Few names are mentioned in NASCAR’s Mount Rushmore as often as Jeff Gordon’s. Yet when asked to name his pick for the four greatest drivers of NASCAR, Gordon took himself off the list to add David Pearson. 

During his recent appearance on the "Bussin with the Boys" podcast, the four-time NASCAR Champion was questioned about who his pick for the NASCAR Mount Rushmore was. He quickly pointed out that his picks are based on the 'combination of championship wins'.

He named the seven-time NASCAR Champions Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty. For his third pick, he went with David Pearson. 

"David Pearson, to me, he's second on the all-time win list at 105 wins." Jeff Gordon said on the podcast, "And to me, he's number three. And then I'd put Jimmie number four just because, you know, you've got to have three seven-time champions. If you want to put a fifth, I put myself fifth up there."

David Pearson, who was also called the 'Silver Fox,' had won 105 NASCAR races and finished nearly 50% of the races he participated in the Top 5.

Gordon further elaborated on why he chose Pearson as his fourth driver on the Mount Rushmore. He said:

"I think it really comes down to who's the fourth, right? And I would put Pearson just because I chased his record my whole career. Well, you know, halfway through my career, when I thought, you know, you're not getting to Richard Petty 200, but that 105 seemed attainable at one time and, you know, I got to 93."

Furthermore, what is interesting is that in his 27-year career, David Pearson never competed full time, yet he won three championships. Speaking about this further, Gordon said:

"Pearson, you look at his percentage of wins- and you know what he did because he didn't always run a full season and he didn't always chase the championships when he probably could have been, but man, that guy won. He won a lot, and I respect that."

While there may never be a consensus on NASCAR’s Mount Rushmore, Gordon’s comments have added another intriguing perspective to the sport's ever-growing debate.

Jeff Gordon talks about the birth of NASCAR’s playoff system 

During the 1998 NASCAR Cup Series season, Jeff Gordon put together one of the most dominant seasons as he won 13 races and secured 26 Top 5 finishes. Hewas clear of second-place Mark Martin by 364 points, and wrapped up the championship that year at the Pepsi 400.

This dominant season became one of the many factors that made NASCAR introduce the playoff system. In the aforementioned podcast, Jeff Gordon explained:

 "There were a couple other drivers that just had the dominant season, and then it didn't come down to the final race. And then you look at tracks trying to sell tickets to the final race of building this up. 'Hey, come see the championship battle in the last race of the season.'

"Then, 'Oh, sorry. Yeah, the championship was decided two weeks ago or last week'. So there are all of those things. And then some of the decision-making that came into, let's create a playoff system."

The playoff format came into effect in 2004 and saw a few changes to it in the last two decades. After controversy surrounding the win-and-in format, which had begun in 2014 and lasted until 2025, NASCAR returned to the older Chase format in 2026.

Written by

Chionia Libania Colaco