We aim to analyze the receding contact mechanics of an elastic layer reinforced by a functionally graded coating, pressed against a half-plane substrate as an integral assembly. The graded reinforcement is modeled by an inhomogeneous medium whose shear modulus is allowed to vary exponentially. A smooth receding contact is arisen due to the normal tractions applied over a finite segment of the reinforcement surface. The primary goal of this study is the determination of both the receding contact pressure and the extent of receding contact along the assembly and substrate interface. Using both an analytical and a finite element method solves the problem. In the former approach, Fourier integral transforms help convert the problem into a singular integral equation of Cauchy type, which is numerically integrated with Gauss-Chebyshev quadrature. In the numerical approach, multiple homogeneous layers approximate the graded coating. The stresses at those nodes lying on sublayer interfaces are averaged over their surrounding elements for guaranteeing the continuity in stress field. Very good agreements are found between the results obtained from the two methods. Extensive parametric case studies reveal that material properties, loading configuration, and geometric parameters all play important roles in the determination of both the contact pressure distribution and the length of contact. These receding contact properties can therefore be optimized as desired by appropriately varying the influential parameters. Both the solution methodologies and the numerical results presented in this work can provide some useful guidelines on the better design of multilayered functionally graded structures.