Could Jeff Gordon run the Brickyard 400 in 2016?
When Jeff Gordon announced last month that 2015 would be his last full season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, he also said this would be his final Daytona 500. But Thursday, the four-time champion said he might run the Brickyard 400 again.
Gordon has won a record five Brickyards -- all in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet -- and could look to add to that record in the future, although he has no concrete plans beyond this year's race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
"I'm not saying I won't ever run another Brickyard," Gordon said Thursday at NASCAR Media Day at Daytona International Speedway. "I definitely won't be running another restrictor-plate race. Show me the risk vs. reward there."
Gordon said fans like to see drivers out of their comfort zone at Daytona and Talladega. "They want to understand that we're in a white-knuckle experience and it's terrifying in some ways," Gordon said. "It's hectic, it's physical, it's mental. ... For a guy who doesn't want to race full time, that's not a desire that I have."
Not so the Brickyard.
"The race is methodical and with the right car and the right team, you can be very successful in that race," Gordon said of the Brickyard. "I'm not saying, 'I'm going to do that,' I'm just saying I'm leaving it open."
