TALLADEGA, Ala. - Pack racing is a thrilling spectacle because the threat of a catastrophic wreck is present on every inch of the track. And it doesn't take much to turn pack racing into pack wrecking.

With only a half-dozen laps remaining, the front of the field was tighter than a white-knuckle fist. At that speed, with such little distance between cars, the tiniest mistakes magnify. And that's exactly what happened. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. appeared to bounce off the wall, sending J.J. Yeley right into Kurt Busch. Busch vaulted into the air and began flipping, and only stopped when he landed atop the hood of Ryan Newman.

That set off a cascade of wrecks; Terry Labonte and Danica Patrick sustained enough damage to go to the garage. And, naturally, it also set off the drivers involved.

“My mom doesn’t come to four races a year — Daytona and Talladega. Wonder why," said Kurt Busch, in a postrace interview that lasted all of about eight seconds. When told he still had a good race, he replied,

TALLADEGA, Ala. - Some of the world's greatest drivers are circling at Talladega. And to the high banks of the superspeedway, that doesn't matter one bit. The track can force even the best among them into mistakes like they were rookies.

In turn 1 of lap 44 of the Aaron's 499, Kyle Busch made an ill-advised move to try to get around Kasey Kahne. The resulting spiral of carnage took out 13 cars, including nine of the top 14. Involved in the accident were Kevin Harvick, Brian Vickers, Greg Biffle, Tony Stewart, and many others.

"I don't really know what happened," Busch said afterward. "I know I got in the back of the 5 and I guess I was trying to go to the outside of him, but he just moved up in front of me and I wasn't expecting it. I tried to got o the outside of him and before I could get to the outside of him, I got in the back of him."

"Felt the No. 18 pushing me and next thing I know I was spinning," Kahne said. "You just can’t push with these cars. We learned that at Daytona, he

The Air Titan track-drying system would be a good NASCAR fantasy pick this weekend. (Getty Images)

Rain has washed out qualifying for the Aaron's 499 at Talladega, meaning that the field will be set based on the first practice speeds from Friday. That puts Carl Edwards at the front of the field. However, Mother Nature being fickle, even though Edwards starts at the front he won't benefit from the pole position for the purposes of qualifying for the 2014 Sprint Unlimited.

"We were all driving like idiots out there in first practice knowing it was probably going to rain today," Marcos Ambrose said shortly after qualifying was rained out. Ambrose will start third, and he's pleased: "It's good to start at the front. It eliminates a lot of accidents."

Edwards paced the field with a time of 47.958 seconds for 199.675 miles per hour. Lining up alongside him on the front row is Martin Truex Jr., who was just 0.025 mph slower than Edwards. Filling out the rest of the top 10: Ambrose, Joey Logano, Ryan Newman, Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne. (Full

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