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It’s Thanksgiving, and I might order a pizza. Generations have passed, the family has wings and my nephew is having the feast at his house on Saturday evening so that he and Jessica can show off their young’uns at another wing.

This is the second time in my life this has happened. The first was in 2001 when a race in Loudon, N.H., was postponed on account of 9/11 and run on the Friday after Thanksgiving. I couldn’t care less about Black Friday if it was puke green, but the rest of the gypsy troupe and I flew up to brave the elements, which didn’t really require much bravery. The race was run on Friday because, allegedly, NASCAR president Mike Helton had a wedding to attend on Saturday, and he was in a position to make such arrangements work.

Back in South Carolina, my mother moved Thanksgiving to Heltons’ wedding day, and all was well with us and ours.

It was cold and clear in New England, but sometimes it’s that cold in late November back home. I checked in at my usual haunt, the Bay Side Inn on Alton Bay, which is at the bottom of vast Lake Winnipesaukee, or, as the locals sometimes call it, Lake Winnie. I thought about writing a screenplay called “Lake Winnie the Pooh.”

Anyway, Alton is a tiny resort town with snack bars, a carpet golf course, several tasty seafood joints and a general store. All but the general store were shut down. I drove down on Thursday morning and discovered to my brief joy that dinners were being sold in styrofoam boxes. Unfortunately, the turkey, dressing, gravy, corn and rolls were only for sale to those local citizens who had reserved them.

The deli was closed. I asked the man passing out dinners where a man could get something to eat.

“Here’s what you do,” he said, “drive over to the American Legion building where they’re serving dinner to the homeless.”

At this point, I said one of my best one-liners ever.

“Now, sir, you know, I’ve got cash money, and I’m working steady.”

“No, no, no,” he said. “That’s what it’s for.”

Even far from home, I couldn’t bring myself to get in line with the penniless, so it looked like my Thanksgiving dinner was going to be Cheese Nips and Diet Pepsi, but, surprise, surprise, back at the Bay Side, Steve and Raquel invited Mike Mulhern, David Poole, me and some others to enjoy Thanksgiving with them, so everything wound up being fine, as God intended.

Robby Gordon won that race, nudging the more famous Gordon, Jeff, out of the way 16 laps from the end. The latter Gordon fell all the way back to 15th. Sterling Marlin finished second. Bobby Labonte, Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart rounded out the top five.

Me? I wrote a song on the plane home. The chorus was:

I got cash money and I’m workin’ steady / Used to go to church / Mama’s name is Betty / I pay my bills, work my job, always at the ready / ’Cause I got cash money and I’m workin’ steady.