Denny Hamlin gets into his car at Talladega. (Getty)

On Friday at Talladega, Denny Hamlin slid into a Sprint Cup Series car for the first time since his crash at Auto Club Speedway on March 24.

Earlier in the week, Hamlin was cleared by doctors and NASCAR and will start Sunday's race, though the team's plans for him haven't been finalized. Whenever Hamlin gets out of the car, he'll be replaced by Brian Vickers, who has been in the No. 11 the last three races and split time with Hamlin in Friday's first practice session.

The caution flag laps at Talladega are long enough that Vickers and Hamlin can perform a driver swap without losing a lap. They practiced the swap in practice and clocked in at just over a minute.

Hamlin suffered a compression fracture of his L1 vertebra when he hit the inside wall after making contact with Joey Logano while racing for the win on the final lap.

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

Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch misbehaving. (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.

Can you believe the immaturity that we saw over the weekend at Richmond International Raceway in both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series? The actions that took place after both races were inexcusable and not fitting of professional drivers.

Let's start with Nelson Piquet Jr. and Brian Scott. Who spins another driver near the entrance to pit road and then kicks him in the groin? Though don't think for a second that excuses Scott, who angrily and unconscionably aggressively walked towards Piquet after the race to confront him about the incident.

At least Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch showed some brains and removed their helmets like dignified adults before they engaged in their childish shouting match over which baby stole the other baby's "A" block

We made it to double digits in the Chrome Horn podcast! Or, more commonly, nine more than you wanted to listen to. This week, we talk Richmond. So yes, there's groin kicking talk.

Click here to download the podcast or here to listen to in your browser. And we're now on iTunes! Find us in the Podcast section right here and subscribe. Listen!

Is this an omen for Talladega?

Danica Patrick was in attendance as the Chicago Blackhawks faced the Minnesota Wild in Game 1 of their opening-round Stanley Cup Playoffs series and was a contestant in the Blackhawks' famed "Shoot the Puck" contest in the second intermission.

And guess what? She put it in the back of the net in her first shot at her first-ever Blackhawks game. Patrick's hometown is Roscoe, Illinois, which is northwest of Chicago.

Wearing a Blackhawks jersey with her name and number emblazoned on the back, Patrick advanced to the final round but in that round put her shot to the left. Another omen?

Patrick is making her first Sprint Cup Series start at Talladega on Sunday and figures to be a contender for the pole and potentially another top 10 finish. At Daytona, the series' other restrictor plate track, she became the first woman to start on the pole for the Daytona 500 in February and led a lap and finished 8th, the highest finish

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): Who else was going to be here again? You can't justify taking Vader out of the top spot after salvaging a top 12 and extending his points lead Saturday night. He's a virtual lock to make the Chase via points now, and that means he's racing for wins (and testing for the Chase) from here on out. Is the over/under five wins before the Chase?

2. Carl Edwards (LW: 6): Welcome to a new second place driver again! While Johnson has been entrenched in the top spot much like the points standings, it feels like second place has been a roulette wheel. And speaking of roulette wheels, Sunday is Talladega, where Edwards has not been very good at spinning the wheel.

3. Matt

Will you have extra points to give away before the Chase, Jimmie?

Yes, the points will be completely reset following the Sprint Cup Series' next visit to Richmond, but it's hard not to notice the commanding points lead that Jimmie Johnson has built up during the first quarter of the season.

Despite sustaining damage in the aftermath of a spin with Tony Stewart, Johnson finished 12th on Saturday night at Richmond, which extended his lead to 43 points over new second-place driver Carl Edwards. That margin is essentially an entire race; it's the base points a driver gets for a win minus a point for leading a lap and three bonus points for the win.

[Related: Tony Stewart steamed at another driver ... again]

In the three years of the Cup Series' new points system, it's the largest lead a driver has had through nine races. Last year, Greg Biffle was the leader by five over Dale Earnhardt Jr. In 2011, this year's roles were reversed and Edwards left Richmond nine points ahead of Johnson.

Johnson's been able to build that lead by maximizing poor

After getting a reprieve from NASCAR, Kyle Busch's good fortune quickly disappeared after he was caught in a crash just laps after he had a pit road penalty rescinded during Saturday night's race at Richmond.

When the caution flag flew for oil on the track from Travis Kvapil's blown engine on lap 309, the yellow presented a dilemma for many cars on the lead lap. It had been just 11 laps since the previous caution (for Kvapil hitting the wall), and the entire field had been to pit road then. Do you stay out and gain track position or do you come into the pits for more fresh tires?

Busch made the decision to come to pit road, and in an attempt to not show the team's choice too early, Busch made a late dive to pit road. A dive that initially was viewed as too late by NASCAR officials. That meant instead of restarting sixth, Busch would restart in 26th, the last car on the lead lap.

The entrance to pit road at the 3/4 mile oval is on the apron of turn four, and the close proximity means that