NASCAR has upheld its ruling dealing severe penalties to the Penske teams of Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano. The Penske teams have indicated they will appeal the decision of the three-person panel to NASCAR's Chief Appellate Officer.

The Penske teams' penalties stemmed from violations of NASCAR's Sections 12-1, 12-4J and 20-12. Both teams' crew chiefs, car chiefs, engineers and competition directors were suspended for six races, including the All-Star Race in Charlotte. The crew chiefs were fined $100,000 apiece. And both teams lost 25 championship points.

The National Stock Car Racing Appeals Panel had the ability to uphold, reduce or increase the penalties. The panel heard the appeal beginning at 9 a.m. ET Wednesday, and rendered its verdict at 3 p.m. The violations stemmed from concerns about the rear-end housings of both the 2 and 22 cars at Texas in mid-April.

The appeal means that the suspended crew members could be permitted to continue with track activities, provided the

Last summer, Lawrence Okoye was slinging the discus for Great Britain in the Olympics. (Getty Images)

The draft and the first round of free-agent signings are done. While most players come to the NFL the traditional college-football way, a few take a more winding path. Check out some of the more interesting routes some of the NFL's newest crop of players took to get to the promised land.

Lawrence Okoye (undrafted free agent, signed by San Francisco 49ers): As raw as it gets, Okoye had never even put on a helmet and pads before a pre-draft visit to New Orleans this year. But at 6'6" and 304 pounds, he could make one heck of a defensive lineman. He reached the Olympic finals in discus for his native Great Britain, though he finished last. 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh called him "an Adonis, a great physical specimen of a man." So there you go.

Demetrius Harris (UFA, Kansas City): He last played football in high school, then spent the last four years at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee playing basketball. When he got the initial call from Kansas City, he thought it was a practical joke.

Menelik Watson (2nd round, Raiders): Another British product, he played for Florida State but started only 20 football games in his entire college career.

Murphy Holloway (UFA, Baltimore):

Robert Griffin III. (Getty Images)

Robert Griffin III is already the most popular athlete in his adopted hometown of Washington, D.C. (Sorry, Bryce Harper.) He's outspoken without being outrageous, and as a result he's also fast becoming one of the more influential athletes in the country. He's still finding his footing when it comes to addressing controversial topics, but once he does, he's likely to be a go-to source on both social and sports issues.

Case in point: a series of tweets that Griffin issued over the course of five hours on Tuesday evening. It's not quite clear what set Griffin off, but he offered up a series of honest tweets. They're not exactly soul-baring, but in a world where athletes are expected to toe the family-friendly, politically correct line in order to preserve their brand, Griffin is clearly chafing at the thought of staying silent.

Here are the tweets; following is some speculation about what Griffin may have been addressing:

You ever say something & people interpret it a certain way but you

Concept design via 360 Architecture.

Alien invasion or football experience? In Atlanta come 2017, there won't be much of a difference, if an exotic new stadium plan becomes reality.

That there is one of the two major designs for the new Atlanta Falcons stadium, proposed to open in time for the start of the 2017 season. Crafted by 360 Architecture, it's called the "Pantheon," and it's a new design on the usual retractable-dome style. How new? This new:

Concept design via 360 Architecture.

The centerpiece of the dome is the "Oculus," the eye that rotates open depending on the day's weather and the facility's needs. It's meant to resemble the sweep of a falcon's wing, and you can see it in action in the video below. Sweet, huh?

Also under consideration: the "Solarium," a more traditional two-paneled retractable-roof facility:

Concept design via 360 Architecture.

360 Architecture, which also designed MetLife Stadium, home of the Giants and Jets, won a $35 million deal to design the estimated billion-dollar stadium. And the amenities, if actually built, will rival any stadium in the world.

San Diego Union-Tribune.

Manti Te'o is coming to San Diego, courtesy of a second-round pick. And, if the above cartoon from his newly-adopted hometown paper, the San Diego Union-Tribune, is any indication, old jokes about Te'o won't die easily.

The combination of poor performance in the national championship, unexpectedly bad showings in the NFL combine, and of course the phantom girlfriend all combined to knock perhaps the most famous name in the draft out of the first round.

Still, Te'o is saying the right things. About the whole phantom-girl fiasco, "it's definitely made me stronger," he told chargers.com. "Dealing with adversity, it can hurt you or make you stronger, and it definitely made me stronger. That's how I feel right now."

Dealing with adversity, that's one thing. Dealing with bad jokes? Yeah, Te'o's going to be living with that for the rest of his life.

-Follow Jay Busbee on Twitter at @jaybusbee.-

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Chris Kluwe. (Getty Images)On Monday, the NBA's Jason Collins came out of the closet. And now, Chris Kluwe, an outspoken advocate for gay rights, is demonstrating the thorny interrelationship between social agendas and good business sense.

Kluwe is a punter in the NFL, a position that demands precision and focus ... but also a position with a number of suitable candidates for every spot. Kluwe has kicked with distinction for the Minnesota Vikings for the past eight years. But while he's not on the field, he's certainly made an impact off it, speaking out on social issues such as the rights of gays.

Last fall, after Kluwe publicly supported fellow kicker Ray Guy for the Hall of Fame, Vikings special-teams coach Mike Priefer had had enough. “Those distractions are getting old for me, to be quite honest with you,” he said at the time.

And now, those "distractions" could be what is costing Kluwe a job, at least in his estimation. In the fifth round, the Vikings selected punter Jeff Locke, the first selection of a

Tim Tebow can help you, ma'am. (Getty Images)

When you lose your job, there's sadness. Depression. Frustration. And sometimes, from an unexpected quarter ... salvation.

Tim Tebow's out of a job. But on the very same day the Jets kicked him to the curb, the Legends Football League — the fancy new name for the former Lingerie Football League — came through with a job offer.

[Jason Cole: Jets' release of Tim Tebow could be blessing in disguise for QB]

No, no, Tebow won't be in lingerie. Rather, he now has a standing offer from league president Mitchell Mortaza to serve as the national Quarterbacks Coach of the Legends Football League. (The females-only league has undergone a rebranding effort, including getting rid of the revealing outfits as shown above. And that's a good thing, because Tebow would probably have a tough time reconciling lingerie-clad quarterbacks with his faith.)

Here's the letter in full:

Now, we'd place the odds of this happening at only slightly higher than Tebow's winning percentage as a Jet, but hey ... at least the

J.J. Watt is Houston's most popular current athlete, and it's not hard to see why. The Texans defensive end is charming his town with antics like the above, a fake mound-charge at the J.J. Watt Charity Classic. The event, held this past weekend in Sugar Land, Texas, raised more than $300,000 to help fund after-school athletic programs for kids. And oh, do the Houstonians love this guy.

But yeah, that fight. The game pitted the Texans defense against the offense, and with Andre Johnson, Matt Schaub, Owen Daniels and other notables on the roster, you can imagine that the Texans brass got a little nervous at millions of dollars' worth of ballplayers rolling around on a dusty Texas ballfield. Fortunately, no injuries resulted.

-Follow Jay Busbee on Twitter at @jaybusbee.-