CONCORD, N.C. -- Jeff Gordon once dreamed of winning the Indianapolis 500.

But he harbors no illusions about even attempting to run that race these days, no matter how much money may be offered to a driver who could win both the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 in the same day.

“

I chose my path years ago, and it's in stock cars.

”

-- JEFF GORDON

Bruton Smith, chairman and CEO of Speedway Motorsports Inc., recently suggested during an interview on SPEED TV that he is trying to work with Indianapolis Motor Speedway to offer some kind of "huge bonus, like maybe $20 million," to any driver who could win both the Indy 500 and the Coke 600 in the same day.

"It would take a Superman-type driver to do it," admitted Smith, who went on to say that he thought there were "five or six drivers" currently in that category. Smith even said he would have a jet and helicopters standing by to help make it happen for anyone willing to give it a try, and that he believes the good folks at Indy would be willing to move their start time back to 11 a.m. to help facilitate the effort.

That's all very interesting, but Gordon and Tony Stewart both have gone on record as saying they have no intention of pursuing Smith's double, regardless of how much money is offered. Gordon reiterated why at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where he was preparing for this Sunday's Coca-Cola 600.

"It doesn't affect my decision on doing it or not doing it," Gordon said. "To me, they could offer $100 million to run both of those races or win both of those races and it wouldn't affect my decision because I'm only going to go there [to Indy] if I feel like I can be competitive. To be competitive, I would need to be in those cars all of the time."

Gordon stressed that the days when such open-wheel stars as A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti crossed over to compete in NASCAR's biggest races, and other drivers such as Donnie Allison did the same going from NASCAR to Indy, are long gone.

"This whole Mario Andretti-jumping from one car to the next, to the next, that doesn't happen anymore," Gordon said. "It's not like that. You have dedicated teams with great engineers and drivers and that is why they go fast. It's because of that." (Continued)