KANSAS CITY, KAN. ? Compared to most of his hurried trips to Kansas Speedway, Jeff Gordon’s visit Wednesday to the “Track That Will Blow You Away” was downright languid.

Gordon, a four-time Winston Cup Series champion, spent Tuesday night strolling along the Country Club Plaza. Wednesday, he hopped behind the wheel of a two-seat Cup car and drove 11-year-old Enrique Zendejas to school — observing the posted limits, of course.

Gordon visited patients at KU Med, then rode shotgun in an SUV to attend a news conference at the speedway.

Top speed? Around 70 mph — or 120-or-so mph slower than his top speed in two previous, and victorious, race-day trips to the 11/2-mile tri-oval.

Technically obligated to visit K.C.K. as part of NASCAR’s Winner’s Circle Program, in which racers return to the track where they have won to provide advance publicity, Gordon didn’t have to participate in the rest of Wednesday’s activities.

Kansas Speedway already has sold out its tickets for the Oct. 5 Kansas 400, so officials offered Gordon a chance to use his trip to drum up support for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and Gordon, who counts that organization as one of the beneficiaries of his philanthropic Jeff Gordon Foundation, jumped at the chance.

“I’ve been very blessed in my life,” Gordon said, “not only in my success on the race track, but also with my health, and you can’t take that for

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granted. … To put a smile on their face like that probably means more for me than them. It’s very rewarding.”

NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon signs a blanket for Janna LaCock, executive director of the Mid America Leukemia Lymphoma Society. Gordon visited the Kansas Speedway Wednesday to promote NASCAR after he gave a leukemia-stricken boy a ride to school in a race car.

Zendejas, a fifth-grader at Francis Willard Elementary, has leukemia, and Gordon drove Zendejas to school Wednesday, complete with police escort.

“Enrique,” Gordon beamed, “was the star for the day.”

Then Gordon headed to the hospital, where he talked with several young patients.

“I met a girl there … she would rather have had Cher,” Gordon said. “That’s what she said, but I was the next best thing.”

It was just another feel-good day in Kansas City for Gordon, who has won both Winston Cup races at Kansas Speedway.

Not surprisingly, Gordon counts the track as one of his favorites.

“Obviously, I’m a big fan of the race track, and I’m a fan of the city,” he said. “The track’s great. The facility’s great. Obviously, we brought the right package the last two years, and I look forward to coming back.”

Gordon was able to spend a night in the city in virtual anonymity. During race weekends, Gordon is recognized wherever he goes, but Tuesday’s unpublicized visit let Gordon wander Kansas City’s upscale outdoor shopping plaza free from harassment.

“I got some food to go,” he said, “and I walked into a whole bar full of people. I didn’t see any of them rubbernecking, so I guess I blended in pretty well.”

His obscurity had nothing to do with mediocrity.

Gordon spent last year’s pre-race publicity visit to the Kansas Speedway discussing a nasty slump that eventually turned into a 31-race winless streak.

So far this season, though, Gordon has a victory to his credit — the April 13 Virginia 500 — and he’s third in the Winston Cup standings. Matt Kenseth leads the points race with 1,473 and is followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr (1,429) and Gordon (1,321).

“We’re not doing anything different,” Gordon said. “We’re a strong team that carried over some momentum from last year. We’ve got a great race car. We’re prepared. I think the difference is, we’ve led a lot of laps.

“Last year, we were struggling. I was answering questions I wasn’t used to answering. To get a win early this season has helped get that weight off our shoulders. We can focus on winning the championship. We can concentrate on getting better instead of trying to hush the media.”

The Winston Cup champion in 1995, ’97, ’98 and 2001 and youngest (at 30) four-time champ, Gordon reinvented himself in 2000.

“Sometimes, you get stuck in your ways,” he said. “For four, five, six years, you drove your Winston Cup car a certain way, you set up your Winston Cup car a certain way. … All of a sudden, things start to evolve in engineering an technology, and all of a sudden young drivers are doing something different and making it work.

“I can’t go into it and say, ‘I’m Jeff Gordon. I won four Winston Cup championships and this is the way I do it.’ You do that, you get left behind.”