Opportunity before Jeff Gordon to complete championship walk-off

The retirement gifts have been wide-ranging, from bourbon to train sets, Shetland ponies to a poker table, but of the all tributes Jeff Gordon has received, the one that will come Sunday in his final race may carry the most significance -- and it’s one he presented himself.

Gordon, the third-winningest driver in Cup Series history, will be one of four competing for the championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway. While Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. secured their spots by virtue of points, Gordon earned his place with a dramatic and emotional victory Nov. 1 victory at Martinsville Speedway.

That win was Gordon’s first since announcing in January that 2015 would be his last as a full-time competitor and followed what had been a season filled with more frustration than elation. But as evidenced by the emphatic celebration that included Gordon jumping into the arms of the No. 24 team and unleashing primal screams, the complexion of what Homestead represented changed.

No longer does the final race of the season also signify Gordon’s race, the last of 797 career starts -- all consecutive -- it’s also now an opportunity to win a fifth championship, and first since 2001. To retire at the absolute pinnacle, the NASCAR equivalent of John Elway hoisting the Super Bowl before stepping away.

“I was disappointed how earlier in the season we weren’t getting the results,” Gordon said. “We weren’t putting the performances together. We weren’t running as good as we wanted to. I was making some mistakes. I was thinking to myself, ‘Man, I don’t want to go out like this, I want to go out being competitive, battling for wins.’

“I was hoping that we would, and then of course the Martinsville win. And now, here we are with that same opportunity. That’s how you want to go out, and that’s how I hope I can.”

Sunday was already going to be emotional for Gordon, regardless of whether he advanced to the championship round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Originally, the 44-year-old father of two young children planned to surround himself with family and friends and enjoy the experience to the fullest, culminating with a private party post-race in downtown Miami.

But with a championship on the line, those plans have been modified some. Though family and friends will remain alongside, Gordon’s focus has shifted to maximizing his performance to beat Harvick, the defending series champion, Busch and Truex in what is a virtual must-win race.

“I want it really, really bad,” Gordon said. “Our team wants it really, really bad.

Gordon admits there will be some nerves because of the stakes involved, although the prevailing emotion is excitement of possibility.

Throughout the year, he spoke almost wistfully of being competitive -- not necessarily of winning a championship, but of just having a shot. And while it took some time for that dream to manifest itself into reality, it’s before Gordon Sunday. He’s turned what was supposed to be the culmination of a long goodbye to something even more significant.

“I can’t believe that all that we’ve worked for, all that we’ve done all year long to try to figure out how we’re going to close out this career and this final race, and here we get to do it in a way where we get to battle for the championship,” Gordon said. “You couldn’t ask for more. That’s all we could hope for, but it was almost too far of a lofty goal to even be realistic, and now it is.”