NASCAR: Earnhardt says he would block for Gordon

Jeff Gordon is a sentimental favorite to take the Sprint Cup championship in his final race before retirement, and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. acknowledged he will do all he can to make that happen.

"I'm going to obviously pull for my teammate, Jeff Gordon, because I want the boss man (Rick Hendrick) to be happy with Jeff winning the championship, and that's a hell of a way to go out," Earnhardt said on the "Dan Patrick Show" on NBCSN Thursday. "He's been racing for, what, 20-something years now and still has the ability to go out and win races and battle for championships all the way to the very end. What a storybook ending that would be."

Junior had previously suggested on Twitter after his win at Phoenix last Sunday that was pulling for his friend, Martin Truex Jr., to pull off a title upset for Furniture Row Racing. But on Thursday's NBCSN show, Earnhardt implied he'd block anyone on the final lap if it helped Gordon win his fifth and final premier series title.

"I would block. ... I can't pull over to give him a spot. I can't let him have a position to give him a point, but yeah, I would block," said Earnhardt. "And I'll race those other guys (the other championship finalists, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick) very, very hard when I'm around them. Those other three competitors are going to get some hard competition from me and any of the other teammates that are out there."