Jeff Gordon

The 44-year-old Johnson joins an exodus of popular drivers that began when Gordon retired after the 2015 season. Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth, Danica Patrick and Jamie McMurray are among those who followed Gordon out the door.

Richard Petty rarely visits pit road after a race anymore and usually with good reason. The Hall of Fame driver’s eponymous race team has toiled for decades in mediocrity, with checkered flags all but extinct. Bubba at Daytona changed the game. Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. had driven the iconic No. 43 car to a third-place finish in a Daytona 500...

Dale Earnhardt Jr. threw his own retirement party on pit road. Earnhardt popped out of his car, flashed a thumbs-up sign and chugged a Budweiser. Drenched in sweat and suds, he grabbed another cold one. It was easy enough to keep happy hour rolling since the beer cooler was stashed on the trunk of his Chevrolet. Earnhardt passed the brews...

Jeff Gordon knows there could be some desperate drivers in Texas on Sunday trying to get what he already has — one of the four spots to race for the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship in the season finale.

Matt Kenseth stretched his fuel and zipped past the fading leaders in the final thrilling laps Sunday to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway.

It’s Jeff Gordon’s final Daytona 500, the final season of an illustrious career, and everyone wants in on the farewell tour. Only Gordon wants no part of the tributes, the celebrations, the hailing of one of NASCAR’s all-time greats. He just wants to race.