Jeff Gordan back behind the wheel after NASCAR retirement in a Porsche

INDIANAPOLIS — When Jeff Gordon starts his engine for the Porsche Sports Car Together Festival, he’ll be surrounded with comfort and familiarity. Through his windshield he’ll see the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in which he raced for the Brickyard 400 throughout his NASCAR career. At almost all of those races, he drove car No. 24.

He’ll do so again Saturday.

Along for the weekend is Ray Evernham, Gordon's friend of three decades and consultant for 22 years.

The biggest difference between this weekend and any other of Gordon's career is that the driver never expected to be behind the wheel of a sports car.

The inception of Gordon's return to the track, unbeknownst to him, came when drove a 902 Cup Car Don Cusick of Cusick Motorsports had recently bought. Gordon enjoyed himself enough to buy one of his own.

"Little did I know at the time that you have to race this car if you purchase it," Gordon said. "And so I really had no intentions of racing this car, but that's the deal that you have to abide by with Porsche and I’m happy that I am here doing this because it's fun to drive, but it's even more fun to be competitive out there."

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Gordon called Evernham, who immediately agreed to join his friend for the weekend in a series neither had experience running. The pair has been trying to learn as much as possible in a short period of time since they’ve been at the track, seeking drivers and crew chiefs more experienced in this particular series for any additional information they can get.

Sometimes they don't need to seek them out. Gordon has become popular among the younger Porsche drivers, who have their own reasons for wanting to meet one of the greatest NASCAR racers of all time.

"It makes you feel good because these guys are pros, and their one, two, three, four up on the board there," Evernham said. "So when they come to say hi to Jeff and to meet me and talk about how fast we used to be, and I go, ‘What kind of tire pressure are you running?’"

The search for people who knew what they were doing with a Porsche extended to the crew Evernham put together. The spotter worked with Gordon in NASCAR. Two more members came from Evernham's shop. Others have more experience working on Porsche cars.

Gordon, 51, last raced a full season in 2015 with NASCAR. He's stayed involved in cars since then, but mostly as an executive. He's now the vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports in a role that's unlike anything he held during his career. After more than 20 years as a racer, taking on a different job on a team was an adjustment. He's happy as things stand right now — and was noncommittal regarding any future races — but driving again has been a welcome break from what had become his usual routine.

He shook off the rust by spending a day at Carolina Motorsports Park in South Carolina, then turned practice laps at IMS earlier in the week. Sunday will mark his first competitive race since 2017.

"This is a great departure from that day job," Gordon said. "I realize that it's nice to get behind the wheel of a car to break that up."