iNSIDE SCOOP: What If…

What if Jeff Gordon wins his fifth championship at Homestead in November and he does as he hinted on Thursday?

He hinted that, upon winning his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title (his four previous crowns all have a different sponsor name), he might just toss his gloves on the dash, get out of the car and ride off into the sunset, or wherever champion racers go when they stop racing for championships.

That would be a shame, but perfectly understandable.

Gordon is getting on (hey, he’s younger than I am!) as these things go, and he’s made more money than he’ll ever spend. He has a young family, and he might like to spend more time with his wife and kids than his current schedule allows him to.

It would leave a hole in the driver lineup at Hendrick, but that’s solvable. It would tear a hole in the fan base, with a lot of 24 fans needing a new hero, but that also is solvable.

In short, he’s put his time in, done great things and revolutionized a sport. It might be time to let the kids play and just focus on what he wants to do.

All of that is part of the circle of life that is NASCAR racing.

NASCAR didn’t fold when Richard Petty called it quits in 1992, ironically in the same race that Gordon made his series debut.

It didn’t fold when David Pearson stepped away, or Cale Yarborough. NASCAR racing, ingrained as it is throughout the fabric of the country, is much like blues music in that those who come after always strive to take the sport (or music) one step beyond where they found it.

Odd comparisons aside, Gordon has indeed taken NASCAR past where he found it, on the track as a winning driver and as a car owner, where he picked Jimmie Johnson out of the herd and set him up to surpass even his own legacy.

The good news is, Gordon isn’t firm on this path; he has to win the title this year to put this plan in motion. At least, that’s what I got out of his statement. Of course, he could change his mind and race another five years, or he could just step away at the end of the season whether he wins or not.

That’s his right.

And he won’t be the last driver to face this decision. Tony Stewart is of an age, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. isn’t far behind. Matt Kenseth is no longer a spring chicken, and Carl Edwards is around there somewhere. Greg Biffle and several other drivers are in their 40s, and others are staring hard at that number too.

It’s part of the circle of life, folks. We’ll see how it all plays out, but I’m guessing that a lot of 24 fans are hoping he wins the title this year…and a lot are hoping he doesn’t. I’d even go so far as to say the majority of 24 fans are hoping he wins this year and decides to give it one more shot.