Mark Martin's substitute turn behind the wheel of the No. 11 car looked to take a disastrous turn during a mid-race pit stop.

Already a lap down, the jack accidentally dropped while Martin's crew was changing the tires on the left side of the car. Given that's the signal for a driver to mash the gas out of his pit stall, Martin took off with the left side tire on the wheel but not securely in place.

Martin, driving for Denny Hamlin, who was atop the pit box, didn't get far before the tire started to wobble off the car. He then had to back up into his stall so that the crew could complete the pit stop. Throughout that process, Martin lost another lap.

But at least Martin was back in the race. That incident could have bent the left-front wheel and compromised the steering on Martin's car. It didn't. And in another turn of good fortune, Martin didn't spend much time two laps down either and rallied to finish 10th.

Much like Danica Patrick and others, Martin snagged the wave-around on

The pieces were in place for Danica Patrick to struggle on Sunday at Martinsville.

It was her first race at the tricky half-mile oval, she hadn't finished in the top 25 since finishing 8th at Daytona and she was starting 32nd at a track where drivers start to get lapped before fans have time to finish their first hot dog of the day.

Plus, she spun 17 laps into the 500 lap race and lost a lap. At that point, you could have gotten astronomically high odds that she would have wound up the highest finishing Stewart-Haas Racing driver, let alone grab a top 15 finish.

If you did make that bet, you would have cashed in big time.

After staying out on the track before the race's final restart with eight laps to go, Patrick restarted in 11th place and ended up 12th after being passed by Brian Vickers on the final lap.

Before Patrick got back on to the lead lap, she fell two laps down after she was lapped again after her spin. But in the middle of the race, she took the wavearound on consecutive

At least once a year, there's a race that Jimmie Johnson so thoroughly and utterly dominates to serve notice to the entire Sprint Cup Series field, on the very off-chance that they've forgotten, that he's the man to beat.

That happened on Sunday at Martinsville, a track that has become commonplace for those showings, and it also vaulted Johnson atop the points standings.

After starting on the pole, Johnson led 347 of the race's 500 laps en route to his eighth career Martinsville win, easily holding off Clint Bowyer and Jeff Gordon.

[Also: Danica overcomes early spin for best finish since Daytona]

Johnson restarted with Bowyer to his outside and Gordon immediately behind him with eight laps to go after Kurt Busch's car caught fire to bring out a red flag. You may remember that those three were the principal players in a late race restart a year ago at Martinsville, when Gordon restarted first with Johnson to his outside and Bowyer in third.

On that restart, Bowyer dashed to the inside

If you're wondering how quickly it's going to take Tony Stewart to find Joey Logano in Sunday's STP Gas Booster 500 at Martinsville, the answer is it may take a little while.

Jimmie Johnson won the pole for Sunday's race – not a surprise considering he's an absolute master on the half-mile paper clip – but when the green flag drops all eyes will immediately dart to Logano's 22 and Stewart's 14. Remember, when last we left the track Stewart was promising to "bust [Logano's] ass" after the Auto Club 400 in Southern California. Logano will start fourth Sunday, 22 spots ahead of Stewart.

(Getty ImagesFriday, when asked if he still plans on teaching Logano a lesson, Stewart responded, "That is two weeks ago. I'm on Martinsville this weekend. We are trying to figure out what we have to do to make our race cars go fast this week."

Stewart actually doesn't have the luxury to focus on grudges right now. Five races into the season and he sits 22nd in the standings, which means he has to be more

(Getty)You have to love Clint Bowyer's often deprecating sense of humor. The driver is a fun follow on Twitter and routinely hosts some of the funniest media opportunities in the garage.

On Thursday, Bowyer was in Talladega for a driver appearance before the track's race on May 5. That topic of Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano came up (ever heard of it?) in the context of Bowyer's run-in with Jeff Gordon last year. And when discussing it (you can read the entire story here), Rawhide offered this gem to the AP:

"We're not the smartest people in the world. We go down the straightaway and turn left. That's literally what we do."

Don't sell yourself short, Clint. And that latter part is why we love racing.

We'll find out who's eligible in 2014 for the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Wednesday. (Getty)

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.

Did you have a great Easter weekend? It felt weird not having any racing at all, but it was a good chance to get some spring yardwork taken care of and relax and watch some basketball. And get a lot of Cadbury Creme Eggs at a severe discount on Monday morning.

Let's get rolling on a topic that is coming up shortly, actually. The 25 nominees for the 2014 NASCAR Hall of Fame class will be announced Wednesday, April 10.

I just read an article written by ESPN writer Ed Hinton that discussed a lot of the names that could go into the Hall of Fame, to prove the point that NASCAR will not run out of names. But one comment he made got me thinking. Hinton stated that Red Byron needs to be voted

(Getty)

Denny Hamlin has every right to be frustrated.

The first Sprint Cup race he’s missed since becoming the full-time driver of the No. 11 for Joe Gibbs Racing is rapidly approaching. Martinsville is one of his best tracks statistically, and he’ll be atop his team’s pit box next to crew chief Darian Grubb while Mark Martin drives the car.

As you’ve read, oh, fifty, sixty, seventy times since that race on March 24, the injury Hamlin suffered came when after he and Joey Logano made contact in turns three and four on the final lap at Auto Club Speedway. After the two banged sidepanels and drifted towards the outside wall, Hamlin’s car made a hard left turn and went careening towards the inside wall. An inside wall that didn’t have a SAFER barrier. Hamlin suffered a compression fracture to his L1 vertebra, an injury that will likely keep him out of the car for five races.

Of course, it’s not as simple as a final lap “racin’ deal.” The week prior at Bristol, Hamlin had spun Logano as the two

Joey, look at all that racetrack that is open to use. (Getty)

Welcome to Warped Wednesday. On this, we'll put out the rush to judgment mat, 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.

The concept of a driver’s rear bumper serving as his offensive line is absurd. It’s NASCAR and not NASCAB for a reason. There’s no place for blocking in NASCAR.

Blocking, otherwise known as the technique that Joey Logano used to fend off Tony Stewart last week with 11 laps to go and, subsequently, get Stewart to go after him is a dirty tactic that shouldn’t be used at any point in a professional auto race, whether it’s the first or the last lap.

There’s a saying that the best defense is a best offense. That statement should be a universal truth in NASCAR. Don’t want to get passed? Just drive faster than the driver behind you. If he can’t catch you, he can’t pass you. If a driver makes a move to the inside or outside to pass another, the driver