Jeff Gordon may retire if he wins Sprint Cup

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Is the 2014 NASCAR season really going to be Jeff Gordon’s last?

The answer is yes, but there is a caveat. Gordon will only seriously contemplate retirement if he were to win the Sprint Cup championship.

“I’ve put in 20-plus great years,” Gordon said Thursday during NASCAR Media Day at Daytona International Speedway. “I do this now because I love it, because I like being competitive, and because I want another championship.”

And what would Gordon, whose last title came in 2001, do if he won another championship?

“If that happened, that would be all the reasons I need to say, ‘This is it, I’m done.’ Go out on a high note.”

Another title would be Gordon’s fifth, and his first under the current Chase for a Sprint Cup format. It would also be his first championship with “Sprint Cup” etched on the trophy and not “Winston Cup.”

Although this may not seem significant, to Gordon there is a notable difference.

“I want to get a Sprint Cup championship,” Gordon said. “I go home and I look at my trophy room and I see four championship trophies. But they say Winston Cup on them. You can name me a four-time Sprint Cup champion for technical reasons all you want, but to me I’m still not.

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