NASCAR Cup Series

Jeff Gordon's final Sprint All-Star Race was a night to remember

Published May. 18, 2015 2:15 p.m. ET

Tom Jensen

In his final NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, Jeff Gordon didn't get his fourth victory. What he got instead was a night to cherish and remember.

As Gordon came out for driver introductions, thousands of fans applauded loudly and waved signs saying, "Thank You Jeff!" Gordon was then joined on stage by his wife, children, mother, stepfather and Ray Evernham, who was Gordon's crew chief for three of the driver's four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships.

"It was really amazing in pre-race to see all those signs," said Gordon, who won the all-star race in 1995, '97 and 2001. "I was surprised. I didn't know that was happening and I got out there and I was pretty overwhelmed by that. We would have liked to have had a win in our last one."

On the track, Gordon's No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was fast, but not quite fast enough. On the night's final restart, Gordon lined up sixth and nearly made it all the way to third past Kurt Busch on the opening lap of green-flag racing, but couldn't make his pass stick. Gordon ended up fourth -- not bad, certainly, but not what he was hoping for.

"You need everything to go your way in a race like this," Gordon said afterward. "I almost had a shot at the No. 41 (Kurt Busch) but I just couldn't quite clear him and then he kind of took off there. All in all it was a solid night. Congrats to (race winner) Denny Hamlin. Qualifying well and that No. 1 pit stall means everything and once you get out front, it's so hard to get by."

Gordon said his performance gave him cause for optimism in Sunday night's Coca-Cola 600.

"Obviously we came here to win and this is kind of a win or go home type of situation, but we also know that this is a test session for next week," Gordon said. "I thought we showed signs of some good speed, learned some things on some restarts and got a couple of things we can work on to be even better for next week."

Gordon was asked about how he felt about being in his final All-Star Race.

"It's too early for me to put that into perspective," he said. "I have so many races ahead of us before the season is over. I think Homestead is going to be the one that really impacts me the most."