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Jeff Gordon earned this fifth title just days short of his 43rd birthday - making it an early birthday present.

Gordon led a Hendrick Motorsports surge with Kasey Kahne finishing at sixth, followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. at ninth and four-time Brickyard winner Jimmie Johnson at 14th place.

For a racer who basically claimed that restarts are his weakness, Gordon had the "restart of his life" with 17 laps left in the Brickyard 400. Cruising past Kahne made him the front-runner and consequently the winner, according to Yahoo Sports.

Kahne was in the lead most of the race but slipped badly on the restart. Ryan Truex lost power and brought out the caution which sent Kahne slipping back to the fifth. Gordon took this to his advantage and pulled away to his victory, according to NBC Sports.

"I don't think there's a greater feeling for a race car driver and a race team because that's what it took today, a total team effort to be here in victory lane at Indianapolis," Gordon told ESPN. "I'm not very good on restarts and wasn't good today, and finally made the restart of my life. I've got to thank Kasey, he raced me clean. Once I got past him, I thought to myself, 'I can't believe this is happening.'"

Gordon said he needed concentrate to tune out the crowd over the 10 final laps not to prematurely celebrate his eventual win. He kept extreme focus and did not worry about the victory that awaited him, according to NBC Sports.

"This one is for all those fans throughout the years and all weekend long -- they're saying, 'We believe you can get (championship) number five.' We got (Brickyard) No. 5!" Gordon said.

Gordon claimed his fifth title 20 years after he won the inaugural Brickyard 400.

Before the race, Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard proclaimed that it was "Jeff Gordon Day,' and as timely as it was, Gordon finished first in the Nascar race.

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