So everyone keeps asking me how I’m doing.

No one is making fun of Jeff Gordon, at least not to my face.

It’s been surprising that people who think NASCAR is the stupidest sport in the world are being so nice to me about Jeff missing the Chase.

The one good thing is at least I can relax now.

Well, sort of. In all honesty, the only thing that could make this season even worse is if Tony Stewart wins the championship.

Then I’ll just have to pretend that the 2005 season never happened.

I only watched the first few laps of the race and then I had to get away from the TV.

I was at a friend’s house when my cell phone rang. I looked down at the caller ID – “Rob calling”—and a horrible feeling came over me. Whenever my brother calls me during a race it’s never good news.

Sure enough Jeff had just run into the wall.

I didn’t no for sure that he was done until later Saturday night. I almost cried into my Malibu and Diet, and that would have been a real shame.

Goodbye Chase. Goodbye 11-year streak of top-10 finishes in the points standings. Goodbye Jaynelle’s happiness.

Goodbye Robbie Loomis?

Yeah, probably.

Jeff doesn’t seem too upset about missing the Chase while watching the Agassi-Federer final at the U.S. Open. Ingrid is probably a nice distraction.

So how did my preseason predictions hold up?

The drivers I picked to make the Chase were Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart, Bobby Labonte, Jamie McMurray, Greg Biffle, Kasey Kahne and Kurt Busch.

So I got half right. I never claimed to be an expert at this stuff.

The Bobby Labonte selection was stupid. I made that choice as a fan. There was no legitimate reason to pick him except that I like him.

Jamie McMurray barely missed out again this year. Kasey Kahne struggled a lot more than expected.

And who in their right mind would have thought that both Junior and Gordon would not make the top 10?

I believe it was me who said it would take an apocalyptic disaster for Gordon to miss the Chase.

Apocalypse, the cursed Chicago Cubs…same thing.

So now I cheer for Jimmie Johnson – “the poor man’s Jeff Gordon” is what our high school sports editor called him. Good enough for me.

I’ll cheer for Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle, who I used to call a scrub. Again, little do I know.

I’ll cheer for Jeremy Mayfield, Carl Edwards and Ryan Newman. I might even cheer for Mark Martin and Rusty Wallace. Don’t hold you breath waiting for that to happen but it might.

I think we all know who I won’t be rooting for.