Each sport has its own version of the Grand Slam. In baseball that means a home run with the bases loaded; but in tennis, golf, and even racing the Grand Slam refers to four of the biggest events in the sport.
For NASCAR the Grand Slam means a driver wins the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600 (Charlotte Motor Speedway), Southern 500 (Darlington), and The Brickyard 400 (Indianapolis Motor Speedway).
In the 75 plus year NASCAR history, there has been just four drivers have won all four of the Grand Slam races and they are all NASCAR champions…two of them are seven time champs – Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Jimmie Johnson, and Kevin Harvick.
During the course of his career Jeff Gordon drove to victory in Grand Slam races 23 times.
Dale Earnhardt won 18 Grand Slam races with two of the biggest wins coming in 1998 when he won the Daytona 500 on his 20th try and followed it up with the Coca-Cola 600.
Seven time champion Jimmie Johnson also has a total of 18 Grand Slam wins.
Kevin Harvick has a total of eleven Grand Slam wins.
There are a handful of current drivers who have the opportunity to join the Grand Slam Club before they retire – Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, and Kyle Larson each need the Daytona 500 to earn the title of Grand Slam winner.
Denny Hamlin also has three of the four races but he needs the Brickyard 400 to earn his Grand Slam.
Austin Dillon has won the two biggest races – the Daytona 500 and Coca-Cola 600 – but still needs the Southern 500 and the Brickyard 400 to earn his Grand Slam.