(Getty)

On Wednesday night, NASCAR announced the 25 nominees for the 2014 NASCAR Hall of Fame Class. The nominees consist of 20 names who were up for consideration last year as well as five newcomers to the list. The newcomers are Dale Jarrett, Bruton Smith, Maurice Petty, Larry Phillips and Rex White . Last year's induction class consisted of Buck Baker, Cotton Owens, Herb Thomas, Rusty Wallace and Leonard Wood.

The full list is below. Who are your picks?

Red Byron: First NASCAR premier (now Sprint Cup) series champion, in 1949

Richard Childress: 11-time car owner champion in NASCAR's three national series

Jerry Cook: Six-time NASCAR Modified champion

H. Clay Earles: Founder of Martinsville Speedway

Tim Flock: Two-time NASCAR premier (now Sprint Cup) series champion

Anne B. France, first secretary and treasurer of NASCAR, wife of founder Bill France Sr.

Ray Fox, former NASCAR owner, engine builder and official

Rick Hendrick: 13-time car owner champion in NASCAR's three national series

Jack

Fulfilling NASCAR's script in his cheated up car. (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. Though this week? Seems lots of folks find our topic all too believable.

It's common knowledge among many in the outer-circle that NASCAR allows Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus to cheat and does everything in its power to allow them to win, but Johnson's admission on Monday of those facts is absolutely abhorrent.

You haters have it right. I'm a bad teammate, I have a cheated up car, I'm lucky and the race was fixed. Gotta love twitter & #NascarFans.

— Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) April 8, 2013

Much like a secret fine should stay secret, a secret mandate should also stay secret. Many times NASCAR has been likened to the WWE because of the preponderance of scripts in both disciplines. However, it's necessary to note that the WWE knows you know it'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: 3): What's the best way to cap off your most dominating win at the track you've dominated the most in your Sprint Cup career to take the points lead? Announce on Tuesday that your second child is due in September. Congratulations, Jimmie and Chandra.

2. Brad Keselowski (LW: 4): Keselowski doesn't have the stats like Johnson or Denny Hamlin when it comes to Martinsville, but Sunday was his third straight top 10 there. And that ability to finish in the top 10 and therefore keep both of those drivers in sight if they're the ones battling for the lead will serve him well once again in October.

3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (LW: 1): It wasn't a graceful spin from the top spot

Did you know Danica finished 12th?

Just another short track podcast. Join the one and only Geoffrey Miller and the one and only yours truly for the one and only Chrome Horn Podcast. In our Martinsville I edition we talk JJ, Brian Vickers, the ACM awards and Fox.

Did you know Danica finished 12th?

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. It'll soon be #1 in comedy.

As always, we'd love to hear from you. Email us your thoughts, questions, rants, etc here and we'll talk about them on our next episode.

Did you know Danica finished 12th?

Kurt Busch's eventful day ended with his engine in flames 15 laps before the finish of Sunday's Sprint Cup Series race at Martinsville.

In this case, eventful is not a synonym for "good" or "great."

On lap 294, Busch spun around after making contact with David Gilliland entering turn three. And that was in addition to a fuel pump problem that left Busch 29 laps down at the time of his final incident, which was caused by a brake failure entering turn one.

[Related: Jimmie Johnson wins once again at Martinsville]

"Something happened with the brakes," Busch said. "The pedal felt spongy going into three and four and I gave it a courtesy pump and it came to. I go down the front straightaway and gave it another courtesy pump and it went straight to the floor. Something failed with it and I just turned it to the right and fenced it instead of running head on into the fence."

After making contact with the wall, Busch quickly pulled the in-car fire extinguisher trigger, which doused the flames

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