LONG POND — Jeff Gordon waits like all fans to learn this week who NASCAR selects for its next Hall of Fame class.

One year, that list of all-time greats will surely include Gordon.

Gordon has put up the kind of championship totals and win numbers that few in the sport can match. Gordon feels now, when he’s still winning races and a championship contender, is not the time to reflect on his career. That time will come when he‘s called to the Hall.

“I want to make it to that speech,” Gordon said.

“I want to be on that stage mixing it up with the other people when that day comes, and hopefully it does, and I want to be able to express it then because I think I’ll have had the moment and the time and the appreciation to truly embrace it and understand what it means.”

Gordon is pushing 40, but it’s not time to write the speech quite yet.

Gordon moved into a tie for third on NASCAR’s Sprint Cup career victories list, winning for the 84th time when he took the checkered flag Sunday at Pocono Raceway.

His 84 wins tie him with Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip for most in Cup history, and he tied Bill Elliott with five wins on the 2½-mile triangle track.

“There’s no doubt, I’m blown away with what I’ve accomplished,” Gordon said.

Gordon won in February at Phoenix International Raceway and has multiple victories in a season for the first time since 2007. Gordon’s victory at Phoenix ended his drought at 66 races without a win. This 11-race winless stretch was just a blip compared to that miserable skid.

Gordon was accustomed to only brief winless runs. He reached double-digit victories in three straight seasons (1996-98) and seemed a lock to hit 100 victories by 35 and put himself behind only Richard Petty on the all-time list.

Petty leads with 200 wins and David Pearson is second with 105.

Gordon’s won races with a mustache and a mullet, and his hair tinged with a touch of gray. He won them as the most feared driver on the planet in the ‘90s, then sporadically in recent years. He celebrated as a “Rainbow Warrior” and a family man.

This victory was a bit more special for Gordon, who turns 40 in August. His first order of business once he hopped out of the car was a kiss from his daughter, Ella.

Gordon’s wife and two children are his greatest gift.

But the pairing he needed most was with Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Alan Gustafson. Team owner Rick Hendrick’s offseason decision to shake up his organization has proved an overall success — he also placed Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the top-six at Pocono.

Gordon and Gustafson have the No. 24 Chevrolet in fantastic shape for a spot in the Chase for the championship.

“You hear the questions, ‘Is he the greatest? Where does he rank?”‘ Gustafson said. “I can tell you, he’s pretty damn good.”