You can see Ryan Newman's car in there somewhere. (Getty)

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.

Another really busy week in NASCAR. How do you think the sanctioning body fared in the Penske and Joe Gibbs Racing appeals this week? NASCAR was definitely not happy with the decision that the appeals panel made in the JGR case, but I that decision certainly seems to side with public opinion. There weren't too many people saying that the penalty was fair.

Oh, and there was that whole race at Talladega too. That's what you all wrote about this week. This might be the most, uh, passionate mailbag of the year. But it's Talladega, would you expect anything less?

I thought Talladega was excellent this weekend (except for the weather delay) and I'm tired of these drivers whining about the cars taking flight.

(@FollowAndretti)

Wednesday morning, Kurt Busch got into Ryan Hunter-Reay's car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to run some laps. Will we see Kurt in the Indianapolis 500 anytime soon? He's in a car for Andretti Autosport, which fields Chevrolets, so manufacturer conflicts won't be an issue if he decides to do the double.

(@IndyCar)

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Matt Kenseth and Jason Ratcliff. (Getty Images)

An appeals board has sharply reduced the penalties against Joe Gibbs Racing and Matt Kenseth stemming from the Kansas race, dealing a stinging blow to NASCAR and giving Kenseth a boost in his race for the Chase.

During postrace inspection after Kenseth's victory at Kansas, NASCAR discovered that one of eight connecting rods in the car's engine was light by the weight of three grams. (A penny weighs 2.5 grams.) Kenseth was docked 50 points, crew chief Jason Ratliff was suspended six races and fined $200,000, owner Joe Gibbs was suspended six races, and manufacturer Toyota was served with a five-point penalty.

However, JGR argued that the engine was produced by Toyota and that the team had no access to the engine's rods. In addition, JGR argued that the rod could not have given the No. 20 a competitive advantage. Toyota immediately took responsibility for the rod, which may have had a role in the appeal.

The three-member National Stock Car Racing Appeals Panel reduced Kenseth's penalty from

(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.

Ryan Newman has been fined $25,000 for his comments criticizing NASCAR’s decision to race late into the afternoon and evening at Talladega on Sunday.

Newman’s comments were out of frustration after he was involved in a crash that saw Kurt Busch’s car land on top of his.

"They can build safer race cars, they can build safer walls, but they can't get their heads out of their asses far enough to keep them on the race track, and that's pretty disappointing," he said after exiting the infield care center. "I wanted to make sure I get that point across, and y'all can figure out who 'they' is.”

NASCAR certainly figured out who the “they” was in Newman’s comments, and he was fined the same amount that Denny Hamlin was after he made his comments about

There was a lot that happened at Talladega to talk about, no? Hell, we had so much to talk about that we hit the hour mark without getting to talk about the Nationwide race. Sorry Ronald Reagan Smith.

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Brad Keselowski will be without crew chief Paul Wolfe two races instead of six. (Getty)

John Middlebrook, NASCAR's chief appellate officer, upheld Penske Racing's points penalties and fines but reduced the suspensions that were levied against the team after NASCAR found violations in the rear-end housing of the Penske cars before the April 13 race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Crew chiefs Todd Gordon and Paul Wolfe, along with Penske Competition Director Travis Geisler, were suspended six races along with car chiefs Jerry Kelley (Brad Keselowski) and Raymond Fox (Joey Logano) and team engineers Brian Wilson (Keselowski) and Samuel Stanley (Logano). On Tuesday, Middlebrook reduced all crew suspensions to two races.

Logano and Keselowski were penalized 25 points and Gordon and Wolfe were fined $100,000 by NASCAR. The points penalties and fines stand. All previous penalties had been upheld by NASCAR's appeals panel previously. The crew members will be eligible to return to the track at Dover.

Last year, Middlebrook heard the final appeal of Hendrick Motorsports and Jimmie Johnson's

It's time for Power Rankings! 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. Remember, this isn't scientific, as our formula is the perfect blend of analytics and bias against your favorite driver. So let's get on with it, shall we?

1. Jimmie Johnson (LW: 1): Ho hum, another top five finish for JJ. Did anyone else have a sneaking suspicion that Johnson was going to get past Matt Kenseth before that final caution flag flew? Instead, Johnson was fifth, and saw his points lead trimmed by an astonishing two points. What a slacker.

2. Carl Edwards (LW: 2): Speaking of the guy who sliced into Johnson's points lead! Tony Stewart's move during last fall's Talladega race had us thinking: what if Edwards had made another move when Ragan dashed to his inside on the backstretch? Who would have won the race? Anyone?

3. Matt Kenseth (LW: 3): Yeah, yeah, yeah, not much change at the top. What's in the water for Kenseth that's made

David Ragan takes the checkers, at long last. (Getty Images)

TALLADEGA, Ala. - At Talladega, controversy comes at you like a pinwheeling car in The Big One: you don't know when it will happen, and you don't know what direction it will come from, but you know it's coming. Every single year.

The Aaron's 499 on Sunday took seven hours and five minutes, about half of which was spent in a red-flag rain delay. And, as always happens at Talladega, race-altering possibilities that were visible at the green flag — rainfall, catastrophic wrecks, the threat of darkness — all came into play, seasoned with a light dusting of a restart controversy.

First things first, however: this race had the most improbable 1-2 finishers in years, if not decades. Winner David Ragan and second-place finisher David Gilliland, both from indie team Front Row Motorsports, combined to outrun the absolutely dominant trio of Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards. If this wasn't quite a 16 beating a 1 in the NCAA tournament, a journeyman winning the Masters, or a mule taking