Twenty-three weeks into the season and already feeling drained, struggling just to stay inside the top 20 of the points standings, Bill Elliott knew it was time to pay team owner Ray Evernham a visit.

Worn out and approaching 50, Elliott pulled Evernham aside at Michigan International Speedway to get something off his chest.

"I just don't know that I can do this on a full-time basis anymore," Elliott said, "and we need to start thinking about some options."

Suddenly, the first of a series of imminent retirements became real. Bill Elliott, Awesome Bill from Dawsonville turned Million Dollar Bill turned Winston Cup champion turned fan favorite, is no longer a full-time Cup driver. Sooner than later, Terry Labonte will follow. And so will Rusty Wallace. And Dale Jarrett. And Ricky Rudd. And Sterling Marlin. And Mark Martin.

They'll make their cameos, but eventually they'll stop making their title runs.

"I don't know that I could totally walk away, but for me this kind of leads toward a new era of what goes on in this sport," said Elliott, who is stepping aside while a rookie with a ton of potential steps in. "I've been in it since the mid-'70s, and I've seen a lot of things happen over the last 30 years."

Now, he and the others are watching the youth inherit a changing NASCAR. A NASCAR that races more and more on the West Coast. A NASCAR that is no longer sponsored by a cigarette company. A NASCAR that might soon feature a playoff.

Things have changed, and now it's time for the old guard to move on. Elliott will race 15 events next year but concentrate more on improving the program he helped Evernham build and assist rookie Kasey Kahne and his old teammate Jeremy Mayfield.

	Elliott made one last trip to the podium as a top-10 finisher in 2003.

"All along he told me he'd never leave me high and dry," Evernham said. "We had to talk about a lot of different scenarios. We both said if it's going to happen later anyway, let's just go ahead and make it happen sooner and get a head start on it.

"I wanted to respect his wishes whatever they were. I would love to have Bill Elliott driving for me forever, but he's going to remain with me driving on a part-time basis and we're going to be doing some things together. Really, it's the best of all worlds to move our Dodge Dealers team forward."

Tired though he was, Elliott knew he wasn't ready to give it all up. Racing has always been his life. It will be, too, for a long time to come. So instead of going cold turkey he is cutting down slowly.

"We don't live forever. We don't drive forever. We don't do a lot of things forever," Elliott said. "It would be nice to do it, but I feel like this is an opportunity for the fans where I can still run some events. I may run the Busch car somewhere, I may run the dirt car, I may run the truck.

"This might give me an opportunity to be somewhere where that fan would not (normally) get to see me. We'll probably do some specialty fan events that's a little different from what's been done in the past. To me, it's an era where I won't be there every week, but I'm still going to have a presence. I'll still run some, and I think it's a good opportunity.

"The way I look at it, there's got to be a time when you've got to step back."

That time is now for Elliott. In 2004, he'll run the Bud Shootout, skip the Daytona 500 and mix a schedule of Cup, Busch and Truck races throughout the rest of the season.

To his fans, Elliott views this as a way to say farewell -- though he is quick to point out that this is not a farewell tour. To his fellow competitors, he's investing his time to make sure Evernham Motorsports and the No. 9 Dodge give them a handful long after he's gone. To his team, Elliott won't even seem retired.

"I'll be around," Elliott joked. "They won't even know anything's changed. They'll get sick of me just like they get sick of me now."

Rupen Fofaria is a freelance writer living in Chicago and a regular contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at rfofaria@espnspecial.com.