Fan favorite Jeff Gordon continued his streak of crappiness with a poor run and a poor finish and his Championship hopes officially went up in smoke. Just like last week when the media focused on Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s smoking exit to the exlusion of the action on the track, this week TNT watched Jeff falter and falter long past when anyone stopped caring.

Jeff's a great driver, but this isn't his year. I for one am glad to see him officially gone. Maybe it's just my anti-Chevy stance, but I'm a bit geeked to see both Gordon and Earnhardt Jr. out. Ha-ha!

Jaime McMurray was the only other driver who really had a chance at the Chase, but it just wasn't his night. His car wasn't good all night and then he tried to go in three wide with Tony Raines in the middle and Ricky Rudd on the high side. The squeeze put Rudd into the wall and out came the caution. As the cars came across the straight away suddenly we see McMurray's car sliding into the inside wall. Though the camera's never really caught it, Raines pretty much took out McMurray. NASCAR certainly noticed and penalized Raines five laps. While Raines' reaction wasn't very professional, it's not surprising considering the way McMurray ran him into the corner.

The other drivers on the bubble like Elliot Sadler and Dale Jarrett just didn't have much of a chance tonight. They wouldn't needed some major bad luck for lots of other folks.