Gordon Mulls Retirement

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Jeff Gordon said on Thursday that he is prepared to retire if he wins a fifth NASCAR championship this year.

Gordon, 42, won championships in 1995, 1997, 1998 and 2001, all when the NASCAR series was known as the Winston Cup. Now the series is known as the Sprint Cup.

A fifth title could convince him to quit.

“If that happened, that would be all the reasons I need to say, this is it. I’m done,” Gordon said during NASCAR Media Day at Daytona International Speedway. “Go out on a high note.”

Gordon insisted he was serious about his thoughts of retirement.

“I go home and I look at my trophy room. I see four trophies, championship trophies,” he said. “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. I want that before my career’s over.”

Gordon was sixth last season in the standings, his best finish since he was third in 2009.

He has 88 Cup victories, third on the career Cup list. He has had only two winless seasons since 1993.

“I’ve put in 20-plus great years,” he said. “I do this now because I love it, because I like being competitive, and because I want another championship. I want to get a Sprint Cup championship.