Good stuff here from ol' Matt Kenseth, who's anything but "Flatline" in real life. When NASCAR media/communications honcho Kerry Tharp wasn't at the podium to introduce him, Kenseth took matters into his own hands, apparently even faking out the camera operator. Well done, 17.

It's time for the longest race of the year! Who's the favorite, who's likely to blow up? Your favorite Yahoo! Sports Jays, Hart and Busbee, hazard a few guesses here. Will engines survive? Will tempers fray? Can anybody outrun Jimmie Johnson? All this and more, right here. Enjoy.

The 2013 inductees to the NASCAR Hall of Fame were decided on Wednesday, and making the cut were Buck Baker, Cotton Owens, Herb Thomas, Rusty Wallace and Leonard Wood.

Thomas and Wood tied with 57 percent of the vote. Wallace, the driver with 55 Sprint Cup wins who is now an analyst for ESPN's NASCAR coverage, got 52 percent of the vote. Owens had 50, and Baker and Fireball Roberts had the first tie of the first three Hall of Fame voting sessions with 39 percent.

That necessitated a re-vote for the final spot, which Baker got. The five will be inducted on February 8.

Current NASCAR team owners Rick Hendrick and Richard Childress were both on the ballot, but neither were in the top eight in the voting.

Baker: Baker won 46 races and 45 poles during his driving career which was from 1949-1976. He was the first driver to win consecutive NASCAR championships.

Owens: Owens won 9 races as a driver, including the first NASCAR win for Pontiac, and 38 races as an owner. He and NASCAR Hall of Famer David Pearson won 27 races together.

Thomas: While Baker was the first to win back-to-back NASCAR titles, Thomas was the first driver to repeat, winning in 1952 and 1954. He won 48 times in 228 starts from 1949-1962.

Wallace: The 1989 champion and current NASCAR analyst for ESPN, Wallace won 55 races from 1980-2005.

Wood: Half of the legendary Wood Brothers, who inspired the modern pit crew, Leonard Wood was the team's chief mechanic. Glen Wood was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame earlier in 2012.

Welcome to the latest Happy Hour mailbag! You know how these work: You write us with your best rant/ joke/one-liner at happyhournascar@yahoogroups.com or on Twitter at @jaybusbee, we respond to your messages, everyone goes away with a smile on their face.

We've got the greatest day of the motorsports year coming up this Sunday. Combine that with the unofficial kickoff to summer, and you've got one hell of a good reason why it's a very good thing there's no work on Monday. You listening, NFL? This is how you do a celebration. Make Super Bowl Monday a holiday and then we'll talk. Till then, we have Racing Sunday and then a blessed day to recover.

To your letters, starting with the issue of Jimmie Johnson sandbagging:

If Dale Earnhardt Jr. had won the All Star race, everyone would be saying it was the greatest race format ever! Be thankful Jimmie Johnson did sandbag, or he probably would have won all 4 segments. [Those complaining about Johnson's win are] the same bunch of whiners that couldn't appreciate JJ winning 5 in a row. I personally thought it was impressive to see a team come out with a strategy & execute it to perfection. No matter how you tweak the length of segments or pit stops, no one was outrunning the 48 Saturday night! Get over it!

— Jeff
Collinsville, Ill.

Do you think 20 years from now they'll still be talking about "fireworks" and "no holds barred" and "tempers flaring" and great All-Star race memories and show replays of Kyle Petty and Davey Allison followed by Earnhardt and Elliot? NASCAR is living in the past, especially when it comes to the All-Star race. The meatball nostalgic fan thinks that even in this current format that Dale Earnhardt or Rusty Wallace or Bill Elliott would've tried to win all 4 segments anyway and then run away in the 10-lap shootout.

— Eric
Chicago

First off, let's lay this out there: yes, Jimmie Johnson sandbagged the last three segments of the All-Star Race. There's no other way to put it. Good strategy? Absolutely. Crap racing? Also, absolutely. But Eric makes an excellent point: Johnson did exactly what the wise drivers of earlier days would have done before him: used the rules to his own advantage. Do I have a problem with that? Aesthetically yes, competitively no. You do what you do to win, and it doesn't matter if you don't look pretty doing it.

Longtime readers of this column know I don't have a whole lot of patience for some of the Sacred Whines of the NASCAR faithful ("It was better back then," "Jimmie is a cheater," etc.) Those of you displeased with the All-Star race, which would be everyone who's not a 48 fan, unfortunately need to accept that Johnson gamed the system to his own advantage, and did so in a perfectly legitimate fashion, like it or not.

BUT! Let's not end this conversation there. No, you folks stuffed my inbox with dozens of suggestions for how to fix this silly race, so let's run down a few:

____________________

• NASCAR needs to move the All-Star race. How about a stand-alone race every year at someplace like...Rockingham? (Randy Black/extavernmouse, Portland, Ore.)

• 1) Invert the field after each segment. 2) Run the race in two 30-lap segments and a final 30-lap shoot-out. 3) Use something like the old points system in each of the first two segments to set the field for the last 30-lap shoot-out and award 10 points extra for winning a segment. (Dave D., Stoughton, Wisc.)

• Four 25-lap segments, winner of each segment wins bonus money, mandatory four-tire pit stops after each segment, start with 25 cars, bottom 5 cars of each segment go home. Final segment would be a 10-car, 25 lap shootout with fresh rubber. (Gus, Naperville, Ill.)

• Make it mandatory to change 4 tires during the (last) stop and really pressure the pit crews. (Mark Zahn, Atlanta)

• Five 20-lap segments. Winners of each of the first four get $25,000. During those runs no pit stops until the mandatory caution. Only green flag laps count. During those four mandatory cautions, all cars must make a four tire pit stop. Give a $25,000 prize to the crew who has the fastest stop for that segment. Line them up as they come off pit road. For the last 20 laps, line them up as they come out of the pits. Then have it be a final 20-lap, winner take all segment. (Sean, San Diego)

• Run one 30-lap heat. Stop for tires. Invert the finish order. Run another 30-lap heat. Total the points pits and starting grid determined by total points. Now the fun part: a 60-lap race. MAKE IT COUNT. The final win is an Automatic Bid into the Chase. (Bruce Lavoie, Concord, N.H.)

• First segment is $10,000 a lap for 20 laps as a warmup. Second segment is $20,000 a lap for 40 laps. After that, they get the break to work on their cars and are returned to the running order at the end of the second segment. Final segment is a 20 laps, each lap worth $50,000. Throw in a $500,000 bonus for the winner of the race and a $500,000 bonus for whoever leads the most laps overall and I think we have something a little more interesting. Every lap should be a race. (Patrick, Gastonia, N.C.)

All interesting suggestions, but let's think bigger. First off, what exactly is the point of an All-Star race? In other sports, the All-Star games are opportunities to see the sport's biggest stars sharing a court/field/rink in a way they never do during the regular season. Here, we see that every single week. So why run it in any way close to a normal race? I like the idea of elimination, although sponsors would absolutely howl. (Solution: give every eliminated driver a nice minute-long on-camera interview to plug his/her sponsor.) I also like the idea of putting something real at stake, like a spot in the Chase. Yes, I know that would make purists howl, but drivers who make it into the All-Star race have already proven they're at least Chase-worthy. Barring all that, I'm definitely on board with the traveling-circus idea, and the possibility of reviving dormant tracks is an enticing one indeed.

Now, no more suggestions, please. We're full up here.

____________________

Maybe it's time for the NASCAR fanbase to be a tad more appreciative of what these guys do for us on a weekly basis. I don't know many people who put their lives on the line to entertain people yet get so much flack for being safe. We should thank our lucky stars that we get to watch them do what we love them doing, and that is race. It's time to stop complaining and love what we're given. These guys owe us nothing and we owe them everything regardless of how much money we spend on merchandise and tickets. Without men and women who like to drive fast and put on a show we wouldn't have NASCAR or any racing. That's how we should look at it, not that they owe us because we make them money. We owe them because they put their lives on the line every week to give us a good show regardless of whether or not we think it's boring.

It's been bothering me, this "me, me, me" mentality that some fans have.

— Patricia Lauren Augusta
Simi Valley, Calif.

What? WHAT? I want WRECKS! I want CARNAGE! I want it like the GOOD OL' DAYS, and I want it NOW!

Thanks, Patricia. Good points. I'd argue that these guys actually do owe us a fair amount; without fans, they'd be doing burnouts in the parking lot after clocking out of work, not after winning races and seven-figure checks. But yes, our sense of entitlement does get a little overwhelming at times. That's what Smoke was hinting at during his Talladega rant, but he couldn't quite say it as explicitly as you did ... not yet, anyway.

Finally, we have a letter writer taking issue with me (imagine that):

____________________

(My words from the letter column last week) "I will say that I can understand why people are sick of the Danica coverage … to some extent, it's the NASCAR equivalent of ESPN slobbering all over everything Boston."

Really? ESPN slobbering all over Boston? Wouldn't you? City of Champs. ESPN slobbers all over the NBA and only the NBA. Busby, I bet you're a Yankees fan.

— PWard

SAWX RULE! BRUINS RULE! TAWM BRADY WILL BE OWAH PRESIDENT ONE DAY! WE LOVE YOU KEVIN GAHHHHNETTT!

A few notes for you, my Back Bay broseph:

1. It's "Busbee."
2. Calling me a Yankees fan? Why not slap my mother in the face while you're at it?
3. Junior Nation: when your guy starts winning again, don't be like Boston fans after their decades-long sports drought. You'll vaporize our goodwill within minutes.

And on that note, we're out. Thanks to all our writers this week. You want in? Fire up the computer and hit us with whatever's on your mind, NASCAR-wise, at happyhournascar@yahoogroups.com. You can find Yahoo! Sports' NASCAR coverage on Facebook right here, and you can follow me on Twitter at @jaybusbee and on Facebook here.  Make sure to tell us where you're from. We'll make you famous!

Recall our rules, which can and do change on a whim:

• Verbal/Twitter exchange; slightly aggressive driving leading to issues: 1 point
• Bumping cars in an aggressive, making-a-point fashion: 2 points
• Spin, non-critical: 3 points
• Spin, critical: 4 points
• Out of car, punches thrown: 5 points

Fireball Cup stats, All-Star Race:
• Ryan Newman calling Kurt Busch "chemically imbalanced" (Darlington): 1 point
• Kurt Busch reminding Ryan Newman who pushed him to that Daytona 500 win: 1 point
• Kevin Harvick thumping Paul Menard and unfortunately putting himself into the wall: 2 points
• Menard griping that he gets no respect from Harvick: 1 point

Which gives us current standings of:

1. Kurt Busch, 7 points
T2. Jeff Gordon, 4 points
T2. Ryan Newman, 4 points
T2. Danica Patrick, 4 points
T5. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 3 points
T5. Kevin Harvick, 3 points
7. Jimmie Johnson, 2 points
T8. Matt Kenseth, 1 point
T8. Joey Logano, 1 point
T8. Paul Menard, 1 point
T8. David Ragan, 1 point
T8. Tony Stewart: 1 point

The All-Star Race wasn't quite the fiesta of brawling we'd hoped for, but there's always the marathon Coca-Cola 600. Cross your fingers!

Your turn. Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments below.

Here's what's left of Danica Patrick's car after Sunday's Nationwide race. Create your best caption right here. (And no hack "women drivers" lines. You're better than that.)

After the jump, we observe Jimmie Johnson's unconventional pit road strategy.

Furiousd:
Jimbot: "Pit entrance processing error404. Pit entrance processing error404. Pit entrance processing error404"

Kevin H.:
"Just gettin' her ready for inspection, boys. Be there in a bit!"

Kingsharky:
Hey Jimmie, we'd love to get down and shake your hand, but Kurt Busch is still loose. It's just not safe yet, man.

Kingsharky

Mistakes happen.

It's what we tell ourselves, anyway, and speaking from NASCAR Live Chat experience, you sometimes don't know that you've let in something a tad inappropriate until it's a little too late.

That's what happened on Sunday night's episode of "Wind Tunnel." Dave Despain and Larry McReynolds were taking questions from Twitter, and when they went to answer the final question (about drivers and anger issues, of course), well, you can see from the picture above that it's highly unlikely that Mr. McGee is using his given name.

Video can be found here. Props to Despain for catching himself and rolling right along with it as he's reading the teleprompter. But how in the world did McReynolds not react? That's either the greatest stifle of amusement in history or he totally missed it.

(H/T Deadspin)

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Well, it was a weekend. The All-Star Race on Saturday night perhaps didn't have the drama we would have liked to see from a collection of the sport's greatest stars. But hey, at least we got to see them driving cars and such. The actual racing would have to wait until Sunday ...

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. picked up his third straight Nationwide Series victory in Iowa, proving that he's getting very close to being Sprint Cup-ready. Also be sure to check out the astonishing save by Kurt Busch; as much as a lunatic as that guy may be on the radio, he's one of the best behind the wheel.

The 2012 All-Star race was, from a competitive standpoint, dead in the water, a glorified qualifying session that's best forgotten by anyone who's not endorsing the million-dollar winner's purse. Decision time, though: Was this NASCAR's fault for setting up a new system that rewarded sandbagging, or was it a testament to the all-world racing skills of Jimmie Johnson?

Make no mistake, Johnson absolutely owned this race. He worked his way around Kyle Busch to win the first segment with little trouble, then spent the next 60 laps cruising around a third of a track behind the pack. Then, when it mattered, Johnson kicked off a splendid restart for the final 10-lap shootout and almost instantly left every other driver fading in his rear-view mirror. Game, set, match. The only drama outside of a couple brief battles for position came from the question of whether Rick Hendrick would accidentally fall out of the 48 car as it drove past the frontstretch grandstands.

So, yes, it was a dull race. But where do we place the blame for this? It's not Johnson's fault for being so dominant. First, look to the format: four 20-lap segments capped by a 10-lap shootout, with the winner of each segment getting the first crack at pit road before the final shootout. The new format gave absolutely zero incentive (well, an extra $50K, but that's laundry money to these guys) to the earliest segment winners to do anything but ride around and stay out of trouble, which is exactly what Johnson did.

"We were working on our car," Johnson said when asked about the strategy. "I was making sure I could get a couple good laps in and find the balance of the car.  We were in heavy conversation about small adjustments, what we could do preparing for that final segment ... I really think whoever won that first segment would have done the same thing.  It's just what you do when you can control the race like that.  We took great advantage of it."

"The biggest thing you have to do in any event is you have to limit your risk," said Chad Knaus, the 48's crew chief. "That's what we needed to do.  We were fortunate, like Jimmie said, that he was able to get out there that first segment and attack and get the win.  From that point on, all you want to do is maintain and make sure you're there at the end."

The only real drama came in the third segment, when Kasey Kahne and Brad Keselowski battled for the segment win; Keselowski won by an eyelash. Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the other two segments, but neither could mount much of a challenge to Johnson. Keselowski tried, but the 48 kept widening the gap until Keselowski needed a grappling hook to reel him in.

"You have to start on the front row to beat cars as good as the No. 48," Earnhardt said afterward. "To be able to compete with that team you have to start alongside of them, starting fourth was a little tough.  We just didn't have enough laps really to mount any kind of a challenge.  I mean, they were gone after about two or three laps."

And in the night's only true surprise, Bobby Labonte won the fan vote over Dale Earnhardt Jr. As it turned out, Junior raced his way in by winning the preliminary Showdown. (Yes, we can write "Dale Earnhardt Jr. won a race" without being ironic or factually incorrect.)

The evening's lone spark came from a minor dust-up between teammates Kevin Harvick and Paul Menard. The two traded a bit of paint, and Harvick got loose trying to perform a retaliation that Menard didn't believe was necessary: "He ran me down low off of [Turn] 2," Menard said. "I have shown him nothing but respect since I got here and he hasn't shown that back. So, whatever."

So, whatever, indeed. We can point the finger at NASCAR all we like for this format, but the truth is that Johnson just outdrove everything and everyone around him. It's the equivalent of a home-run hitter putting a baseball onto a street 600 feet from home plate; you don't expect it to happen, but in the right circumstances, you can't be surprised when it does.

This marks Johnson's third All-Star win, tying him with a couple cats named Earnhardt Sr. and Gordon for the most victories in the race. And the fact that Johnson outran the best in the sport, not a collection of scrubs, shows just how serious, and indeed likely, it will be for five-time to become six-time.

On Friday afternoon, Kurt Busch told his side of the Darlington story — you know, the one where he burned out through the pit stall of Ryan Newman, nearly pancaking his crew, and later ran into Newman's car on pit road. And he offered several perspectives that, on paper (or onscreen, whatever), sound reasonable enough:

• Regarding the idea that Busch tried to run over members of Newman's crew, whether intentionally or not: "Newman left his pit stall a good 10 seconds before I did, and I didn't think there was any reason to think crew guys were in danger," Busch said. "One guy has a problem with it, and it escalated from there." Busch noted that he was trying to beat the pace car to avoid going a lap down, which is a perfectly logical reason for speeding out of a pit box.

• Busch noted that both he and Newman would be battling for the same potential jobs as free agents in a few months, but declined to comment on the idea that Newman might be trying to paint him black in front of future owners.

• While Busch did not apologize to Newman's crew, he gave a curious apology to NASCAR itself: "I apologize to NASCAR for them to have to make a decision on penalizing me."

• The best line: Busch took issue with Newman calling him a liar and "chemically imbalanced," and noted that Newman "needs to check his trophy case on that Daytona 500 trophy that I helped him get years ago."

Sure, it all sounds very reasonable. Could in fact be the straight truth, or at least the truth as Busch himself sees it. But if you're going to believe a story different from your own, you need to give at least some credence to the other side, and Busch has pretty much used up all his goodwill with drivers, officials, sponsors, many fans and the media.

The idea that he wasn't pursuing any kind of aggressive agenda just minutes after the most unhinged on-air rant since Mel Gibson strains credibility, to put it mildly. Busch himself admitted as much when he acknowledged that his "strike zone" is larger than that of other drivers. And for that, he can point the finger in an awful lot of directions, but it always needs to come back to him.

Busch ended the interview after just eight minutes, referencing the pro wrestling/entertainment side of NASCAR on several occasions. It's a dangerous game of speak-your-mind, damn-the-consequences he's playing here, one that could determine his future career prospects.

Busch set his personality-rehab cause back months at Darlington; he's now got work to do once again to convince future owners he's worth a shot. Can he do it? Sure, but as before, it's all on his shoulders. Nobody else's. And it's likely few will be going out of their way to make life easier for him, either.

Rounding up the best links from the week that was in NASCAR. Get up to speed without having to worry about getting run over.

• Good news ahead for the 48 team? Jimmie Johnson's pit crew won the Pit Crew Challenge, thus giving themselves another few hours of blessed employment. [AP/Yahoo! Sports]

• Are you betting on this weekend's All-Star Race? If so, you're a lunatic and need help, but here's some odds to get you started. [All Left Turns]

• Check this: the five greatest finishes in All-Star Race history. From Kyle Busch to Rusty Wallace to the Earnhardts, here are some good memories here; let's hope this weekend matches up to the past. [Sports Illustrated]

• Ryan Newman remains pretty darn ticked off at Kurt Busch. No love lost here, without a doubt. [Sporting News]

• Dale Earnhardt Jr. does shop at Wal-Mart, of course. But he usually does so around 1 in the morning. [USA Today]

• No more government spending on NASCAR, as a House Appropriations Committee voted to stop Pentagon spending on sporting events. [Reuters]

• Great story here: Jeremy Staat, a friend of the late Pat Tillman, is doing a bicycle ride across the country to raise awareness for wounded veterans. Brennan Newberry will be placing Staat's info on his No. 14 truck during the Truck Series event in Charlotte. [NFL Players / NASCAR.com]

Got a link/tip for us? Hit us up at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find us on Twitter at @jaybusbee. Fire up those engines!

Confused by the format of the All-Star Race? It's easy. You simply race a number of laps equal to your car number multiplied by the number of wins you have in the last ten years, divided by the number of Martinsville hot dogs you can eat at a single sitting, and then do it all in reverse. Even the hot dogs. Simple, right? Here, let Yahoo! Sports' Jay Hart explain it all to you. Pencils at the ready, folks.

Welcome to the latest Happy Hour mailbag! You know how these work: You write us with your best rant/ joke/one-liner at happyhournascar@yahoogroups.com or on Twitter at @jaybusbee, we respond to your messages, everyone goes away with a smile on their face.

So I was running low on gas the other day and I tried the Jimmie Johnson solution: turn off the engine and coast, then turn it back on again. FYI: It doesn't work so well in traffic. Now, your letters, starting with the topic du jour:

Urt, Urt, Urt. A lot of us try, and I mean really try, to give you a chance to redeem yourself but it's getting about time to kick you to the curb. This latest deal, roaring through the 39 pits because you were angry, shows me the new attitude is superficial. Like a potential sponsor, I'm going to have to put my money somewhere else. You're an extremely talented driver; just look at how you mowed down the field at last week's Southern 500 with an underfunded team, but you are too much of a liability. I was really hoping to see some real change. How cool would it be to see some great storylines like Phoenix Racing getting a Chase berth? I'm sure writers like Busbee had the whole "phoenix-rising-from-the ashes" story ready in the back of their minds (sorry JayB, no Pulitzer there). What great stuff this would have been. Sorry, Urt, you're fired!

—Thomas

The Kurt Busch saga fascinates me for so many reasons. Have we ever had an athlete in the prime of his career detonating like this? I can't think of anyone; help me out. What Busch's increasingly unhinged rants have shown is that you just cannot trust the guy. He absolutely has a world of talent, but he needed to look at this year as a flat-out internship where anything above finishing half the races constituted a success. Instead, he probably scared away any sponsors or potential new owners with this rant; can you hear it and think there's any chance he changed? At some point, you run out of second chances.

___________________

I'm done, man. I'm done watching NASCAR. FOX has ruined it for me. From their five-laps-per-commercial-break average, to the inane and mind-numbing commentary spouting from the GoDaddy-[uh, let's say "cheering" - JB] mouths of DW and Mike Joy, FOX has made NASCAR unwatchable. Danica Patrick isn't compelling to me no matter how many times we're force-fed her story. Besides, how are we supposed to take her seriously as a driver when her main sponsor is carpet bombing the coverage with their terrible commercials and in-race ads (lest I forget her 'respectable' 31st place finish, six laps down).

I'll be at Bristol this fall; at least live racing will always be exciting and DW-free. Now I'll just have to figure out what to do with my free time on Sunday afternoons. Croquet anyone?

—Pat Lorentz
Knoxville, Tenn.

I'm a beast at croquet. You're on. But dude, don't give up yet! Fox only has a few more races! Then we're on to TNT and ESPN! I'm not going to weigh in on the relative merits of each broadcast team; everybody's got their own favorites (and some prefer simple silence). I will say that I can understand why people are sick of the Danica coverage … to some extent, it's the NASCAR equivalent of ESPN slobbering all over everything Boston. Might I humbly suggest our raceday chat? It's not a Danica-free zone, but everybody takes shots at everyone. Except for the Orange Cone. That fella's sacred.

___________________

In the early days of NASCAR, the sport was just as much a race of endurance as it was speed. The rate of attrition was significantly higher. The technology for building engines and transmissions that could handle the rigors of 500 miles without self destructing on a semi-regular basis wasn't readily available. With better tech and testing, the endurance aspect of the sport is essentially a non-factor. Is it time for NASCAR to consider shortening these races? I'm thinking in the ballpark of 150-mile range for NCWTS, 200-mile range for NWS, and 300-mile range for NSCS. I may be in the minority but I truly believe that these 4+ hour races are as outdated as the carbureted engine or non-synchronous transmission.

—Darrell "Furiousd" Watts
North Cacalacky

I absolutely agree, and you've hit on a point that has some traction. Why do races have to be 500 miles? Sure, it's a nice round number, but you're right — there's no mechanical or technological reason for the race to be that length any longer. Every car is almost certainly going to make it to the finish in one piece, even those driven by Sam Hornish Jr. and Steve Wallace. Plus, consider the fact that we're living in a much faster-paced world now; attention spans are completely — HEY, GET BACK HERE! I WASN'T DONE TALKING! Anyway, yeah, you can make races shorter for the TV audience while still preserving the hang-out-and-get-drunk-all-day-and-call-in-sick-till-Thursday joy that is attending a race in person.

____________________

Before the Nationwide race at Darlington on Friday, the ESPN announcers were talking to Denny Hamlin over the radio. They mentioned talking to the drivers during a green flag run. Apparently they got in trouble for doing that a couple of years ago. That reminded me of a video I found on youtube. This is Tim Richmond during a race in 1986 at North Wilkesboro. Enjoy.

Dude! I lost your name! Send it to me and I'll post it. Anyway, that clip is unbe-freaking-lievable. Richmond is chilling like that under a green flag? He could've given Kurt a few lessons. I bet Tim had his right arm slung over the passenger seat, too. And if he didn't have a passenger seat, he'd probably install one. And bring along a couple stewardesses for the ride.

We'll close with two good letters on the same topic of wrecks vs. clean racing:

___________________

I like wrecks during races. I admit it. There is nothing else in NASCAR or any other motor sport that provides the "OMG did you see that?" or "OMG you've got to see the replay of this" moments that wrecks do.

That said, I do not sit around during a race and hope and praying that a wreck will come along. Never will. What I do miss is the competitiveness during the race. The aggressive moves. The bump-and-run moves that do not cause wrecks but are a spike in the action. Passing down the backstretch. Those things, things fans really love, seem to be missing from NASCAR these days. They're rarely seen on the short tracks anymore. About the only races where such aggressive action occurs are the two road races and they only occur at one or two corners each lap.

Most fans do not want more wrecks. We do want aggressive, competitive racing throughout the race not just the final 5 percent of the laps. But, when they do occur, we do love wrecks.

—Ron Andersen
Eagan, Minn.

I never heard someone come into work on Monday and say "did you see Stewart pass Jr. on lap 22?" I'm not arguing that it makes us good or bad people...it just makes us people. We like the carnage, we like to share, and we like to share the carnage. Did you ever tell someone a story about your drive home that was exactly like every other drive home? No, but you will tell the story of the day you saw the SUV upside down wrapped around a tree. If you still don't believe me, record a race. Give yourself about 60 minutes to watch it. You'll fast forward through most of it with the intent of watching the last 20 laps. But I'm willing to bet that most people will hit play when the yellow caution light starts flashing just to see what happened. Why? Not because we're bad people, but because it's interesting, different, unpredictable. And that's what we like.

—Joel H.
Blandon, Pa.

Right on, gents. Here's a solution: award more points for leading at various checkpoints in the race. You award an extra point for leading every 100 miles, you're going to see a lot less backmarking. Artificial? Sure, but it's artifice in the service of good racing, not some manufactured drama like debris that may or may not actually exist.

Another idea: let the drivers race fans' cars. You like Tony Stewart? Prove it. Give him the keys to your minivan and see if he can outdrive Carl Edwards in your buddy's SUV. I'd pay money to see that, and you would too.

And on that note, we're out. Thanks to all our writers this week. You want in? Fire up the computer and hit us with whatever's on your mind, NASCAR-wise, at happyhournascar@yahoogroups.com. You can find Yahoo! Sports' NASCAR coverage on Facebook right here, and you can follow me on Twitter at @jaybusbee and on Facebook here.  Make sure to tell us where you're from. We'll make you famous!

This is lovely: Kurt Busch's radio from Saturday night's race in Darlington. Really, I have nothing to add. This is a [expletive]ing masterpiece. Much more on Kurt this week, trust us. This story ain't getting old any time soon.

[Via Jeff Gluck]

Saturday night's Darlington pit road altercation between Kurt Busch's boys and Ryan Newman's crew has resulted in fines and penalties for both sides. Here's how it shakes out, per a Tuesday ruling by NASCAR:

• Kurt Busch was fined $50,000 and put on probation until July 25 for "actions detrimental to stock car racing," including "reckless driving on pit road."

• Craig Strickler, one of Busch's crew, was fined $5,000 and put on probation through the end of the year.

• Tony Gibson, Newman's crew chief, is on probation until June 27 because of the actions of his crew.

• Andrew Rueger, one of Newman's crew members, was fined $5,000 and put on probation until June 27.

All of the penalties stem from the late-race incident in which Busch ran a burnout through Newman's pit stall, close to the #39 crew members, and subsequent postrace confrontations between both crews.

Busch wasn't docked any points, but it probably wouldn't have made much difference in his season anyway. After keeping himself reasonably in control for the first third of the season, Busch threw away months' worth of hard work with one profanity-laden radio outburst at the end of the Darlington race.

You can understand his frustration; he had a top-10 ride despite pit road problems, but he couldn't hold it together and ended up putting the 51 car into the wall with only a few laps remaining in the race. Still, Busch's rage likely won't endear him to any sponsors looking to throw a few more bucks NASCAR's way.

And so the "Days without a Busch blowup" clock goes back to zero.

All right, this is cute: a roundup of all the stripes the Lady in Black dished out this weekend. Check it out as many of NASCAR's best drivers (yes, and Danica Patrick, you frothing Danica-is-horrible types) run up against the walls. And the walls maintain their undefeated record!

You know your idiot friends who bust on NASCAR by saying that it's "just driving"? Yeah, show 'em this video from the Chicago suburbs of a Lamborghini driver who's a little out of his (her? nah, gotta be a he) league. Enjoy.

[Via The Big Lead]

• Hendrick's first victory came in April 1984 at Martinsville. The winner? Geoff Bodine.

His first sponsor was Northwestern Mutual Life, and his team was then known as All-Star Racing. Yeah, nice name.

• The winningest driver for Hendrick is, of course, Jeff Gordon with 85 wins. Hendrick has also fielded cars driven by legends (Darrell Waltrip, Al Unser Jr.), dearly departed (Tim Richmond, Rob Moroso, Benny Parsons) to who-the-hell-is...? (Sarel van der Merwe).

• Hendrick has won 10 championships: five by Jimmie Johnson, four by Gordon and one by Terry Labonte.

• The team now trails only Richard Petty Motorsports, with 268 wins, but at Hendrick's current pace, that record could fall within a decade.

• The drivers bearing Hendrick regalia have 818 top-5s, 1,352 top-10s, and 181 poles. They've earned a tidy $272 million in race purses over the team's 29-plus years of existence.

• Hendrick's best track? The aforementioned Martinsville, where his drivers have won 18 times in 178 races, followed by Charlotte (16) and Darlington (14). He's had the most trouble at Homestead, where his drivers have failed to bring home a checker in 51 races, and Kentucky, which just joined the schedule last year.

Sadly, Martinsville is also the site of Hendrick's greatest tragedy, the plane crash in October 2004 that killed Rick's son Ricky and several other members of the Hendrick organization. Saturday night, in a touching final gesture, the assembled Hendrick team turned their hats backwards and pointed to the sky, a tribute to Ricky Hendrick and the others lost to tragedy over the years:

So you might have heard that there's a Batman movie coming out this summer. (No, he's not in The Avengers. Totally different companies. Come on.) Anyway, to celebrate the movie, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the 88 team will be running a Batman scheme at the June 17 Michigan race. And here's where you come in: you get to vote on one of the designs! Really! It's true!

It's a bracket-style elimination, so you get to vote twice, once on the Batman one above vs. the Bane one below:

The next poll pits the Batman shield against one of Junior's own design:

So, how do you vote? Go right here to the Facebook page and sign up and all that jazz. First round ends May 18, so get on it.

Naturally, since this contest intrudes on the domain of the comic book fans, they're having their say too. The "Comic Book Movie" comment thread attached to a post on this immediately devolves into a Batman-vs.-Avengers fight that's the comic world's version of Junior Sucks/Junior Rules, i.e. nobody wins, nobody convinces anybody of anything and everyone ends up looking stupid. But here are a couple gems:

Wildaniel: "Danica Patrick should get Catwoman on her car, lol." (Did you REALLY laugh out loud, Wil? Really?)

Marvel72: "maybe the nascar will crash & burn just like the dark knight rises. you never know." (The last Dark Knight flick did over a billion in box office. If "the nascar" does similarly well this year, it'll be fine.)

Ha1frican: "I feel like the promo money could be better spent on something OTHER than [frick]ing NASCAR." (Good point. Dark Knight folks, give us a call right here.)

The Beard: "He should have put the Avengers on his car back in April, he might have won a race." (Hey, at least one person knows the backstory here.)

Anyway, go vote. And go see The Dark Knight. We'll all be happy.

Turns out that the Roush Fenway press release announcing the new number was factually correct: Fifth Third Bank will sponsor Kenseth for 12/3 races this year, starting with this weekend's All-Star Race. Other races will include Kentucky, Indianapolis and Michigan.

"Roush Fenway Racing is excited to partner with Fifth Third Bank and help drive their business through a primary sponsorship of Matt Kenseth's team," Jack Roush said. "They are a well-respected, innovative financial services organization with a long and rich history that shares our company's passion for excellence and commitment to winning." We didn't do the usual blah-blah-blah with that bit of PRspeak because, quite simply, we're glad to have a new sponsor in NASCAR and don't want to scare 'em away. No sudden moves, anybody.

1. Matt Kenseth: Ol' Flatline is growing on us around these parts. He's got the dry wit that kills in press conferences but reads like total boredom on the page. Still, they don't race on paper (though it might make for better racing than Kansas! Zing!) and that, combined with yet another strong race, is why Kenseth is now No. 1. Last week: 2.

2. Greg Biffle: Bit of a slide for the Biffster this week, as he finished 12th at Darlington. Not the end of the world, certainly, but it's his second finish outside the top 10 in the last three weeks. The sky is falling! Or, at least, it's not quite as bright as it was last week. Last week: 1.

3. Jimmie Johnson: You know that you're successful when you start putting together legions of haters. And you just watch, as Jimmie Johnson continues to rack up strong finishes and wins, the haters will start coming out in force. Saturday night was an impressive race all the way around for the 48 team. Chad Knaus didn't have to sacrifice a crew member this time around. Last week: 8.

4. Kyle Busch: Here's another guy who's underperformed in the early part of the season but appears to be getting his feet (wheels?) under him. This is good news for Busch, bad news for the guys like Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards who haven't taken enough advantage of Busch's downtime to put some distance between him and them. Last week: 5.

5. Tony Stewart: There needs to be something more to spark the Stewart-Johnson rivalry, something mean and nasty. Stewart needs to steal away Chad Knaus or date Jimmie's sister (does he have a sister?) or something like that. We need to get this into a total who-ya-got, pick-a-side back-and-forth. These two are the best in NASCAR, the only champions since 2004, and it's only right that they have a big-time rivalry. Last week: 6.

6. Dale Earnhardt Jr.: All right, we give. We don't know when the hell Junior's going to win again. No idea. He'll probably win at the All-Star race just to throw a wrench into the whole "can't win" thing. But beyond that? Who the hell knows? We'll write a "this week is THE week" article, you'll scream that he's not as good as his daddy, the road goes ever on. Last week: 3.

7. Brad Keselowski: Here's my theory: Keselowski has his career planned out down to the microsecond. I mean, anybody who scripted out an end to that Talladega race the way he did has to have already planned out his Sprint Cup championship acceptance speech, right? I would. Last week: 4.

8. Martin Truex Jr.: Look, it's great that Truex is running really well, and it's too bad that some late snafus cost him a chance at a win, but the fact that Michael Waltrip was announcing the duel between Denny Hamlin and WALTRIP'S OWN FREAKING CAR is horse[mess]. You could hear the hitches in Waltrip's voice as he tried to preserve some weak veneer of objectivity. Last week: 7.

9. Denny Hamlin. Hamlin looked great in his old-school throwback firesuit, and the fact that Cale Yarborough signed it for him makes it all the cooler. Question: what's he going to do with that suit now that it's signed? I mean, he's got to wash it before displaying it, right? That thing's gonna reek. Last week: 11.

10. Kasey Kahne: Another fine run for Kahne, who continues to impress with another solid race. Problem is, he's still more than a full race out of the 10th spot. Yes, he'll need to win in order to get into the Chase, but it's looking more and more like that's a very real possibility. Last week: 10.

11. Carl Edwards: There was a brief moment Saturday night when it appeared Edwards might make a run at the lead. But Busch, Johnson and Kenseth kept the lead well in hand, which should cause some concern for Edwards and others who are running well but not spectacularly. Last week: NR.

12. Kevin Harvick: Here's another situation where we've got a guy who's running solidly but not spectacularly, and if he's not careful, he'll find himself fighting for a Chase spot. Sure, it's early, but Harvick only has two top-10s in his last five races, not the best trendline. Last week: 12.

Dropping out: Clint Bowyer

Lucky Dog: Marcos Ambrose. If they gave drivers two mulligans out of every three races, Ambrose would probably be in the Chase. Of course, so would a bunch of other guys. If he can sustain his good fortune, he'll be a threat. For now? A good race is just that, a good race.

The Jeff Gordon DNF: Yep, Jeff Gordon. Do we really need to tell you any more? This time around, a blown left tire. It's time to start a pool to decide what malady will befall Gordon next race. I'll go with "live weasel in the wheel well."

It was a fine weekend of racing at the Lady in Black, and Jimmie Johnson brought home the long-awaited 200th win for Hendrick Motorsports. But that wasn't the only highlight of Saturday night's events; skip 15 minutes of work and watch the race breakdown above.

And if that's too much time, we've got an even more distilled version of the weekend's events below:

Fine stuff all the way around, and we're setting up well for some lovely drama heading into this weekend's All-Star Race. Think there'll be a few scores to be settled?

Follow Nick Bromberg on Twitter.

Pastor Maldonado grabbed Williams F1 team's first victory in the series in eight years on Sunday at Barcelona, but shortly after Maldonado's win, an explosion happened in the team's garage. Seven people were hospitalized because of the explosion, which occurred in the fuel area.

From Reuters:

[Frank] Williams said the fire had "originated from the fuel area" and three of their staff were in hospital.

"The team, the fire services and the police are working together to determine the root cause of the fire and an update statement will be released in due course," Williams added.

Caterham, who have an adjacent garage to Williams, said four of their staff had been taken to the medical centre for examination - one with a minor hand injury and three with respiratory issues.

Force India deputy team principal Bob Fernley said one of his staff had suffered smoke inhalation.

Maldonado was photographed carrying his 12-year-old cousin -- who was clutching the winner's trophy -- from the garage area just after the explosion.

[Also: Danica Patrick not bummed after finishing 31st at Darlington]

As you can see from the photos above and below, it was quite the scary scene. Our thoughts are with those involved and hope that there are no serious injuries.

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Ryan Newman's gas man Andy Rueger confronted Kurt Busch and his team on pit road after Saturday night's Southern 500. The incident came after members of Newman's team were angry with Busch's actions following a wreck that involved both Busch and Newman with six laps to go in the race.

Busch initially brought out the caution when he spun as a tire was going down, and Newman, who was immediately behind Busch, got turned off the bumper of Aric Almirola as he slowed down to avoid Busch's spinning car.

The teams were pitted next to each other and after limping around to pit road and getting new tires put on the car, Busch did a burnout through Newman's pit box as members from Newman's crew were nearby.

From SB Nation:

The crewmen were infuriated by Busch coming so close to them with his burnout, and several began yelling at Busch's crew to convey their outrage.

"When you come ripping through somebody's pit box like that, he could have took out five or six guys plus the officials pretty easy," Newman's crew chief Tony Gibson said. "I don't know how somebody didn't get run over, to be honest with you. It was a miracle nobody got hit."

It didn't end there. After the race, Busch made contact with Newman's car on pit road. According to Newman, Busch said it was an accident. Newman wasn't buying it and got in a dig at Busch's temper.

From Dustin Long:

"I'm not sure what happened," Newman said. "It's easy to see and it's easy to say that Kurt blew a fuse again. I'm not sure why he did it and tried to run over our guys and NASCAR officials. And nobody is. I think the chemical imbalance speaks for itself. Kurt drilled me in pit lane and said that he was taking his helmet off and he didn't see where he was going, which I'm pretty sure there were 42 other guys that are taking their helmets off and doing whatever for the last 10 years and that's the first time that's happened to me. Circumstances I think are that he lied and was so frustrated that he doesn't know how to deal with his anger."

Temper issues led to Busch parting ways with Penske Racing at the end of 2011, after he had a verbal outburst at an ESPN reporter, ripped another reporter's transcript in half and had several outbursts over the team radio throughout the season. Busch, who is driving for team owner James Finch on a handshake deal this season, was not happy at all over the radio in the final laps of this race.

NASCAR is looking into the incidents. A NASCAR official appeared to take a tumble over the hood of Busch's car, but NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton said that the sanctioning body didn't feel that there was anything aggressive towards the official.

"We're looking at film, we're still getting all the facts straight," Pemberton said after the race. "We haven't talked to Kurt, we talked to Ryan a little bit. He talked to Kurt afterwards and he told him he didn't mean to hit him, he was taking his helmet off and looked up and he'd run into the back of him. So right now that's really all the facts that we have."

We'll keep you posted about any penalties or further developments.

Last year at Darlington, it was Kyle Busch who was involved in a post-race fracas on pit road when he was confronted by Kevin Harvick. And before last year's Darlington race, Newman was involved in an incident in the NASCAR hauler with Juan Pablo Montoya, where NASCAR officials said that the meeting didn't go as well as they had hoped.

Jeff Gordon's 2012 keeps getting more and more unbelievable.

Once again, Gordon had a competitive car during Saturday night's race at Darlington despite an early Darlington Stripe. And, fleetingly, anyway, there were glimmers of hope that the black cloud that has hovered over his season would start to lift. But those glimmers vanished as soon as his left-rear tire started to go flat on Lap 194.

As Gordon made his way to pit road, it looked like he would catch a relative break, no pun intended, as the caution flag flew for debris from his tire right as he entered the pits. That meant that instead of potentially two laps down under green, the four-time champion would be able to line up just one lap down.

Alas, when you're in Jeff Gordon's 2012, when things go south, they really go south. Just a few laps after the restart, his tire went down again, and the team was forced to take the car to the garage for repairs. He ended up 35th, 29 laps down.

A week after falling six spots in the standings to 23rd, Gordon's continued issues dropped him another spot to 24th, 170 points behind points leader Greg Biffle. The man that passed Gordon in the standings? Mark Martin, who did so despite running only eight of the season's 11 events. That's how crazy of a season it's been for Gordon. For the Chase, wins are now imperative. But so is getting into the top 20.

Seventeen races and a calendar turn after winning the 199th race in Hendrick Motorsports history at Kansas Speedway last year, Jimmie Johnson grabbed the team's 200th, winning Saturday night's Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

"You want to thank everyone from Harry Hyde to Tim Richmond to Geoff Bodine and all the guys along the way that won races and you think you're going to get there and you think you're not ever going to win another one when you get to 199," team owner Rick Hendrick said.

In that span of 17 races, victory had tantalized the Hendrick stable, most notably at Martinsville where Johnson and Tony Stewart were battling for the lead until a late caution flag flew and the two drivers were subsequently caught up in an accident. And while Johnson was the night's dominant driver at Darlington, he had to survive a rash of late-race cautions, including a green-white-checker restart to seal the deal.

However, that restart turned out to be pretty anticlimactic. Stewart, who was second to Johnson and on the inside as the green flag waved, saw his car's fuel intake burp as he hit the throttle, and Johnson cruised away for the win. (While the cautions gave Stewart and Kyle Busch opportunities to overtake the five-time champion, they also allowed Johnson to safely stretch his fuel tank to the end.)

[Related: Jeff Gordon's miserable luck continues at Darlington]

While Johnson's win quells all of the discussion surrounding when win No. 200 would finally appear, it also squashes all of the talk about the No. 48's victory "drought," which, captain obviously, also spanned those 17 races. It speaks to the standard of performance that we've come to expect from the five-time champions that a stretch of 17 races — less than half a season in the Sprint Cup Series — without a win is considered noteworthy. (It's actually not the longest span that Johnson's gone between wins either. That was 19 races from the end of 2002-2003)

Saturday night's win was the 56th of Johnson's career, far and away the second-most wins of any Hendrick driver behind Jeff Gordon's 85. Hendrick's first win as a car owner came at Martinsville Speedway in 1984, with Bodine behind the wheel.

It also moves Johnson into a tie for fifth in the points standings with Martin Truex Jr., 39 points behind points leader Greg Biffle. And if NASCAR's 25-point penalty against Johnson for C-post violations at Daytona hadn't been overturned? He'd be in ninth in the points standings, 64 points behind Biffle.

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Ever been told to keep your head on a swivel? That's one of the most important adages when working on pit road, and a crew member for Danica Patrick's team almost found out what it can be like when you don't during Saturday night's Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway as Landon Cassill came to the pits in the stall immediately behind Patrick's.

Close call, eh? Thankfully for the NASCAR official in Patrick's pit, a frightening situation was narrowly avoided.

For the second straight Nationwide race, Joey Logano went from being on the back bumper of the race leader in the closing laps to victory lane. It's just that the circumstances Friday night at Darlington were a bit different than they were at Talladega.

Six days after slingshotting around Kyle Busch right before the checkered flag, Logano restarted in third, directly behind race leader Elliott Sadler with five laps to go on Friday. As the green flag flew, Logano started pushing Sadler in an attempt to leave second-place car Denny Hamlin out to dry. However, Sadler didn't get going as well as Logano did, and the contact wobbled his car and into Hamlin on the outside line.

The contact turned Sadler into the wall and ended his night.

"First off I want to apologize to Elliott," a subdued Logano said in victory lane. "That was obviously not on purpose. We worked so well together at Talladega last week that we were helping each other again there it seemed like and I pushed him ahead on the restart before and got him out front. I was going to do the same thing and I guess he was just spinning his tires still and I was trying to push him ahead and car got squirrely and he starts right."

Sadler, who is racing for the Nationwide Series points championship again after finishing second last year to Ricky Stenhouse Jr., was out front late because of a two-tire pit stop. Hamlin, who finished second after losing a cylinder on the green-white-checker finish, dominated the race, leading by as much as six seconds before the caution flag flew with 19 laps to go.

Well, it's a start.

Danica Patrick has met the Lady in Black, and the first round goes to Darlington. In the first practice, Patrick recorded the slowest time of any driver, 167.997, nearly 10 mph slower than leader Kevin Harvick.

Now, before the freakouts begin: Patrick knows exactly where she belongs in the Sprint Cup pecking order. "I'm not coming in thinking I should be anywhere in particular based on my extreme lack of experience and knowledge of this place," she said after the practice. "Darlington was chosen as a track to come to in a Cup car because of how difficult it is and because of how much track time it takes to get comfortable."

Patrick earned her first Darlington stripe, hitting the wall once in the Nationwide car and four times in the Cup car. "I definitely think getting through the night with a respectable night is what I'm hoping for in the Nationwide car," she said. "And as far as the Cup car, I just want to finish.  I just want to finish, which is going to be a challenge I think."

[Jay Busbee: Danica Patrick deserved punishment for wrecking Hornish Jr.]

Other drivers have sympathy for Patrick in her initial run at Darlington, which Dale Earnhardt Jr. called "one of the toughest tracks that we run on.  I think it's great for her to come here and get that experience early for a full season next year ... Only a very few drivers come in here for their first time and really walk away with a successful weekend.  Most drivers that come here for the first time do struggle, so I wouldn't be too concerned if I was her if she didn't get the results that she was expecting.  This is a place that you have to learn the ropes and pay your dues or it will jump out and get you when you least expect it."

Patrick's lessons begin Friday night in the Nationwide race. Any bets on how long she'll last?

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One week after a terrifying wreck at Talladega that could have ended so much worse, Eric McClure made a public appearance at Darlington to talk about the injury, NASCAR's response, and his plans to race again.

In the wreck that came in the closing laps of the Talladega Nationwide race, McClure appeared to drive straight into the inside wall. He suffered a concussion and mild (relatively speaking) internal injuries. While McClure only remembers "bits and pieces" of the time during and after the wreck, he did recall that his brakes were gone as he tried to stop:

"I hit the brakes when I saw the smoke, and they just weren't there," he said. "It was a little bit of a heart-sinking feeling. It created the impression that I was speeding up or going faster than everyone when I hit, which obviously I was."

The brakes-are-out phenomenon has cost many a driver their lives, so it's good news that the safety cage, the head restraint and the walls held strong. Inspections of McClure's car later found that the car itself was intact, though the steering wheel had broken off.

McClure has four daughters, ranging in age from two months to five years, and he noted that having them at the track (though not witnessing the accident) added a layer of heartache to the day.

"There were some times with family when everything died down that made me understand how lucky I was and thankful I had a family like that," he said. "This week has been good. The 3-year-old brought stethoscopes in and said she'd make my heart better and try to rub the bruises. They've been really sweet."

As for his future? "I live to race," he said. "Sometimes I question how good I am, but I never had a doubt about it." He said he will return to the track once he's cleared by NASCAR, though there is as yet no timetable for his return.

One positive note: McClure noted that Mario Andretti had called him "one tough dude" on Twitter. Any time you can get Mario to say that, you've done something ... if not necessarily something you'd want to do again.

Drivers hate wrecks. Fans love paint-trading. Everybody wants safety, but not TOO much. Where do we draw the line? It's tricky business, and nobody's got an answer. Nobody except me, of course. Come hang for a few minutes as we discuss the ins and outs of safety vs. wreckage on today's Y! Sports video. Enjoy.

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The carrier, Mary E. Bolton, charged Mayfield with negligence in permitting their dogs, pit bull/Labrador mixes, to roam freely on his property. According to court accounts, Bolton was delivering the mail on April 21, 2011, and had a package too large to fit into the mailbox. She drove onto the property (which had "No Trespassing" and "Beware of Dog" signs visible) but was attacked by the dogs.

Mayfield, who was home at the time, chased off the dogs, carried Bolton into his house, and called 911. Bolton was transported to a nearby hospital, and after several  months off work, now suffers from nerve damage and post-traumatic stress disorder. Animal control authorities confiscated and later euthanized the dogs.

[Jay Busbee: Danica Patrick deserved punishment for wrecking Sam Hornish Jr.]

Bolton indicated that she lost an estimated $14,000 in income because of the injuries. Mayfield has said he offered to pay for her medical costs, but did not show up in court or file an answer to Bolton's charges. While Mayfield expressed regret over the incident, he also noted the reality of the situation, that his house is nearly a mile from the street and that he moved to the country expressly to allow his dogs to run free on his own property.

"I'm far enough off the road to not get messed with," he said. "My dogs never left that property, yet I've got a $1 million judgment against me."

In this instance, Mayfield was not charged with a crime. But it is one more in a series of tragic and traumatic events piling up against Mayfield. His home was auctioned off because he owed roughly $3 million on the property. Mayfield also still faces charges of drug possession, larceny and possession of stolen goods. He has also been involved in lawsuits with his stepmother, whom he accused of (but later recanted) being involved in the death of his father.

He has not raced in NASCAR since 2009, when he was suspended for testing positive for methamphetamines. At the time, he protested his innocence, but Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon expressed concern about sharing a track with him.

Mayfield did not file a response to Bolton's charges because he says he cannot afford attorneys on this matter as well as his criminal ones.

"If I had $1 million to give away," he said, "I wouldn't be in this situation."

-For more, follow Jay Busbee on Twitter at @jaybusbee and on Facebook.

Postal worker wins $1 million from former NASCAR driver [Winston-Salem Journal]

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We're a year removed from the famous Kyle Busch/Kevin Harvick showdown at Darlington, and worlds away. Both Harvick and Busch have tried to distance themselves from that incident. But does that mean Busch is ready to continue his strong recent streak of finishes? Watch the video, friends! Watch the video!

Welcome to the latest Happy Hour mailbag! You know how these work: You write us with your best rant/ joke/one-liner at happyhournascar@yahoogroups.com or on Twitter at @jaybusbee, we respond to your messages, everyone goes away with a smile on their face.

I was at both the Kentucky Derby and Talladega this past weekend. This is what I came up with. I'm still exhausted. So let's get to your letters:

Given how polarizing a figure she is, do you think there will be (or should be) any disciplinary action taken by NASCAR towards Danica Patrick for intentionally wrecking Sam Hornish Jr. after the checked flag on Saturday?

— Eric Tien

[Video: Is Darlington Kyle Busch's to lose?]

Simple. Efficient. I like that kind of letter. Incidentally, this race was finishing exactly as the Kentucky Derby was starting, so I was darting back and forth between the press balcony overlooking the track and my laptop playing the race broadcast. Sure wish Bodemeister had turned I'll have Another in the final straightaway; I'd have a few more bucks right now.

So, my opinion: Yes, NASCAR should have taken some action against Patrick. At the very least, she should have been (say this with scary music in the background) Called To The Hauler to discuss exactly what happened. Did Hornish's brakes fail? Did Patrick not see him? Whatever, letting her bolt off into the Talladega night was exactly the wrong thing for NASCAR to do.

Now, as for the unhinged Danicahaters who scream that because Kyle Busch did almost the same thing at Texas last year, Patrick should be suspended or worse: shut up. Seriously. Just chill the heck out. This is not even remotely comparable. Busch's actions happened during a race (albeit under yellow), and took Ron Hornaday Jr. out of the running entirely. Busch's punishment was also the culmination of a series of run-ins with NASCAR brass. Patrick hasn't had that. She had a bad day and a bad moment. Does she deserve a little lecture, maybe even one of those not-so-secret-but-still-really-secret fines? Absolutely. And if she does it again, crank up the punishment. Beyond that, let it go, people. I'd have been a lot more disappointed if she'd gotten out of the car and started crying or something.

____________________

Was Tony Stewart so worried about the cost of tearing up cars when he was 'just' a driver? But I do agree with his sentiment. We fans pay the bills, but we're quite often stupid. And as a driver becomes more successful and rich, we become even more stupid, don't we? Honestly, I do not watch races just to see the wrecks. I don't like to see them just for the sake of all that carnage and personal danger. I'd rather see some passin' and rubbin', but not necessarily hittin' and wreckin'. But when they do occur, it's interesting to see who messed up and any drama resulting from it. I do like the drama...and Tony can be the king of producing drama...just by opening his mouth.

— Robert in Richmond

[ Power Rankings: Change at the top ]

You've got to hand it to Stewart, the man knows how to keep himself in headlines, and he knows how to get his point across. I have absolutely no problem with what he did, and I find it very interesting that many of the same fans who whoop and holler when he calls out the media or other drivers get all butthurt when he calls out YOU. Doesn't mean I agree with him entirely ... but let's save that for our next answer.

____________________

Reading all the "Sarcastic Smoke" accolades has exacerbated an irritation I already have with the idea that NASCAR fans simply want more wrecks. I hate wrecks. They make me physically ill as though each one of those drivers were my own baby boy. Of course, I am a woman, and likely in the minority of NASCAR fans. But seriously, I have never read or heard a complaint from any actual fan stating they need to see more wrecks to watch races more religiously on TV or to attend more races in person. Are these complaints actually in existence, or is this just one of those "media-hyped" (no offense) arguments? I'll grant that the possibility of wrecks increases the adrenaline, but wouldn't that just increase the longer you go WITHOUT a wreck? The argument alone is insulting, but now I have to listen to DW say the fans don't respect what the drivers do and hear Tony Stewart say we would prefer to see Talladega turned into a figure eight. Hogwash, I dare say. Where's the proof?

— BJP
Cleveland, Ohio

This is like proving a negative; how can we prove that fans like wrecks without having wrecks? I guess we could point to the fact that NASCAR has been in decline since the safety improvements that have kept every driver alive for the last decade-plus, but that's a bit grim, isn't it? And it's a cheap, and not necessarily direct, causal connection.

Basically, Stewart is just like anyone else with a strong opinion: He doesn't see a whole lot of nuance. Look, I get where he's coming from; if any of us were in a wreck like these guys all sustain five or six times a year (or many times that, for certain drivers), we wouldn't exactly be thrilled with the sentiment that there should be MORE wrecks. (We'd probably be curled in a fetal position and not get into another car for two years.) But saying the only options are wreck-filled demolition derbies or hours-long roundabouts is a false choice. There are ways to make the racing more interesting while keeping the drivers safe and the cars largely intact. Sticking your head in the sand and staying in only one camp or another does no good to anyone.

____________________

Is Jeff Gordon in a slump? Is he really the product of bad luck or is he going to be content with running good races and not winning like Dale Earnhardt Jr.? Now I'm not saying Junior is content with good finishes, but when it's been season after season, you start to wonder. I have poked fun at Junior fans who are happy with his top 10 runs all season but never getting the win, so can I be happy for Jeff if he starts doing the same? The guy has four titles, a great career, lots of money, lots of wins, but if he was to race another four seasons and only score top 10s for most of the races is his past enough to satisfy not winning?

— Wes R

Wes, that's a question you're going to have to answer for yourself. It is interesting how the troubles of one group of fans don't seem quite so funny when they're your troubles. I will say this: I cannot imagine that these guys enjoy losing race after race, year after year. But knowing when it's time to walk away is the toughest thing for any athlete to do; you don't know what's waiting for you after that last race ends, and that's scary when you've got half your life still ahead of you.

I don't believe Gordon has another title in him, but I do think he has plenty more wins. The guy still burns for this stuff. You'll have him around for quite a few years. And when you don't, there's another guy waiting right in the wings ...

____________________

Is Brad Keselowski the best interview or what? His quote in the media center is the greatest quote I've heard a driver say: "Hell, it's my job to be good. That's what I get paid for. I don't get paid to suck at this." Absolutely priceless. Bad luck hurt him the Chase last year, just hope the equipment is good enough for him until he starts driving a Ford next year. He is exactly what the doctor has ordered for NASCAR. If ever he is crowned a champion, he most definitely would be a hard act to follow.

— Kevin Mullins
Metairie, LA

I would rank Keselowski among my all-time favorite interview subjects, along with Chipper Jones, Charles Barkley and Tiger Woods. (Ha! Just seeing if you were paying attention. Tiger Woods is a terrible interview.) After that interview, someone in the media room suggested we print up bumper stickers saying "I don't get paid to suck at this," and I'd totally buy one.

Seriously, Keselowski answers the question you ask in a way that indicates he's taking the question seriously, not just killing time. I asked him about the wrecks at 'Dega, and he gave me the great answer about daredevils and chess players; moments like that as a writer you're going, "This is gold!" Makes up for a lot of "We had a good race tonight. I want to thank the boys at the shop"-type interviews.

Anyway, yeah, Keselowski has won a lot of people over in the last year, and he's driving like a champion, too. This dude might well be the future of NASCAR, which would be good news for all of us.

All right, let's wrap with a little money-where-your-mouth-is suggestion:

____________________

From now on fan tickets should include a retroactive surcharge for every wreck in a race. You never know how much your ticket is going to cost until the race is over. Then, with more wreckage and "car"nage, you receive more entertainment and you pay more for your ticket. For a "boring" race where all you got to see was smart, clean, hard driving and excellent pit crews, you walk away disappointed but you keep your money in your pocket. The surcharge then goes to the owners who have to pay for the wrecked cars. So everyone wins. Fans pay more for better racing and owners are more willing to give it to them because they don't have to pay for it, the fans do!

— Bill Carswell

Fontana and Pocono would sell out! And you'd have one guy buying a ticket to Talladega, and he'd have to pay $10.3 million for it. I love it!

And on that note, we're out. Thanks to all our writers this week. You want in? Fire up the computer and hit us with whatever's on your mind, NASCAR-wise, at happyhournascar@yahoogroups.com. You can find Yahoo! Sports' NASCAR coverage on Facebook right here, and you can follow me on Twitter at @jaybusbee and on Facebook here.  Make sure to tell us where you're from. We'll make you famous!

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Tweet your questions ahead of time using the hashtag #DerbyDega, and we'll answer right here on Tuesday.

1. Greg Biffle: You got any other ideas here? The Biff was up near the front at Talladega, but it was déjà vu all over again when he couldn't get to Matt Kenseth's bumper over the last two laps. But the consistency that he lacked last year is back this year. Will it be there for the final 10 races?. Last week: 4.

2. Matt Kenseth: Did Flatline just find out how it feels to lose when your car is too good? No one could get to his bumper all day on Sunday, and that was his undoing at the end. Or was it the fact that his car was falling apart like Best Buy's stock? Last week: 6.

3. Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Here is where we will write another post saying that Junior is really, really, really, really close to winning. Honest. Promise. Swear it on his beard. What's that? His beard is gone? Well, we're standing by our word. Until we get tired and have to sit down. Last week: 3.

4. Brad Keselowski: Believe it or not, @Kes is 12^th in the points standings despite the two wins. And, perhaps even more surprising, he made it through an entire restrictor plate race without tweeting from the car. Of course, we didn't have any jet dryers explode either. Last week: NR.

5. Kyle Busch: Sunday was the perfect opportunity for Busch to do what Joey Logano did to him on Saturday. Thing is, Brad Keselowski knew it too. Next time, Kyle, make your move on Lap 1. No one will be expecting that. Last week: 10.

6. Tony Stewart: Maybe NASCAR will secretly fine Tony Stewart for his sarcastic comments about racing at Talladega. Alas, all fines are public knowledge. Maybe instead, NASCAR will force Stewart to race with a restrictor plate for the next five races. Or just fine him and not tell him about it, thus keeping it super-duper secret. Last week: 1.

7. Martin Truex Jr.: Looked like Other Junior's plan was to be just another driver for most of the race before coming to the front at the end. But he didn't make it to the end, getting caught up in The Big One 1.0. At least by being caught up in a big crash he made his race airtime roughly equivalent to that of his sponsor's commercials. Last week: 7.

8. Jimmie Johnson: Sunday was the second time that five-time has suffered an engine malfunction with oil copiously leaking from the car. This time, he didn't have a golden horseshoe of a red flag for rain to save him. Last week: 2.

9. Clint Bowyer. Clint rolled with the Tide all day at Talladega and finished sixth. Bowyer didn't have any conflict of interest running that Alabama paint scheme all weekend because, last we checked, the university that Bowyer usually cheers for doesn't have a football team. Last week: 12.

10. Kasey Kahne: Carnage! Crashes! Hendrick engines going sour! And Kahne wasn't involved in any of it. Maybe Talladega was the truest sign that Kahne's trend of bad luck is ending. Last week: 11.

11. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin had a strong car and was a staple at the front of the field until he went a lap down because of an extended green-flag pit stop. And then he got his lap back and got back to the front and got crashed. That's so Hamlin. Last week: 2.

12. Kevin Harvick: Cupcake was content to play the waiting game too, until the Spirits of Talladega struck and he had a mysterious fuel problem. Like Hamlin, he too was able to get back on the lead lap, but also got crashed. All this crash talk is making Tony Stewart excited.Last week: 9.

Dropping out: Carl Edwards

Lucky Dog: Danica Patrick. Yeah, she didn't race in the Sprint Cup Series last weekend but she escaped a post-race hauler visit after crashing Sam Hornish Jr. on the cool-down lap and is locked into the field for her first Cup start at Darlington on Saturday. Plus, we'd like to use this space to stop any and all "Lady in Black" references to Patrick's race at Darlington before they begin.

DNF: Poor, poor Jeff Gordon. This kind of feels like piling on at this point, but the dude started first, didn't lead a lap, saw his gauges start flashing all like Tom Cruise in "Top Gun" and then got crashed right as it looked like he was going to snake through the carnage. At this rate, Gordon could go win the last 13 races of the year and the Cup and we'd view it as progression back to the mean.

TALLADEGA, Ala. – It's been a rough year for Jeff Gordon, and Talladega was the cruelest kind of torture: A weekend that began so well ended in wreckage.

Gordon started on the pole at Talladega, but couldn't even lead a single lap. Constant problems with overheating dogged him all afternoon long, and finally on Lap 142, a multi-car wreck collected him and put him in the garage for good. He lost six positions in the standings and now sits in 23rd place, needing wins to have any hope of making the Chase.

"Man, this is just one of the most bizarre years that this DuPont Chevrolet team and Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet team has ever gone through," he said after climbing from the wreck and taking a moment to cool down in his hauler. "I mean, it's almost comical at this point. That was not fun. I didn't like hitting the wall. Gosh, I thought I was clear ... That's just the way our season has been going."

In particular, Gordon hammered on the temperature issue that plagued many cars all afternoon. A reduction in the front grille size allows less air to cool the engine, leading to more overheating problems almost from the start of every green flag.

"This temp thing is kind of a joke," he said. "They are going to have to fix that. We all knew that was going to be a big issue, but when you can't really even race because the temps, even in a regular pack, are an issue, we have to address that … Nobody is really pushing a whole lot out there."

[Related: Tony Stewart's sarcastic take on Talladega raises eyebrows]

Gordon conceded that NASCAR walks a fine line in trying to balance the desire for pack racing with the desire to let drivers run the best way possible on the track. "There is just that fine line between getting the temperatures right and not being able to push," he said. "To me, right now we are teetering on the side of having to be just a little too conservative. I'd like to be up there taking it three-wide, pushing cars and making some good exciting moves because I know we have a car that can be up front, but it's just too risky at this point in the race. That is why we were in the back where we were [when the wreck happened]."

So what can be done? Gordon noted that the actual solution was a matter for the engineers, but indicated that he hoped there could be some kind of concession made before the next plate race, Daytona in July. Otherwise, he suggested, we could see a lot more of the tentative, conservative kind of racing we saw through much of Talladega on Sunday. And nobody, drivers and fans alike, wants more of that.

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TALLADEGA, Ala. — The problem with Talladega, Tony Stewart says, is that there aren't enough wrecks.

"Honestly, if we haven't crashed at least 50 percent of the field by the end of the race, we need to extend the race until we crash at least 50 percent of the cars," Stewart said after climbing from his car. "It's not fair to these fans to see any more wrecks than that, any more torn-up cars. I mean, we still had over half the cars running at the end, and it shouldn't be that way."

Look, let's stress this right now: Stewart was joking. It was sarcasm. Obviously an owner/driver doesn't want to see more wrecks. But he was absolutely deadpan, with none of the wry wit or sarcasm that usually enfolds his jabs. And with his interview-as-performance art, he was making a point: If this is what the fans want, why not give it to them?

Some more samples of this, one of his strangest interviews in a career marked by bizarre on-camera and on-the-record performances:

• "If we could make [Talladega] a Figure 8, it would absolutely be perfect here. It would be better than what we have."

• "I'm upset that we didn't crash more cars. That's what we're here for. I feel bad if I don't spend at least $150,000 in torn-up race cars going back to the shop. We've definitely got to do a better job at that."

• "That's what the fans want, they want to see that excitement. I feel bad that as drivers, we couldn't do a better job of crashing enough cars for them today."

• "The racing was awesome. It's fun to be able to race and have to watch the gauges at the same time. It just adds that much more. Being able to make yourself run on the apron and everything to try to get clean air, it makes it fun."

Stewart's performance was so convincing that Chevy had to take the unusual step of noting that he was speaking with a "tongue-and-cheek [sic] manner," lest anyone take his words seriously. Though even on video, Stewart certainly looks dead serious.

[Also: Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards get caught in Talladega's 'Big One']

Sure, Stewart is aiming the bile he usually reserves for the media at the fans who demand millions of dollars worth of motorsport carnage every time the series comes to Alabama. But he's hitting on the key issue that divides NASCAR drivers and NASCAR fans: the need for drama via wreckage, particularly at Talladega. This, after all, is NASCAR's most famed automotive graveyard, where small wrecks become large and large wrecks become The Big One. It's fantastically entertaining to a large segment of the NASCAR populace, and this year Talladega has been billed as the antidote to the allegedly "boring" extended-green-flag racing we've seen at Texas and Kansas in recent weeks.

But in a weekend where Eric McClure hit the wall so hard that more than a few observers feared the absolute worst, you can forgive drivers for not sharing in fans' — well, let's not call it "bloodlust," let's call it "enthusiasm for automotive destruction." When asked about Stewart's perspective, that fans place too much emphasis on wrecks at Talladega, Kyle Busch gave a measured but definitive answer.

"For me, whatever Talladega and Daytona is, it's a restrictor-plate race," he said. "That's what we all know going into the weekend. Some of us love coming here, some of us dread it. I'll be the first one to admit I hate restrictor-plate racing. You don't have control of your own destiny ... Everybody is fighting for every square inch you can get."

Matt Kenseth, on the same podium, declined to comment. He smiled at Busch and said, "Glad I passed on that one."

But Brad Keselowski has a different take, informed in part by the fact that he's won twice at Talladega in four years:

"As a race car driver, you walk a fine line between being a daredevil and a chess player," he said after the race. "I look at chess matches — not a whole of them on TV. Sure as hell don't get 100,000 people to come to the match ... This [track] might be a little bit more to the daredevil site, but I'm all right with that, because we go to places where it's more to the chess-player side. That's balance. I'll live with that and I'll be happy."

There's always a disconnect between what fans consider good racing and what drivers consider good racing. It's led to the repaving of some tracks (Bristol and Kansas, for instance) and the outright removal from the schedule of others (Atlanta). But nowhere is that gulf more evident than at Talladega. We return here in five months. Start funding those car-repair accounts now, owners.

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It wasn't a spur of the moment move. It wasn't a move that anyone expected. It was a move that team owner Roger Penske called "pretty amazing." And it was a move that made Brad Keselowski the winner of Sunday's Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega.

Most everyone expected the two-car tandem to be the deciding factor in Sunday's Aaron's 499, just like it was in Saturday's Nationwide Series race. And the common thought was that the driver in second place in that two-car tandem would have the advantage as the finish line approached. Keselowski confirmed the former. But not the latter.

Restarting on the inside of the front row with two laps to go, Keselowski had Kyle Busch (the driver he famously called a rear end in no uncertain terms once in Bristol driver intros) behind him. Race leader Matt Kenseth had his teammate Greg Biffle behind him on the outside line. Just like at Daytona, Kenseth had the dominant car on Sunday. And Just like at Daytona, Biffle couldn't get latched onto Kenseth's bumper in the closing laps. Yes, Kenseth's car might have been too good to win.

Enter Keselowski and Busch, who immediately latched together as Kenseth and Biffle pulled away at the restart. However, once Keselowski and Busch gathered steam while their bumpers were locked, Kenseth, Biffle and the rest of the field were left fighting for third place.

[Video: 'The Big One' claims Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards among others]

Keselowski led Busch high into turn three on the last lap. He knew that Busch would wait as long as possible to make his move to capitalize on the draft, so he made his move early, diving to the low-side of the banking, breaking contact between his rear bumper and Busch's front fender. Once that contact was broken, Busch's momentum was too, and Keselowski could focus more what was in front of him than was in his rear-view mirror.

"Then Kyle, I just knew the move I wanted to make and made it into three and disconnected us and that was the key right there. Once we got the air bubble in between the two cars, it was going to take two or three laps for him to pop that and we only had to go half a lap, and not quite that."

It was Keselowski's second win of 2012 and second win at Talladega, the first coming in 2009, the first time we'd see the tandem draft work to such extremes in the Sprint Cup Series. That, of course, was when Carl Edwards went flying off of Keselowski's front bumper in the tri-oval. Three years later, this move came from the front, and didn't involve flying sheetmetal.

And because it's Keselowski's second win of the season, it makes him a virtual lock for the Chase if he's not in the top 10 after the season's 26th race. A Sprint Cup Series title is the only thing that's eluded Penske, and he feels that Keselowski is the driver that can deliver it for him.

"He's matured a lot," Penske said of Keselowski. "He's been a tremendous asset to the team. He's not just for Brad Keselowski, he's for Penske Racing. You see that when he comes in the shop and he's spending a lot of time. I wouldn't trade him for anybody right now and you know that."

[Related: Drivers take differing points of view on wreck tally at Talladega]

Keselowski joined Penske late in 2009, and after just over a year in the No. 12 car that resulted in just two top 10s in 39 races, took over the Miller Lite No. 2 in 2011. In that No. 2, he's got five wins in 46 races. As a Wild-Card entrant into last year's Chase, Keselowski was still somewhat of a championship afterthought despite his three wins.

He finished the 2011 season fifth. Now in May of 2012, it'd be crazy to not consider him a prime contender when we get to November.

"He came to me, and we talked about before he went to work for us, he said 'Look, I'd like to come to Penske Racing and help you build a winning Cup team.' He said 'that's my goal,'" Penske said. "And I think he's certainly demonstrating that from his driving ability and the way he's been able to pull together and his chemistry with Paul Wolfe and that whole team has obviously made a difference because this is not just about the driver and the car or the sponsor, it's about the whole team and I think that he's the real package and what we're trying to do is give him everything we can to give him a winner and obviously one of the goals in my life is to sit up on that stage either in New York or Las Vegas sometime and I think he's the guy that can make it happen this year, hopefully."

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Sunday's inevitable Talladega "Big One" collected 10 cars, including Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards.

As is typical with "The Big One," it started when a car (Dave Blaney) hooked another car (Aric Almirola). However, the circumstances that led to the hooking were some of the most bizarre ones we've seen this Sprint Cup Series season.

Towards the end of a fuel run, many drivers, including Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart, had cars that started acting like they were out of fuel, despite seemingly being comfortably inside their fuel windows, perhaps due to some vapor lock type occurrence, perhaps brought on by the current restrictor plate rules package and the warmer than Daytona in February temperatures.

The same thing happened to Almirola, who had Blaney on his bumper as he slowed on the backstretch. Chaos ensued.

As you can see from the video above, Gordon was ohsoclose to getting through the crash. Alas, this is Jeff Gordon's 2012. He was of course, caught up in the crash.

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In what could be a harbinger of things to come for Sunday's Cup race, Joey Logano pushed Kyle Busch close to the finish line and then passed him before the stripe, taking Saturday's Nationwide Series race at Talladega.

As the race restarted with two laps to go for the second attempt at a green-white-checker finish, the fight for the win quickly came down to tandem drafting, with Logano pushing Busch, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate in the Sprint Cup Series, and Ricky Stenhouse pushing Cole Whitt.

Whitt and Stenhouse, however, were unable to make a serious charge on the final lap, and by the time that they got to Logano's back bumper, he had already made the move to pass Busch on the outside as they exited the tri-oval, nipping Busch at the line.

While tandem drafting was pivotal in the outcome, the practice didn't dominate on Saturday, a good sign for those who dislike the tandem draft, as the Nationwide Series cars are capable of tandem drafting for longer periods of time than the Sprint Cup Series cars thanks to their larger radiators and grille openings.

The race wasn't without a significant heart-stopper though, and that moment came during "The Big One," which happened on the backstretch during the race's first green-white-checker finish attempt. Eric McClure was collected in the crash, which started when Michael Annett made contact with Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick at the front of the field. McClure slid head-on into the SAFER barrier on the inside backstretch wall.

The race was immediately red-flagged and track safety workers had to cut the roof off of McClure's car to extricate him. (The process took approximately 10 tense minutes.) McClure, who NASCAR said was talking with safety workers during the extrication process, was removed from the car and taken to an ambulance on a stretcher. He was transported to a local hospital, where according to NASCAR, he is under evaluation.

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Danica Patrick retaliated against Sam Hornish Jr., sending him into the wall in Turn 1 after the two drivers had taken the checkered flag in Saturday's Nationwide Series race at Talladega.

The two drivers were racing for position through the tri-oval of the 2.66-mile superspeedway on the final lap with Patrick outside of Hornish. As it looked like Patrick got close to Hornish and Elliott Sadler in an attempt to side draft off the two cars, Hornish moved up to protect his position and, in the process, both cars hit the wall. Patrick took exception to the move and as the cars slowed entering Turn 1 on the cool-down lap, she rammed into his back bumper and turned him into the fence.

Hornish said after the race that he had a flat tire from contact with Joe Nemechek the lap before.

The two are very familiar with each other. Before Hornish — and subsequently Patrick — moved to NASCAR, the two raced against each other in the Izod IndyCar Series. And the two raced against each other even before that as kids, where Patrick and Hornish once crashed battling each other for the lead on the last lap.

Both Patrick and Hornish spent time, albeit briefly, at the front during Saturday's race, and both saw their chances at a win end in late race incidents. Patrick was collected in "The Big One" on the first Green-White-Checker finish attempt while Hornish and Nemechek had their get-together.

Joey Logano won the race, nipping Kyle Busch.

Patrick will make her second Sprint Cup Series start of the season next week at Darlington Raceway.

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ARCA carnage never seems to cease at Talladega.

Mike Affarano's car flipped over six times and came to rest on its side -- with the engine almost completely dismounted from the car, on lap 83 of Friday's ARCA race at Talladega Superspeedway.

Affarano was thankfully treated and released from the infield care center after the crash.

ARCA is racing's "A" level equivalent if we were comparing stock car racing to Major League Baseball, and its restrictor plate races tend to be dicey affairs with a mix of inexperienced drivers and teams with a wide range of equipment and budgets. Friday's race also featured its own "Big One" multi-car crash in the tri-oval on lap 11.

Brandon McReynolds, son of former Sprint Cup crew chief and current Fox broadcaster Larry McReynolds, won the race with a last lap pass.

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Jeff Gordon's struggles this year are no secret, so we don't feel bad about pointing them out. We answer the question of whether he's done as a champion (we have differing opinions) and more burning questions this week as we run up to Talladega. Enjoy!

It's Talladega, and that means it's time for our weekly speculation on whether THIS is the race that Dale Earnhardt Jr. can win. Is this the week that his four-year winless streak comes to a close? We'll offer reasons why it could happen, and why it might not. Enjoy.

W

I'll be doing both the Kentucky Derby and Talladega this weekend, with a pronounced focus on the infield at both races. If you've got a good infield story, from anywhere in NASCAR, hit me up at the above email address. This'll be fun, and you can follow along as I go on Twitter.

Now, let's start with a horse that's having a bit of trouble this year ...

If you take away all the boo boos (most of them out of their control) that the 24 team has endured this season, Jeff Gordon would easily be up in the top 10 in points, maybe even top 5, with at least 1 victory.

Being 57 points out of 10th, more than a full race, he's not going to make it on points. He's now got to focus on wins for a wildcard. Do you see the team gambling with pit strategy, set up and fuel mileage to try and get those wins? And do you think they can pull it off and nab one of those wildcard spots? I think he'd be a force to be reckoned with if he makes the Chase. Remember, he's second in laps led, only second to Jimmie Johnson.

— Jason
Seattle

If we played the "if" game, every driver would be in first. Together. The "if" game is what keeps drivers, owners, teams and fans awake at night, but it's ultimately a fruitless endeavor. Because "if" spelled backwards is "fi," and that doesn't make any sense, and neither does cherry-picking events to change to put your guy in charge.

BUT. I get how tempting it is to say that were it not for a few bad breaks, your guy would be running the show. That said, Gordon is not in good shape. He's second in laps led because he led 328 laps at Martinsville, which is like leading three laps at Talladega. Other than that, he hasn't led more than three laps at any race this year. Sure, he's already in a Hail Mary position, going for wins or nothing. And he's so far down, he probably needs two wins to give himself a decent shot in the Chase. Can he do it? I don't like betting against Gordon, but nothing seems to be clicking with the 24 team right now.

____________________

My wife and I spent all day at RIR on Friday, taking in the practice, qualifying and the exciting finish of the NNS race with Urt and Hamster beating and banging over the last lap. I was hoping that same excitement would carry over to Saturday night with the Sprint Cup series.

Lo and behold, NASCAR and/or Fox contributes to the continuing demise of the sport's popularity and credibility by throwing a caution for "debris" in the last few laps of the race. As soon as it came out, the first thing myself and I'm sure thousands of other fans thought was "Fox better show this debris on TV or else." Nobody in the viewing audience saw a thing. You have to admit, NASCAR is quickly losing what credibility it has left when cautions are thrown for debris that no one can find.

— Andy L Zachary aka "Zack"

Somehow we've managed to paint NASCAR as both a collection of bumbling idiots barely able to tie their own shoes without tying them together and a hypersecretive conclave of geniuses who can manipulate the entire sport with the flick of a flag. It can't be both, friends. I can understand NASCAR's frustration at yet another potential green-flag finish; they knew that fans would be howling at a third straight relatively drama-free race. But manufacturing a debris caution out of thin air? Yeah, that wasn't such a good option. And there was disagreement among the drivers about exactly what the "debris" was, so we all know exactly what was happening.

Does this make NASCAR "more like professional wrestling," as the now-tired critique goes? Sure, but so is every other sport. If you don't think that other sports manipulate storylines and events to ramp up the drama, you're living in that Richard Petty/Dale Senior dream world where everything's four wide.

That said: show the damn debris, NASCAR. Otherwise, you get more complaints like our next one.

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Tony was absolutely robbed of the win. NASCAR saw he couldn't survive a restart, and with a 3.5 second lead and growing that didn't make for a good end. So what do the officials do that just robbed Carl of a top five, throw a debris caution for a water bottle out of the groove. And I have to take Tony's word for it because FOX decided not to show the truck picking up debris. So that is what NASCAR needs to do to generate excitement is take the win from the two guys that tied for the 2011 championship. Rob them.

— John Cartwright

Right, but WHY would NASCAR do that? Who benefits from a scenario that denies a win to arguably the sport's most popular driver right now, and its most hard-luck story of the past decade? It wasn't a conspiracy to take a win away from Tony, it was a decision to bunch up the field and create a little drama. Yeah, you can say Stewart got robbed, but I'd bet Stewart has benefited a time or two from phantom cautions that went his way.

Still: NASCAR needs to pay attention to these kinds of complaints. They're real, they're out there, and every time that Brian France or others profess surprise that fans aren't happy, it widens the disconnect between the sport and its fans.

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Three cheers to Smoke for calling out a reporter on an incredibly dumb question! No wonder this guy blows his cool with reporters. With all that was going on at the end of the race (including "debris" even the TV cameras couldn't find) this is the best this reporter could come up with? I think his employer should rethink his worth to the company. Even Dale Jr. was having a hard time keeping a straight face over this one. NASCAR needs more people like Smoke who aren't afraid to let people know when they have crossed the line at the absurd road marker! Never change, Smoke, never change!

— Joyce Keith

See here for the video of what Joyce was talking about. Here's a case where we need to get off the "drivers are gods and the media sucks" bandwagon and take a little more realistic look at what truly happened. ESPN.com's David Newton asked about the lack of wrecks in the last three weeks. Yes, he dangled a yes-no question in front of Smoke at a time when Stewart was understandably upset at effectively having a win ripped out of his hands. But here's the thing: it was EXACTLY THE RIGHT QUESTION TO ASK, because it's exactly the subject that's been dominating the NASCAR world for the last three weeks. Look at the last three letter columns; we've been stuffed with "NASCAR is boring now" questions.

Stewart has zero patience for the "wrecks are fun" angle, and I get that. He's driving the car, we're not. But the truth is, we're going through one of the most drama-free stretches in recent memory, and fans clearly want to know why and what can be done.

Here, let's try a little experiment. You come up with what you think the very best question would be for Tony Stewart, and I'll answer a few as Angry Tony. You won't get the experience of getting mocked in front of the entire world, and you have days instead of minutes to devise a question, but you'll get a sense of what it's like to try to come up with a question that will impress one of the trickiest interviews in sports. Shoot, come up with a good one and I'll steal it. Giving you full credit, of course.

Finally, we close with another clear-eyed, unedited look at one Dale Earnhardt Jr.:

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he is the most overrated driver ever to drive a car? his hair will be down his back a foot before he ever wins a championship.

— Jerry Schumann

Hair grows about half an inch a month. So that means we're just two years from a Dale Earnhardt Jr. championship! Junior in 2014, everybody!

And on that note, we're out. Thanks to all our writers this week. You want in? Fire up the computer and hit us with whatever's on your mind, NASCAR-wise, at happyhournascar@yahoogroups.com. You can find Yahoo! Sports' NASCAR coverage on Facebook right here, and you can follow me on Twitter at @jaybusbee and on Facebook here.  Make sure to tell us where you're from. We'll make you famous!

The crew chiefs and car chiefs of the Nationwide teams of Richard Childress Racing and Turner Motorsports were fine $10,000 each and placed on probation, but the teams avoided any points penalties on Tuesday for infractions found prior to Friday's race at Richmond.

From NASCAR:

Crew chiefs Luke Lambert (No. 2 team), Danny Stockman (No. 3 team), Trent Owens (No. 30 team), Jimmy Elledge (No. 31 team), Ernie Cope (No. 33 team), and Mike Shiplett (No. 38 team) have each been fined $10,000 and placed on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31. Additionally, the teams' respective car chiefs — Phil Gould (No. 2), Robert Strmiska (No. 3), Shannon Rursch (No. 30), Ronald Hornaday III (No. 31), Paul Balmer (No. 33), and Christopher Meyers (No. 38) — have likewise been placed on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31.

During pre-race inspection activities before Friday's Nationwide race, NASCAR found illegal modifications to the front bumper covers of the cars of points leader Elliott Sadler, Austin Dillon, Kevin Harvick, Justin Allgaier, James Buescher and Kasey Kahne. All six cars are Chevrolets.

Sadler said that his car was already run twice in 2012 prior to the bumper's confiscation on Thursday. No modifications are permitted to the bumper covers of the cars, which are provided to the teams by the manufacturers.

The penalties to the six Nationwide teams were the first for inspection violations since Hendrick Motorsports won its appeal of the points penalty handed down from NASCAR to Jimmie Johnson's team for C-post issues at Daytona. Hendrick took the appeal all the way to NASCAR chief appellate officer John Middlebrook, who rescinded the 25 point penalty against the team, but kept the $150,000 fine.

You say you want drama? You say you want controversy? Here you go, friends. Plenty of both in the closing laps of the Richmond race on Saturday night. Kyle Busch took home the victory, but not before controversial decisions that probably cost Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards a real shot at the win. Up next? Talladega, of course. No threat of craziness there whatsoever. Enjoy!

Jimmie Johnson. Carl Edwards. Kevin Harvick. Jeff Gordon. Kurt Busch. Kasey Kahne.

What do all of these top-flight drivers have in common? They haven't won a single race this year. And yet they don't get a tenth of the criticism that their fellow winless driver, one Dale Earnhardt Jr., does.

Of course, unlike Earnhardt, each of those drivers has won a race since the Bush administration left office. The Streak piles upon itself, adding coils week after frustrating week. But here's the thing: Earnhardt might just be closer to victory lane than any of those others.

Consider: he sits second in the standings, just five points out of first, at the quarter-pole of the season. He's got five straight top-10 finishes, seven overall. That suggests that he's not just getting to the front, he's staying there. He's in position to win, and that's something we haven't seen in a long time.

Saturday night at Richmond is a perfect example of the joy and agony of being a Junior fan. Thanks to some solid racing on Junior's part and some good breaks that took out some of the race leaders, Earnhardt found himself in second place with less than 10 laps remaining.

And, in a wondrous coalescing of storylines, it was Kyle Busch ahead of him, the same Kyle Busch who spun Earnhardt at Richmond in the 2008 spring race. Could we be in for history repeating and reversing itself? Would history be made this night?

Nope. Earnhardt simply didn't even have the car to catch Busch, much less pass him. So he "settled" for a second-place finish. But it's clear: better times are ahead, and perhaps as soon as this weekend at Talladega. Yes, we've been saying that for awhile now. But this time, we really mean it. Promise.

Carl Edwards thought he was the leader as the field came to a restart on lap 318 of Saturday night's Sprint Cup Series race at Richmond International Raceway. NASCAR said he wasn't.

You can imagine who won that battle.

Edwards was on the outside of the front row, next to Tony Stewart, who was the actual race leader. After the pace car pulled off the track, Edwards accelerated. Stewart spun his tires.

So instead of the drivers being side-by-side as they crossed the start-finish line, Edwards, who ended up 10th, darted away. However, he wasn't scored as the leader, even though he thought he was and the scoring pylon in the middle of the track said he was, and he was penalized for jumping the restart.

"I am trying not to be too frustrated and stay something stupid. Right before that start, my spotter Jason Hedlesky, was told by the NASCAR officials that 'the 99's the leader. The 99's the leader.' Jason told me, I had a split second to decide what I was going to do. I thought 'OK, NASCAR made a mistake, they lined us up wrong.' I was at a disadvantage to be on the outside so I'm getting the best start I can get right now. I got the best start I can get and it looks like Tony waited or spun his tires, so they black flagged me," Edwards said after the race before visiting with NASCAR officials.

"I still don't understand why they black flagged me. They said we were the leader. I restarted the best I could given the disadvantaged position I was in. So the problem is I don't know if NASCAR is going to take the stance that we shouldn't have started the race first or that I jumped the start, but if they're saying that I jumped the start, that'd be real frustrating because I started the same way I've started all night."

The confusion stemmed from the caution flag falling during the middle of green flag pit stops. Stewart was on pit road when the caution flag flew. Edwards, who led a race-high 206 laps, hadn't made it on to pit road yet, so he was the leader. Because of the green flag stop cycle, only three cars -- Edwards, Stewart and Jimmie Johnson -- were on the lead lap.

Therefore when Edwards stopped, he gave up the lead to Stewart. He started on the front row when Johnson was forced to start at the tail end of the field after being penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation on his stop as the yellow came out. So when Edwards accelerated before Stewart -- and even though it appeared that Stewart spun his tires -- he was penalized for beating the leader to the start/finish line. And according to NASCAR, to top it all off, he had hit the gas before the designated restart zone.

Got all that?

After meeting with NASCAR, according to the AP's Jenna Fryer, Edwards said that he and NASCAR had to agree to disagree.

"We had to just agree to disagree and that's the way it is. They run the sport and they do the best job they can, and I drive a race care and do the very best job I can."

The timing and scoring confusion, according to NASCAR VP of Competition Robin Pemberton, came when Edwards' car crossed the start/finish line ahead of Stewart's when there was one lap to go back to the green flag.

Edwards' ensuing pass through penalty put him on the tail-end of the lead lap and eventually a lap down to Stewart. (He got his lap back on the final debris caution with 15 laps to go.) And while it may seem like just desserts to Edwards and crew that Stewart, who finished third, didn't take the checkered flag, they're more likely to rue what could have been for themselves as a promising night disappeared on a single restart.

If there's a lesson to be learned from Saturday night's race at Richmond, it's a time-honored one in NASCAR: careful what you wish for; you just might get it.

After two straight weeks of dull, almost drama-free racing, NASCAR controversy returned in full force at Richmond, potentially robbing two of the sport's most notable drivers of victories. In the end, however, it was Kyle Busch, once again, who took the checkers in the Capital City 400.

The victory brings to an end an ugly streak for Busch that dates back to last fall's suspension, and it comes at one of Busch's very finest tracks. Busch has now won the last four spring races at Richmond, breaking a tie with Richard Petty, who won three from 1971 to 1973. Busch has recorded 13 top 10 finishes in 15 races run at Richmond.

Unlike several of his Richmond races, Busch wasn't the dominant car on Saturday evening. But he ran well exactly when he needed to, and he was in position to take advantage of two highly controversial NASCAR decisions.

A restart that saw Carl Edwards get an early jump and a subsequent black flag took out the best driver of the night. But it was the late-race caution that raised the ire of the second-best driver, one Tony Stewart.

On TV cameras, Stewart waved a plastic bottle, mocking the "debris" that brought out a caution with less than 15 laps remaining. (Of note, TV cameras couldn't find the "debris" on either of the two cautions that were for track obstructions.)

Stewart had been dominating the race after Edwards' penalty, and appeared headed for an easy victory until the caution flag flew. But the restart allowed Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. to slip past Stewart with little trouble ... and Stewart had little trouble sharing his feelings on the validity of the caution.

"It was out of the groove," Stewart said of the water bottle afterward, according to the AP's Jenna Fryer. "It had been sitting there for eight laps."

And that right there is the problem that NASCAR faces when trying to manufacture drama. When both your race winner and your third-place finisher are questioning the need for a caution, something's up. Clearly, the last thing NASCAR wanted was yet another green flag to the finish, but by throwing out a phantom caution it only added to the perception that the sport is not above creating a little action when none exists.

Still, for the 18 team, a win is a win, and the victory helps reestablish Busch as one of the sport's premier drivers ... if not its smoothest. "What up, boys? We back!" he crowed. "Hell to the yeah!" And it sounded every bit as painful as it reads. But it was a victory, and on Saturday night, that was just fine with Kyle.

You've got to be a special breed of cat to be a NASCAR pit crew member. A little fearlessness, a little derring-do, a little insanity all help. But one thing you can't have is a little stupidity, and Paul Menard's tire changer edged right up to that line in Saturday night's Capital City 400 in Richmond on Saturday night. Dedication is great, but dedication isn't much protection against a car speeding around a turn on pit road. Thankfully, the tire changer escaped any unwanted encounters with vehicles, but he couldn't escape the wrath of either the NASCAR official or his own crew chief, who threatened the job of anyone who did anything like that again.

Remember, folks: playing in traffic never ends well for anyone.