 | 10-6.

No. 5: Dale Jarrett. Dale Jarrett had a stretch of six years in which he was one of the most feared drivers at the Brickyard – probably only Jeff Gordon stirred more concern among competitors.

That’s not a long reign at or near the top, but Jarrett earned two Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard Powered by Florida Georgia Line victories during that run and probably should have become the first driver to win the race three times.

Plus DJ will remain immortal in Brickyard and Indianapolis Motor Speedway for a simple, spontaneous gesture he performed after his first victory, in 1996.

Jarrett finished third behind winner Dale Earnhardt and runner-up Rusty Wallace at the Brickyard in 1995, but he put it all together in 1996 to win for Robert Yates Racing. Jarrett also had won the Daytona 500 that year and became the first driver to win the two biggest races in NASCAR in the same season.

As they celebrated their win in Victory Circle in 1996, Jarrett and crew chief Todd Parrott decided to jump over the pit wall, kneel at the Yard of Bricks start-finish line and plant a big smooch on the rubber-covered bricks. The fans went wild, and an IMS tradition was born that has been repeated by every Brickyard winner since, many Indianapolis 500 winners and the champions of other events at IMS, including the Indy Women in Tech LPGA tournament and the Red Bull Air Race.

Jarrett was dominating the 1998 race, leading by four seconds at the halfway point on Lap 80 when a miscalculation in the pits resulted in him running out of fuel, coasting to a stop at the head of pit road. Jarrett lost four laps while his Robert Yates team sprinted up pit road to push his car to his pit stall. Jarrett made up all four laps through strategy and well-timed caution periods, but he ended up 16th.

There was no such mistake in 1999. Jarrett exorcised every demon from the previous year by dominating the race, leading 117 of the 160 laps for his second Brickyard win. It probably should have been his third.

No. 4: Kyle Busch. Kyle Busch produced an enviable record in his first 10 starts in the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard Powered by Florida Georgia Line, with eight top-10 finishes, including second in 2012 to Jimmie Johnson and again in 2014 to Jeff Gordon.

But once Busch finally found the route to Victory Lane at IMS in 2015, he has made the Racing Capital of the World his personal playground and secured his status as an all-time NASCAR great at IMS.

Busch earned his first Brickyard victory in 2015 after capturing the Xfinity Series’ Lilly Diabetes 250 the previous day, becoming the first driver to sweep the NASCAR weekend at IMS.

But Busch redefined dominance even more in 2016. He won both the Brickyard and the Lilly Diabetes 250 from the pole for a second straight sweep. Both feats – the consecutive event sweeps and winning both races in one weekend from the pole – may never be repeated at IMS. After all, no one ever had swept both the Cup and Xfinity races from the pole at any NASCAR event before Busch.

Plus Busch crushed the field in both races that weekend. He led a race-record 149 of 170 laps in the Brickyard and 62 of 63 laps in the Lilly Diabetes 250.

Busch polarizes fans: There’s no in-between with this guy. But anyone who denies his brilliance around the 2.5-mile oval at IMS either isn’t paying attention or really has a thick beef with NASCAR’s reigning “bad boy.”

He’s one of the true aces. And at age 33, he probably has plenty of more years to climb the statistical and mythical lists of greatness at IMS. Don’t be surprised if “Rowdy” moves a slot or two higher on this list 25 years from now. He could even make it to the top.

No. 3: Tony Stewart. There’s little doubt that Tony Stewart would top a list of drivers who wanted to win at the Brickyard more than any other.

Stewart grew up in Columbus, Indiana, just 50 miles southeast of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He traveled with his family and friends to IMS to watch Indianapolis 500 practice, qualifying and the race as a youth. He raced in the Indianapolis 500 five times between 1996 and 2001, falling short of his most coveted win with a best finish of fifth.

Winning at his Field of Dreams consumed Stewart nearly to the point of self-destruction at times both in his IndyCar and NASCAR career, leading to some memorable eruptions of disgust after yet another disappointment. About the last question Stewart wanted to hear every time he returned to IMS in the summer to race at the Brickyard was, “When are you going to win here?” But he heard it anyways.

Stewart finally silenced that question in 2005, in one of the most emotional and memorable editions of the race.

Entering the Brickyard in 2005, Stewart had finished no better than fifth in his prior six NASCAR starts at IMS. But Stewart led a race-high 44 laps and held off fellow USAC graduate Kasey Kahne over the final 11 laps, winning by .794 of a second as the huge crowd roared and pumped their arms in celebration.

Few who saw the race on television could forget Stewart’s father, Nelson Stewart, hanging over the railing in the Turn 2 Suites and pointing his index finger at his temple, encouraging his mercurial son to keep a cool head in the final charge to the Yard of Bricks.

And no one forgot the post-race scene, when Stewart stopped his No. 20 Home Depot Pontiac in front of the Turn 2 suites, took a swig from a can of Coca-Cola from a fan and saluted his friends and family. Then Stewart drove back to the Yard of Bricks and climbed the front stretch fence in celebration with his Joe Gibbs Racing crew.

“I wish I could put it into words,” Stewart said as he laid on the outside wall on the front stretch after climbing the catch fence. “Today’s been my entire life.”

Stewart showed in 2007 that his breakthrough win at IMS was no fluke. He dominated by leading a race-high 65 out of 160 laps and beating Indianapolis 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya to the Yard of Bricks by 2.982 seconds at the finish.

“Smoke” also showed his trademark swagger in one of the most famous quotes in the history of the race, uttering “Here, kitty, kitty, kitty; come get you some of this,” on the team radio as he chased down Kevin Harvick late in the race to take the lead for good.

Stewart recorded 11 top-10 finishes in his 18 Brickyard starts, tied for third on the all-time list. He also was a solid qualifier at the Brickyard, winning the pole in 2002 and recording six other top-10 starts.

But Stewart sealed his legacy and fulfilled his dreams by winning twice in three years and becoming one of only five drivers to triumph at the Brickyard at least twice.

No. 2: Jimmie Johnson. Jimmie Johnson is second to longtime Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon on the all-time Brickyard win list, with four victories.

But it’s safe to say no one enjoyed a run of dominance in the annual NASCAR classic at IMS quite like Johnson from 2006 to 2012.

Johnson has earned all four of his Brickyard victories to date in that seven-year span. Gordon’s four wins came in an 11-start stretch.

It may seem odd, but IMS was a bogey track for Johnson in his first four Brickyard starts, from 2002-05. He finished ninth, 18th, 36th and 38th, respectively, while admitting he couldn’t quite figure out the answer to the riddle of how to drive a 3,500-pound stock car through the low (by NASCAR standards), 9-degree banking of the four corners at IMS.

But once Johnson solved that problem, look out.

Johnson won in 2006 and then again from the pole in 2008, a race marred by the tire problem that caused the field to require pit stops every 10 laps.

There were some whispers about the legitimacy of that win on a dim day in the history of the race, talk that was unfounded. Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus figured out the strategy game of one of the oddest races in NASCAR history better than anyone else in the field, which all was running under the same conditions.

Johnson then proved in 2009 that he was the new master of the Brickyard with another victory in the No. 48 Chevrolet, this time without a whiff of any controversy. He earned his third victory in four years and became the first driver to win the race in consecutive years.

In 2012, Johnson matched Gordon at the top of the Brickyard pantheon with his fourth victory. Gordon earned his record-breaking fifth win in 2014, but Johnson still has remained a powerhouse at the Brickyard since his last win, with a runner-up finish in 2013 and a third-place finish in 2016. He was eliminated last year in an accident while running three-wide for the lead late in the race with eventual winner Kasey Kahne and Brad Keselowski.

Johnson also has led 302 laps during his Brickyard career, second only to Gordon. He also has led in seven races, tied for second behind Gordon.

No. 1: Jeff Gordon. Naming Jeff Gordon as the greatest driver in Brickyard history is about as much of a bold statement as saying the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

Well, duh: Who else could it be?

The numbers and the history all point to one man – Jeffery Michael Gordon.

Let’s start with the numbers. Gordon leads nearly every statistical category in Brickyard history, including the one that matters the most – victories.

He won the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard Powered by Florida Georgia Line a record five times. Formula One god Michael Schumacher is the only other driver to win a major event at IMS five times, with five United States Grand Prix wins with a dominant Ferrari team in a championship that’s far less competitive than the NASCAR Cup Series.

Gordon also led in these categories -- most Brickyard starts (23), most laps completed (3,519 out of 3,862), most times running at the finish (21), poles (three), career Brickyard earnings (nearly $7.6 million), laps led (528), top-five finishes (12), top-10 finishes (17) and races led (14). He’s second to Ryan Newman in both top-five and top-10 starts, with seven and 12, respectively.

Then there’s the history. Gordon joins inaugural Indianapolis 500 winner Ray Harroun in the exclusive company of champions of significant major events at IMS that continue today. Sure, it was a big deal when Schumacher won the first USGP in 2000 and Valentino Rossi captured the first MotoGP race at IMS in 2008, but sadly those races are gone from the Speedway.

No one can take away Gordon’s achievement as the winner of the first Brickyard 400, an event which was one of the biggest phenomena in American motorsports history. Harroun retired from the “500” after his victory in 1911, but Gordon carried on for 22 more starts at IMS and dominated the event.

Not bad for a kid already known to Indiana racing fans due to his success in USAC competition and because he lived in nearby Pittsboro as a teen after moving to Indiana from his native California to further his racing career.

Gordon’s inaugural win at 1994 also transcended IMS. It transformed him into a racing superstar and led to him becoming a household name among American sports fans and in American pop culture. Plus the success of the inaugural Brickyard 400, with the victory by the 23-year-old, fresh-faced Gordon at its centerpiece, helped launch a boom of construction of racetracks across America and elevated NASCAR to unseen levels of popularity.

The debate over the greatest driver in Indianapolis 500 history will rage for a long time. Four-time winners A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears have devotees in every hot stove verbal tussle among fans.

But when it comes to NASCAR at the Brickyard, Jeff Gordon is the GOAT. Hands down. Case closed. Period.