Fans, start your engines and see Jeff Gordon while you still can

By Jeff Hammond
Published

So the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season is finally here.

Everyone is pumped up and excited. There are so many storylines to follow. Will Kevin Harvick repeat? Will Roush-Fenway be able to rebound? Will the overall racing and the 2015 Chase be as hotly contested as last season?

Amidst all of these is one very special season-long storyline and that naturally is the final season of Jeff Gordon's illustrious career.

This will be Jeff's last full-time season and I encourage the race fans, even if you can only make it one race this year, take your family and go watch Jeff race. This is one of those moments in NASCAR history when we get to watch an era come to an end.

I liken it to when Derek Jeter retired from the New York Yankees. Sure, I had watched him many times play ball on TV, but I made it a point to go to the ballpark and watch him play in person before he retired. I wanted to be able to say I did that. Jeff Gordon commands that same respect for what he has done both on and off the race track for our sport.

I was blessed to be able to watch the immortals in our sport -- Richard Petty, David Pearson, Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough -- all race. I realize now how special those times really were because all are in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

It's no different today than it was then. I've watched Jeff race since that very first time when he ran his first Cup race in in Atlanta in Nov., 1992 up through today. I also think it was ironic that the '92 Atlanta race was Jeff's first, while it was the last for another legend, Richard Petty -- The King.

So this is a historic year and possibly could be even more so because of how well Jeff and his team are running. He isn't limping to the end of his career by any stretch of the imagination. You would be foolish to think that Jeff can't win the Daytona 500 on Feb. 22. You'd be just as foolish to think that Jeff can't win his fifth championship.

Jeff Gordon is one of those rare individuals, just like the others I mentioned a minute ago, who will leave a deep and long-lasting impact on our sport. Drivers like him don't come around every day, so if you get the opportunity, go watch him race. Go to where he might be doing an appearance and get an autograph.

Jeff Gordon has earned all the respect and accolades that will come his way this season. When he steps out of his No. 24 car for the final time at Homestead in November, he can proudly say he left the sport of NASCAR in better shape than when he joined it.

Very, very few drivers can ever say that. But hands down, Jeff is one that can.

VIDEO: Jeff Gordon talks with FOX Sports about the upcoming 2015 season