In Jeff Gordon's 700th career start at Darlington a few weeks ago, the 87-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series winner notched his 300th career top-five. But what does he remember about his third career top-five - a runner-up finish to Dale Earnhardt - in Gordon's first attempt in the 600-miler at Charlotte Motor Speedway?

Not much.

Gordon, whose first race in NASCAR's premier series was the season finale in 1992, began his rookie campaign with a fifth-place finish in the season-opening Daytona 500. In March, he would secure his second top-five with a fourth-place finish at Atlanta. Seven races later - and several crashes later - Gordon would post his first of 65 career second-place finishes when he followed "The Intimidator" across the line here 20 years ago.

"I forgot I ran well in that race," said Gordon, who will drive a specially painted No. 24 Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet SS Sunday that will feature stars and stripes in red, white and blue. "And I'm actually surprised I made it to the end. We must have hit on something that night.

"Actually, I probably just stopped hitting things!"

Charlotte Motor Speedway has been the site of several "firsts" for Gordon, including his first pole position (October 1993) and first victory (May 1994). Overall, the four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion has five wins, eight poles, 16 top-fives and 21 top-10's at the 1.5-mile track. But the 600-mile event here is like no other.

"The race starts during the day and the track changes a lot when the sun goes down," said Gordon. "You have to be ready to stay on top of the adjustments - almost get ahead of them instead of getting behind on them.

"It's a very long race, and I like long races because it suits my style. But the car has to be right."

Gordon's mindset for NASCAR's longest race has changed over the course of 20 years.

"You can't go into this race thinking 'oh, we're just going to cruise at the beginning and wait for the track to come to us,'" said Gordon. "That used to exist, but it doesn't anymore.

"You start charging from the drop of the green flag."   

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Show your support for Jeff Gordon by joining the official fan club, the Jeff Gordon Network, where you'll get an exclusive JGN diecast, t-shirt, hat, collectable pin, Drive to End Hunger wristband and hero card, as well as other items and exclusive access to promotions, events and the message boards. Plus, a portion of each membership helps support the Jeff Gordon Children's Hospital! Sign up here -> https://signup.jeffgordon.com/!
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Saturday night in the annual NASCAR Sprint All-Star race, contact with the Charlotte Motor Speedway wall damaged the No. 24 Cromax® Pro Chevrolet and Jeff Gordon's chances to battle for the win in the non-points event. The three-time race winner finished 12th while Jimmie Johnson won the race split into five segments of 20 laps, 20 laps, 20 laps, 20 laps and 10 laps.

Gordon, who qualified 10th, battled side-by-side with Denny Hamlin for three laps before taking control of the seventh position as segment 1 ended. He restarted from that position for segment 2 but was quickly overtaken by drivers who elected to stop for new tires during the break. When a caution waved on lap 24, Gordon hit pit road for new Goodyear rubber and returned to the track in 16th. When the segment ended, Gordon was scored 11th.

Segment 3 did not start out well for Gordon as a daring three-wide move trapped him behind the slowing No. 55 car driven by Mark Martin. After falling to 15th, Gordon recovered and was battling for 11th when he reported the contact with the turn 2 wall.

In between segments, Gordon stopped for four tires. But he was called back down pit road again by Alan Gustafson when the No. 24 crew chief learned the extent of the right-side damage. Repairs were made to the No. 24 Chevrolet SS but Gordon was forced to restart 21st.

In the final 20-lap segment, Gordon was able to gain nine positions. But a pit stop miscue during the break dropped Gordon to 15th place for the final restart. In the final 10-lap sprint to the checkered flag, the four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series™ champion was able to gain three positions.

"We battled a tight condition for much of the race," said Gordon. "And me getting into the wall certainly didn't help.

"But we had a good car, and we learned a lot ahead of next week's race."

Next Sunday night, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series™ returns to Charlotte Motor Speedway for the annual 600-mile race. FOX and PRN Radio will broadcast the 6 p.m. EDT race live.

View an exclusive video from Jeff at Charlotte at AxaltaRacing.com here -> https://axaltaracing.com/charlotte-motor-speedway/.

__________________________________________________________________

Show your support for Jeff Gordon by joining the official fan club, the Jeff Gordon Network, where you'll get an exclusive JGN diecast, t-shirt, hat, collectable pin, Drive to End Hunger wristband and hero card, as well as other items and exclusive access to promotions, events and the message boards. Plus, a portion of each membership helps support the Jeff Gordon Children's Hospital! Sign up here -> https://signup.jeffgordon.com/!
__________________________________________________________________

Click here to download the free Jeff Gordon iOS app -> http://bit.ly/JGiOSApp.

Click here to download the free Jeff Gordon Android app -> http://bit.ly/JGAndroidApp.

To get your #24 Gear, visit www.jeffgordonstore.com.

'Like' Jeff on Facebook - www.facebook.com/jeffgordon.

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JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 CROMAX PRO CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Charlotte Motor Speedway and discussed this year's All-Star Race format, the correlations of winning the All-Star Race and the championship and many other topics.  Full Transcript:

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF NO SPEED LIMIT ON PIT ROAD?

"I think it's going to be really exciting and interesting.  I think this is a perfect event to do that with.  That is what the All-Star Race creates to me is the ability for NASCAR and Charlotte Motor Speedway to have some fun and keep it exciting.  Change it up from time to time and really take full advantage of this in the All-Star Race.  Put the drivers to work, put the pit crews to work, make the car work good and go out there and be aggressive.  Certainly coming to pit road that fast is very aggressive and it's hard to practice it with so many cars and the track being slick.  It's very hard to get a good judgment and I went through this before.  We tried to practice when I think it was '97 or '98, whatever year it was we did this. Maybe it was later than that, I can't remember.  The pace was so much faster when it came to qualify it carried so much more speed down pit road that when I finally decided to get on the brakes it was way too late and I never made it into the pit stall.  I'm going to try to take that experience and what I learned a little bit today and try to make it in the box."  

YOU COMPETED AGAINST DICK TRICKLE MUCH OF THE 90'S, COULD YOU SAY A FEW WORDS ABOUT HIM AS A COMPETITOR? MAYBE A STORY THAT KIND OF SUMS UP HIS CHARACTER?

"He was a fierce competitor but he was very relaxed and did things his own way. You've got to respect a guy for that. He drove so many different types of cars and had success in so many different types of cars. I don't have any great Dick Trickle stories. He's the only guy I raced against that you would be at Darlington in the middle of the summer and it's as hot as can be, and you're getting ready to roll off to take the green after a caution and he would flick a cigarette out the window and then we would go racing. You know, I had never seen that before."

DID HE REALLY HAVE A LIGHTER IN HIS CAR?

"I think he did. He was the only guy I know that had a lighter in the car when I raced. There might have been guys that did that earlier. He was a really cool guy. He didn't say much. He left it all out there on the track. He raced a lot. He was a tough, tough guy. When he was on he was tough to beat. He drove everybody's cars. He went through the highs and the lows of the sport. Certainly he is going to be missed."

IN TERMS OF THE ALL-STAR RACE, DO YOU FEEL THE FREEDOM TO DRIVE DIFFERENTLY AND MAYBE MORE AGGRESSIVE?

"This is definitely that race that lends itself to all the things that you would think it would.  "If you've got a shot at the win and it comes down to a restart, you've got to dive in the corner hard and get back in the gas hard. You've got to get past that guy; you're going to do it. Everything you do is so crucial as far as getting that position and getting the car out front and just go as hard as you can. That starts in practice, in qualifying, and it happens in every lap of every race. I mean it doesn't make sense to go do that for sixth or seventh or tenth (place), but for the win absolutely."

ON THE FLIP SIDE, WHEN PEOPLE ARE MAD AT EACH OTHER COMING INTO THIS RACE, IS THIS A GOOD PLACE FOR PAYBACK?

"I don't know. That's a great way to create more rivalry. It isn't a bad thing. I always say do unto others as they do to me. So, if somebody cost me points, I want to cost them points. I race everybody the way they race me. I've made some choices and mistakes over the years that maybe not have always showed that, but there is usually a reason for it. I don't know how other guys do it. I don't even know how I do it. To me the All-Star race is not about payback, it's about racing really aggressively, and if that aggressiveness causes things to happen that might hurt somebody else's chances to win the race, so be it."

HOW HARD IS IT GOING TO BE TO WIN ALL FIVE STAGES?

"These days it's near impossible. I'm not saying it is impossible. It just used to be a bigger gap in competition. The rules are so much tighter and the cars are so much closer, track position is so much more important, it's a lot harder to do. But it's possible."

DO YOU THINK THE TWO MILLION DOLLARS IS AN EFFECTIVE MOTIVATOR TO GET PEOPLE TO LAY IT ALL OUT THERE?

"I think just the fact that it's the All-Star race. This race means a lot to all of us as far as just pride and bragging rights, and momentum that it can give you for next week as well as the season. The Million doesn't hurt though."

THE INDY 500 IS COMING UP, WHAT MAKES THAT RACE SO SPECIAL?

"It's an amazing race. I don't know about others but for me as a kid growing up, the Indy 500 and the Daytona 500, those were the races you wanted to watch. I'm always watching throughout the day right up until I go to driver's meeting. I'm following on my phone finding out what's going on. It's a fun, exciting race to watch. It's a huge day for racing. You forget Formula 1 is running the Monaco Grand Prix as well. To me, between Monaco, Indy, and here at Charlotte it's a pretty spectacular day."

IS THERE A SOMEBODY IN PARTICULAR THAT YOU WATCH OR YOU KNOW IN THAT GARAGE?

"Is AJ (Allmendinger) running there? I don't know many of the guys. I raced with Ryan Hunter-Reay in a prototype race in Daytona 24 hours and few years ago. He's a great guy and doing well. I'm a big fan of Roger Penske. Because I grew up as a Rick Mears fan, so I like to see the Penske group do well. If AJ is running, I would love to see him do well."

WHEN YOU READ THE HEADLINES FROM THIS YEAR, WHETHER IT'S ABOUT SAFETY ISSUES AND CRASHES OR PENALTIES AND FINES, THERE'S NOT A LOT OF TALK ABOUT RACING. IS THAT KIND OF WEIRD?

"I think as long as people are asking questions, talking, and have interest and are engaged that is for the good. Some weekends you talk about the spectacular race, other weekends you are talking about the drama and things that happen off the track. In this world today, with social media and just the internet in general, I think any kind of buzz is a good thing. Some kind of story line that's keeping people's interest up so on Sunday when the race comes around people are tuning in to see what's going to happen next. I hope when they do that, they see a great race."

ARE YOU COMFORTABLE GETTING ADJUSTED TO THE TIRES?  IN THE PREVIOUS MODEL THAT CAME OUT WASN'T THAT PART OF THE ADJUSTMENT FOR YOU WAS THE CAR AND THE TIRE?

"Well anytime there is a repave and then they go with a harder tire or when they came out with the COT (Car of Tomorrow) all of a sudden that tire was really hard on right-side tires.  They had to go harder on the tires. That wasn't benefiting me and my driving style.  I really like to get that right-front out there and feel it and be able to push the limits of that right-front.  When you go to a hard tire like that you just have no feel out there on that right-front and really not the right-rear either.  The car that has more grip which along the way with the COT we started gaining grip.  At the beginning we didn't have the grip.  Then we started gaining grip, I started getting better with it.  Now this car has good grip and it's taken a little weight out too so it's allowing Goodyear to maybe look at softening up some of those right-side tires.  There needs to be more steps in that direction, but it's encouraging and so I'm enjoying it.  That doesn't change going to Kansas or Michigan and having a rock hard tire because that is what has to be there for durability."

WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT LEANING MORE ON THE RIGHT-FRONT TIRE WHAT DOES THAT ALLOW YOU TO DO WITH THIS TIRE (THE NEW TIRE)?

"If you have more grip, then you are able to use that tire more.  Some guys like to feel the right-rear, the left-rear, the right-front.  Everybody has a little bit different feel, but I don't like a tight race car.  I like to feel the car turn.  I like to just keep it right there on the edge of turning and tight, which I think most guys probably do. It's just how they go about it.  When the tire is really hard, think of the grip level as a peak it's real easy to get to that peak and the more you spread it out then the harder it is to get to that peak. You can lean on it, you have more adjustability in your driving style, in the car adjustments and it just allows you to have more options.  To me like this week we were in New Hampshire as soon as it put more grip on the car I liked it.  Even though the pace fell off more as we ran I liked that tire better.  Instead of going out there and slipping and sliding around trying to find the grip for three laps and then it finally comes in and doesn't fall off.  I prefer to have the grip at the beginning and then have it gradually fall off."

WHAT WOULD IT MEAN TO GET A FOURTH ALL-STAR WIN AND BE THE LEADER ALL-TIME WITH ALL-STAR WINS?

"Well, just an All-Star win in general is an amazing feeling and experience.  We have had opportunities that have slipped away from getting that fourth victory and we have been in position where we weren't really close and competitive enough to do it.  I'm excited about this weekend. I feel like our team has been working hard to get us a car that can compete for a win.  Qualifying is going to be a little tricky tonight.  We know how track position plays a role in this race.  The way segments are unwinding with that average finish I like that.  I think that falls back into our hands a bit and can give us a great opportunity to win."

IS THERE ANYTHING MORE SPECIAL TO BE ON TOP OF A LIST WITH JIMMIE JOHNSON AND DALE EARNHARDT, SR. (WHO ALSO HAVE THREE ALL-STAR WINS)?

"Honestly, I never look at it that way.  I couldn't even tell you where I'm at on the list at most tracks until the media says something.  I just go to a track and I know that I like that track, we have had success at that track.  I might know how many times I've won at that track, again because of press releases and the media talks about it.  I just know going into a track whether I have confidence in that track, whether I like that track and if I don't I always see how practice unfolds and then start building it or start working hard to get it.  That is the way I approach every weekend.  I think that is what has gotten me through 700 races and gotten me all the wins and the top-five's it's just I don't focus on the stats and the records.  I focus on just going and doing my job the best I can every weekend."

DID YOU REALIZE THE THREE YEARS YOU WON THE ALL-STAR RACE YOU ALSO WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP?

"I did years ago because a lot of people used to reference it, but I had forgotten about it until you just reminded me.  I don't know if that is coincidence or not.  Like I said I think to win the All-Star Race usually the best team wins this race.  I don't think that is a coincidence especially when it turns into a championship."

THE 600 NEXT WEEK, HOW DO YOU CHANGE YOUR PREPARATION FOR A LONG RACE LIKE THAT? 

"There are a lot of things that are different.  It starts during the day, the track changes a lot when the sun goes down.  It's a very long race.  You've got to hydrate if it's going to be warm and humid.  You've got to be ready to stay on top of the adjustments.  Almost get ahead of them instead of getting behind them.  Things are going to change.  I like long races.  It suits my style, but the car has got to be right.  You can't go into it thinking 'oh we are just going to cruise at the beginning and wait for the track to come to us'.  That just doesn't exist anymore.  That used to exist.  It doesn't exist anymore."

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Show your support for Jeff Gordon by joining the official fan club, the Jeff Gordon Network, where you'll get an exclusive JGN diecast, t-shirt, hat, collectable pin, Drive to End Hunger wristband and hero card, as well as other items and exclusive access to promotions, events and the message boards. Plus, a portion of each membership helps support the Jeff Gordon Children's Hospital! Sign up here -> https://signup.jeffgordon.com/!
__________________________________________________________________

Click here to download the free Jeff Gordon iOS app -> http://bit.ly/JGiOSApp.

Click here to download the free Jeff Gordon Android app -> http://bit.ly/JGAndroidApp.

To get your #24 Gear, visit www.jeffgordonstore.com.

'Like' Jeff on Facebook - www.facebook.com/jeffgordon.

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Add Jeff on Google+ - www.google.com/+JeffGordon.

Subscribe to Jeff's YouTube Channel - www.youtube.com/jeffgordon.

To support the Jeff Gordon Children's Foundation, visit www.jeffgordonchildrensfoundation.org.

To learn more about how to host your own game and help children kick cancer, please visit http://www.kick-it.org/jeffgordon.