Welcome to the Jeff Gordon Expressway

Credit: Debbie Ross for Skirts and Scuffs

In a tribute befitting a NASCAR driver, a vote in North Carolina has paved the way for a section of Interstate 85 to be named after Jeff Gordon. The stretch of I-85 from Charlotte to the Mecklenburg-Cabarrus County line will become the Jeff Gordon Expressway, after winning approval from the Mecklenburg County commissioners yesterday.

Gordon will join the likes of Richard Petty, who has a stretch of Highway 220 named in his honor, Benny Parsons, whose name is on Highway 421 in Wilkes County, and Dale Earnhardt, who has his own boulevard and highway in Cabarrus and Iredell counties in North Carolina.

Prior to the vote, Gordon spoke about the honor yesterday, saying “Getting my 85th win this season, being third on the all-time list is an incredible accomplishment for me, something I'm so honored to be on that list behind Petty and Pearson. I drive up and down 85 all the time going to Hendrick Motorsports and to my house, my parents that also live in North Carolina. That would be a tremendous honor to be recognized in that way on Interstate 85.”

The North Carolina Department of Transportation sign committee and board must give their final stamp of approval before signs will be placed on the newly named Jeff Gordon Expressway.