Driver Jeff Gordon says 2015 will be last season he’ll compete full time in NASCAR

He was nicknamed “The Kid” when he arrived in NASCAR.

That eventually changed to “Four Time” after acquiring four championships in NASCAR’s premier series.

In recent years, “Papa” has taken on a far more important title.

Even though Jeff Gordon announced Thursday he no longer will compete full time in NASCAR after this season, “retired” is not a word he plans to add to his portfolio anytime soon.

“The way I see myself in the world is that retirement means you go off to a beach somewhere and sit in a rocking chair on the front porch and drink your coffee and pet your dog,” Gordon said.

“That’s not me. I plan on working. I’m going to be working – I’m actually going to have to get a real job now. So when I think of retirement, I just don’t think that that’s what I’m doing.”

He might not be retiring, but Gordon said he is fairly certain the 2015 finale at Homestead, Fla., will be his last driving the iconic No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.

“I think the chances are pretty good that Homestead will be the last race that you see me in,” he said. “But, again, I don’t know that for a fact. But I know that I’m not going to come back and do a part-time schedule.”

Gordon’s contribution to NASCAR during his two-plus decades of competition are measured in far more than wins and championships. But there have been plenty of both.

Gordon, 43, has four Cup titles (1995, 1997, 1998 and 2001), 92 wins in the series and 77 poles, all for car owner Rick Hendrick. He is third in victories behind NASCAR Hall of Fame drivers Richard Petty (200) and David Pearson (105).

Since 2002, Gordon also has been part-owner of Hendrick’s No. 48 team, and driver Jimmie Johnson has six Cup titles, including a record five in a row (2006-10).

He is the sport’s winningest road-course driver with nine victories, is the all-time leader with 12 restrictor-plate wins and has won at every track on the current schedule except Kentucky Speedway.

“Until he showed up and got in a Cup car at a young age, no one had ever done that. Then to go out and win the championship in his third (full) year was amazing,” said Hendrick.

“How many of the drivers that are here today would never have had the opportunity if Jeff Gordon didn’t blaze a trail at such a young age from a different series?”

Gordon’s career has spanned the globe and his success and personality have helped NASCAR – once a Southern-dominated niche sport – find its way into mainstream America.

He was born in California, raised in Indiana and grew up in open-wheel racing. Along the way he found himself just as comfortable talking inside board rooms on Wall Street as racing in Darlington, S.C.

“I believe he is the greatest NASCAR driver there has ever been,” said former champion and Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip. “What he has done outside the sport has grown the sport’s popularity immensely.

“I give Jeff a tremendous amount of credit for the youth movement in NASCAR. A lot of people think NASCAR started in 1992, because that’s when he came on the scene and brought in a new, young audience.”

As Gordon has gotten older, the championships have been harder to come by, but he has remained a fixture of success.

Still, Gordon called NASCAR’s 10-race Chase playoff system to determine its champion one of the most difficult changes to which he has had to adapt during his career.

“I’ll never forget the day (NASCAR chairman) Brian France was telling me that’s what they were going to do. We were on the dock in Key West (Fla.), and I told him that was not a very good idea,” Gordon said.

“But honestly after that, and how I’ve experienced it the last couple of years, especially last year, I love it.

“It really bums me out I haven’t won one under this format.”

There’s still time.

Gordon said he does not want a big “retirement tour” this season because he plans to focus on winning a fifth championship.

Gordon said he looks forward to being surrounded by his family – wife, Ingrid; son Leo (age 4); and daughter Ella Sofia (7) – and “lots of reminiscing” with the friends he has made over the years.

The official goodbyes will have to wait until 2016.

“Of course you want to go out on top, but even if that’s not possible, I want to go out being competitive,” he said.

“That’s all I ask for.”

This story was originally published January 22, 2015 at 6:03 PM with the headline "Driver Jeff Gordon says 2015 will be last season he’ll compete full time in NASCAR."