Gordon plans to savour final run at Atlanta

Jeff Gordon admired his latest retirement gift — a miniature race car for his two young children — and thanked the folks at Atlanta Motor Speedway for not going with the obvious choice.

“I really appreciate it not being a rocking chair,” Gordon quipped. There’s enough time for that. Sunday, Gordon will relish one final spin around the track that’s meant so much to his brilliant career.

Atlanta was the place where Gordon picked up his first NASCAR win in what was then known as the Busch Grand National Series in 1992.

“I wasn’t racing against any slouches that day,” Gordon recalled. “Mark Martin. Bill Elliott. Dale Earnhardt Sr. Those were the three guys I had to battle with to win that race.”

Rick Hendrick was watching that day.

Impressed with Gordon’s performance, he put the youngster in one of his Cup cars for the final race that season, once again at Atlanta.

Everyone knows the rest of the story. Gordon took over a full-time ride at Hendrick the following season, captured the first of four Cup titles in 1995 and is now at 92 career victories, third-most in the history of NASCAR’s top series.

That first Cup race is especially poignant, even though Gordon finished in 31st place.

In what would go down as a seminal changing of the guard, his debut came the same day Richard Petty raced for the final time.

“I’ll always remember that drivers’ meeting,” Gordon said.

“The faces in there, beyond the drivers, was pretty impressive. I still have that money clip that Richard handed out that day to all the drivers with their starting position. I wasn’t that proud at the moment because I started 21st. But I’ll remember that forever.”

He’d prefer to forget his final qualifying run at Atlanta.

Gordon was among 13 cars — four of them former champions — who never got on the track because their cars didn’t pass inspection.

He called the situation “absolutely embarrassing,” even though he still made the race based on owner points from 2014.