Jeff Gordon won a Winston Cup record $10,879,757 in 2001 as he elevated himself to motorsports' all-time money winner. He also punctuated his season with a series-leading six Bud Pole Awards.

2001 victories Kmart 400, UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas, MBNA Platinum 400 at Dover, Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis, Global Crossing @ The Glen, Protection One 400 at Kansas Speedway.

Born: Vallejo, Calif.
Resides: Mooresville, N.C.
Family: His wife, Brooke.
Team: Hendrick Motorsports
Car: Chevrolet
Sponsor: DuPont Automotive Finishes
Car owner: Rick Hendrick
Crew chief: Robbie Loomis

2001 review: Jeff Gordon returned to the form with which most are accustomed, winning his fourth series championship behind six wins and six poles. He also won The Winston all-star race.

2002 outlook: Is this the beginning of another run of Gordon domination? With his team intact, Gordon's future appears as bright as ever.

Gordon set the all-time record for consecutive victories on road courses (six) with his win at Sears Point in June 2000.

Despite his age, there is no denying Jeff Gordon can be labeled a veteran when it comes to racing. Born in Vallejo, Calif., but raised in Pittsboro, Ind., Gordon began his racing career at age 5. By age 20, with numerous victories and achievements, he was named, for the second straight year, to the 1991 All-American Team by the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association, joining such notables as Earnhardt, Harry Gant, Michael Andretti and Gordon's racing hero, Rick Mears.

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Gordon joined with car owner Bill Davis in 1991 and began competing on the Busch Series, finishing second three times and third once. He had five top-fives and 10 top-10s, notched one pole and placed 11th overall in the standings. Those successes in his inaugural season earned him the Vortex Comics Rookie of the Year honors. He continued to excel in the 1992 season by capturing his first series victory at Atlanta from the pole. He set the series record for pole positions in a single season, capturing 11.

Before his successes, Jeff Gordon logged more than 600 victories in 15 years of driving in open-wheeled competition. During the 1970s and early 1980s, he won three national Quarter-Midget championships and four national karting championships. He became USAC's youngest driver when he was granted his race driver's license for that circuit on his 16th birthday. In four different USAC divisions in more than four years, he recorded 22 victories, 21 fast times, 55 top-5s and 66 top-10s in just 93 starts.

In 1990, at 19, Gordon won the USAC Midget Series national championship, becoming the youngest driver ever to win that title. He followed that in 1991 by capturing the USAC Silver Crown national championship.

Hendrick, a keen judge of racing excellence, was so impressed with the talents and unlimited potential of the young racing phenom, that he signed Gordon in early May 1992 to a Winston Cup Series contract for the 1993 season. Jeff Gordon has since become an equity owner of his race team.