The car atop the Sprint Cup standings. (Getty)

If you ever wondered if you'll ever see the day when Dale Earnhardt Jr. taking the points lead would be an afterthought, Sunday was it.

Lost amidst the contact between Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin and the scuffle between Logano and Stewart, Junior drove past the crash to finish second, and thanks to the relative struggles of Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski, takes a 12 point lead atop the standings into the Easter off weekend.

After working his way up into the top 10 in the second half of Sunday's race, Junior's march towards the front stalled out. But when Clint Bowyer's engine expired with 16 laps to go, Junior and crew chief Steve Letarte made the decision to pit. But the entire field didn't make that same move. The top six stayed out. Those closest to the cars with fresh tires were easy targets, and over those last 11 laps, Junior was able to dice his way through the field.

"I'm not sure exactly‑‑ when we would take two tires, our car drove really bad. It just didn't like that

A crash on the final lap of Sunday's Auto Club 400 between Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano sent Hamlin to the hospital, left Logano fuming, validated a rivalry that started boiling last week at Bristol and gave Kyle Busch, teammate of Hamlin and former teammate of Logano the win.

And in a separate incident, Logano left Fontana with another nemesis as Tony Stewart confronted him, pushing and swinging after the race because of a move that Logano made while the two were battling for the lead on the race's final restart with 11 laps to go.

After that restart, which we'll get to briefly, Logano took the lead from Busch, who led the race's most laps. Over the final five laps, Hamlin closed in on Logano, and as the two approached the white flag, Hamlin pulled up to Logano's back bumper and then alongside him as the two entered turn one.

[Related: Kyle Busch caps off weekend sweep at Fontana]

The two stayed even through turns one and two and down the backstretch, with Hamlin to the outside and

Lewis Hamilton showed that old habits can be hard to break for some of the best drivers in the world.

Hamilton is in his first season (and second race of the year) driving for his new team Mercedes after spending his entire career with McLaren Mercedes. So when he entered the pits for his first stop of the day in Sunday's race at Malaysia, Hamilton saw the McLaren crew at the ready and pulled right on in. Oops. (Video at the 33 second mark above.)

Sebastian Vettel won the race in a fun display of F1 team orders. He passed teammate Mark Webber for second after he was told not to push the pace as the two were going 1-2. Hamilton finished third after Mercedes boss Ross Brawn told his teammate Nico Rosberg to keep a gap back to fourth.

Denny Hamlin, rollin. (Getty Images)

Denny Hamlin may not have much to complain about the Gen 6 car this week, as he's claimed the pole for Sunday's Auto Club 400 Sprint Cup race at Auto Club Speedway in California. This marks his third pole at ACS; while he's never won in 12 attempts at the race, he's claimed one top 5 and four top 1o finishes.

Hamlin was one of the earliest drivers on the track, but his lap time of 38.410, at 187.451 mph, held up. Following right behind him are Greg Biffle and Brad Keselowski, but both will have to go to the back because of engine changes. Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth round out the top 5.

Joey Logano, Hamlin's new nemesis, qualified sixth and, because of the engine changes, will start one row behind Hamlin. Following behind Logano are Martin Truex Jr., Tony Stewart, Mark Martin and Kurt Busch. Other notables: Dale Earnhardt Jr. (15th), Jimmie Johnson (18th), Carl Edwards (24th), Danica Patrick (40th).

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Last year's champion. (Getty)

In last year's final race of the Izod IndyCar Series season, Ryan Hunter-Reay capitalized on a crash by Will Power to win the championship by three points after Power entered the race with a 17 point lead.

On Friday, the 2013 season kicked off with practices for Sunday's season-opening race at St. Petersburg. Power was atop the speed charts. Hunter-Reay was second; the two drivers who battled for the championship through the final weeks once again at the top of the heap. Doesn't that sound an awful lot like the Sprint Cup Series?

For Power, it was the second straight year he's come up just short in the final race. In 2011, it was to Dario Franchitti. Power is a monster on the series' road and street courses. Hunter-Reay is no slouch himself, but where he and Franchitti have kept up with Power is on ovals. When Hunter-Reay made his summer charge with three straight victories, two of them came at Iowa and Milwaukee, tracks where Power finished 23rd and 12th.

Is this the year for Power?

Unfortunately Fox was in commercial when this happened. (Getty)

New season, new Happy Hour! You know the drill. Throughout the week you can send us your best questions, jokes, rants and just plain miscellaneous thoughts to happyhourmailbag@yahoo.com or @NickBromberg. We'll post them here, have a good time and everyone's happy. Right? Oh who are we kidding, this is NASCAR. No one is ever happy.

Let's get to it.
I am losing my noodle dealing with FOX! They have a commercial every 9-10 laps @ Bristol...that's 3 minutes under green and 6 minutes of commercials! Every time we go to commercial something happens! FOX HAS TO GO! I mean they could go side by side...but they don't even do that! Between the supreme downforce Gen6 car and the commercial deal along with NAZICAR telling the drivers they cant speak without"Pappas Please"... Because of the all the downforce a week car with NO TIRES can hold off a strong car with 4???? IS THAT RIGHT? No longer does the fastest car win!?! I AM DONE WITH THIS bull excrement!
- Kaiya

Kaiya bringing the heat right

Welcome to Warped Wednesday, our new feature at From the Marbles. On it, we'll put out the rush to judgment map, go a little too far and have a little fun. Will it be funny? Sometimes. Will it be crazy and largely unbelievable? Probably. Will not everyone get it? Definitely. So let's get started with a little back to the future fun, shall we?

@CaleY @DAllison You blocked me

@DAllison @CaleY I didn't block you. I see your tweet right now. You got a problem with me?

@CaleY @DAllison I got a problem with both you and that brother of yours @BobbyAllison

@BobbyAllison @CaleY @DAllison what did I do Cale? Other than question your ancestry? And beat you up

@CaleY @BobbyAllison I beat you up. And @DAllison cost me a shot at the Daytona 500.

@DAllison @CaleY You could have made a pass in the grass. But that book ain't written yet @BobbyAllison Next time, come after me.

@DAllison @CaleY You have my address and my DM. And your chance in the grass.

@CaleY @DAllison @BobbyAllison Y'all still got

After every race, we'll opine about who we think is at the top of the Sprint Cup heap and how and why they got there in Power Rankings. Remember, this isn't scientific, as our formula is the perfect blend of analytics and bias against your favorite driver. And in honor of March Madness, we'll compare each driver with a team in the NCAA Tournament. So let's get on with it, shall we?

1. Brad Keselowski (LW: 1): Keselowski gets to stay at the top spot again this week by virtue of his four top 10s in four races. And not only was he pretty good at Bristol, he was almost really good. If he doesn't spin his tires on that final restart, who knows if Kasey Kahne doesn't get away for the win? Team comparison: Louisville. The obvious pick would be to go with the other team from Kentucky had they succeeded this season, but they weren't too Keselowskiesque.

2. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (LW: 3): The only driver with a case to unseat @Kes for the top spot is the one and only Junior, also the only other