Gordon heads into farewell NASCAR season with relaxed approach

AFTER THIS season's final race in November, Jeff Gordon will ride off into the sunset. He announced last month that this will be his final season as a Sprint Cup Series racer.

Gordon doesn't want a "Farewell to Jeff" theme this season, but after you've won 92 races, third most all-time, farewell tributes are in order. Securing the pole position for Sunday's Daytona 500 is a terrific start.

"The pole for the Daytona 500, I know, is a big deal," Gordon said. "I'm approaching it the same way. It's business as usual. I've gotten enough [attention] over the years to be somewhat adjusted to it."

Following his announcement, Gordon, 43, has received compliments from coast to coast.

"Fans saying positive things, other competitors saying positive things, it's kind of hard not to enjoy that," he said. "I'm just enjoying the ride."

Gordon, a three-time Daytona 500 winner, said crew chief Alan Gustafson told him he'll have a mindset he's probably never had before.

"He's right. I feel it right now," Gordon said. "It's kind of all or nothing for me. I got one last chance. I can take chances. I want to win the championship. I want points. But right now, it's the Daytona 500. All I want to focus on is winning the Daytona 500.

"I'm way less stressed than I've been in the past. Now that's going to intensify a little bit in the race. That's just me and my nature. But still there's just something about it where, if you don't win, oh, well, it's not the end of the world. But, boy, if you can win it, what a storybook type of beginning to the season it would be."

The season hasn't started and already reigning Cup champion Kevin Harvick is angry at Joey Logano. Harvick was upset that Logano's car pushed his during the final laps of Saturday's Sprint Unlimited race at Daytona. After shrugging and saying, "It's Kevin being Kevin. New year, same stuff," Logano said he was just trying to help.

A few years ago at Pocono Raceway, Harvick was upset with Logano, prompting a smiling Logano to say Harvick's wife DeLana "wears the firesuit" in their family. Ouch!

Anyway, Harvick is preparing to defend his first Cup title. New year, new goals for the 39-year-old Californian.

"The new goal," the 2007 Daytona 500 winner said, "is, how do you do that again and try to put the same things together. But they will never be the same, just for the fact that it's a new year, it's new rules, it's new situations and how do you overcome those.

"It's always been fun to me to try to put the pieces together. The puzzle is always different, and the part that's intriguing to me is the fact that it's just like this offseason. We have had a lot going on, but just try to fit as much in as possible, with really managing your time and being able to be good at what we do and be a good champion and be progressing forward with your race team."

While Harvick wishes he had won his first championship earlier, he thinks the 2014 timing was right.

"As a guy who has been a part of this sport [a long time]," he said, "I think it was better that I won a championship a little bit later in my career, because I think I respect it a lot more and understand how hard it is to get to this point and really know the work and effort, and how many people it takes to be a part of it. You get referred to as champ, and that's great and pretty cool. And when you look at the list of guys that have won a championship, it's pretty small."

Only five drivers have won the Daytona 500 after collecting a title the previous year. The last two were Dale Jarrett 1999-2000 and Jeff Gordon 1998-99.

This will be the second year of the latest Chase format in which 16 drivers begin the 10-race playoff. In the eyes of NASCAR and many fans, the new format is a success. It created interest and drama (remember the fights?) when NASCAR is competing in the fall against the NFL, college football and the baseball playoffs.

However, one flaw previously noted here is that racers such as Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski missed the final four. Gordon won one Chase race and finished runner-up four times, including the next-to-last Chase race at Phoenix.

Ryan Newman, 11th at Phoenix, edged Gordon by one point to qualify for the final four. Newman finished second in the final Chase race, making him winless in the Chase. If Newman had won the title, it would've been an embarrassment for NASCAR.

Keselowski, the top seeded Chaser, won two Chase events, but finishes of 31st and 36th in other races prevented him from reaching the final four. Drivers with the Chase records of Gordon and Keselowski should be rewarded, not excluded. Five or six drivers occasionally in the final race to determine the champion? Why not? NASCAR expanded the Chase to 16 last year. The more the merrier! Within reason, that is.

Daytona 500

Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Fla.

When: Sunday, 1 p.m.

TV/Radio: Fox 29/WNPV (1440-AM)

Course: 2.5-mile oval

Distance: 200 laps/500 miles

Forecast: partly cloudy, low 70s

Last year's winner: Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Last year's pole: Austin Dillon, 196.019 mph

Track qualifying record: (without restrictor plates) Bill Elliott, 210.364 mph (February 1987); (with plates) Jeff Gordon, 201.293 mph, this year.

Track facts: Jeff Gordon and teammate Jimmie Johnson are the only two drivers locked into the starting field. The rest of the field will be determined by finishes in tonight's twin 150-milers (Fox Sports 1) ... Dale Earnhardt Jr. led six times for 54 laps, including the last 18, to win last year's race. The race ended under caution following an accident. It was Earnhardt's third Daytona 600 victory (his first since 2004). Denny Hamlin was second, Brad Keselowski was third. Polesitter Austin Dillon only led one lap; he finished ninth ... Johnson won the 2013 Daytona 500; Matt Kenseth won in 2012 ... Drivers winning consecutive Daytona 500s form an elite club: only Richard Petty 1973-74, Cale Yarborough 1983-84 and Sterling Marlin 1994-95 ... Pocono Raceway and Dover International Speedway are co-hosting a Daytona 500-watching party Sunday at Xfinity Live! in South Philadelphia. Check the track websites for details.

Up next: Folds of Honor Quik Trip 500, March 1, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton, Ga., 1 p.m. TV: Fox; last year's winner: Kasey Kahne.