Twenty-four years ago, Jeff Gordon made NASCAR history when he won the Winston Cup race at Las Vegas while wearing the Head and Neck Safety Device (HANS), becoming the first driver to do so. What made the victory even better was the $1 million No Bull 5 bonus he received for the win.
The No Bull 5 bonus was a NASCAR program that awarded a $1 million prize to the driver who won three of the four Crown Jewel races in a season. The program was a successor to the Winston Million, which ran from 1986 to 1997.
Jeff Gordon Saved by HANS Device
With multiple NASCAR drivers losing their lives on the track around that time, driver safety had come under scrutiny. The on-track death of veteran Dale Earnhardt during the Daytona 500’s final lap brought even more attention to the issue.
Gordon, who had chosen to compete wearing the HANS device, crashed on the first lap. He lost control of his Chevrolet at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and hit the wall. Unlike Earnhardt, who did not survive an eerily similar wreck, Gordon walked away with nothing more than a sore neck, and after winning at Las Vegas, he credited God and the HANS device for his survival.
After the race, Gordon said, “I hit at about the worst possible angle. If you look at the right front of that car, it took a big impact. My neck snapped really bad. It really stretched out there.”
March 4, 2001: Jeff Gordon won at Las Vegas, earning a million dollar bonus from Winston.
Notably, it was the first time a driver won a Cup race while using a HANS device pic.twitter.com/J1L7xe67Pb
— nascarman (@nascarman_rr) March 4, 2025
The HANS device was a black, U-shaped piece of safety equipment used in auto racing to minimize head trauma during a crash.
In a 2021 interview with Fox Sports, Gordon said, “Some drivers like Brett Bodine were like early. I remember at a test, he came over to me, this is before Dale. He said, ‘You need to wear this, you need to try this.’ And I was like, ‘What is that? I put it around my neck and I’m like, ‘No way I’m wearing that, that is so uncomfortable.’
“I may have even tried it in the car for a couple of laps, and it was hitting my collarbone, and I didn’t think I could race like that.”
Even after many fatal crashes, NASCAR drivers were against using the device and complained about it being uncomfortable. Gordon was also hesitant at first, but Earnhardt’s death changed his perspective.