Jeff Gordon’s affinity for the Indianapolis 500 has not changed.

His plans for running the race have.

The only four-time winner of the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard acknowledged Friday that even if a schedule change made it possible for him to race at the historic 2.5-mile oval in May, he probably would not drive in the biggest race on the IndyCar circuit.

“You have to know the cars and do laps with the cars to know what you’re doing,” he said at this week’s NASCAR stop. “If say, you wanted to go run around at 210 mph, I could do that, but I wouldn’t have much fun doing that because I like being competitive.”

“I don’t think that’s going to happen as long as I’m running a full-time (NASCAR) schedule,” he said. “As a driver I have so much respect for IndyCars. It’s not like if I had an off-weekend, I would go run 230 mph laps.”

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