Denny Hamlin

Signaling that its "boys, have at it" policy remains in effect, NASCAR on Tuesday declined to penalize any of its drivers after the wild finish Sunday at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. The climax to the Auto Club 400 featured the feuding drivers Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin colliding and crashing on the last lap as they battled for the win, which went to Kyle Busch. There also was a post-race shoving match between Logano and three-time Sprint Cup Series champion Tony Stewart, who was furious about an earlier blocking move by Logano.

There's nothing like an unruly road-course race to jumble NASCAR's championship standings. When the Sprint Cup Series arrived at the serpentine Infineon Raceway here, the top five drivers in points were Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch and Matt Kenseth. Harvick finished third in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 in Sonoma on Sunday, and the Bakersfield native maintained his lead in the standings. But Kyle Busch and Hamlin had dreadful days that dropped them each a notch while Jimmie Johnson – seeking an unprecedented fifth consecutive Cup title – won the race and jumped to second behind Harvick.

Luckily for Joey Logano and his fellow NASCAR drivers, they have a break next weekend to relax over Easter. They're going to need it. In a finish that was wild and chaotic even by NASCAR standards, Kyle Busch swept past a crashing Logano and Denny Hamlin on the final lap Sunday to win the Auto Club 400 stock-car race in Fontana. But the dramatics at Auto Club Speedway were just getting started. After Busch drove under the checkered flag, Hamlin - who slammed the inside wall head-on after his collision with Logano - slumped after climbing from his car and had to be placed in an ambulance.

If Jimmie Johnson does not win a fifth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship this year, a setback more than a few people are rooting for, Johnson himself is prepared to face it. "I'm just in a better space mentally this year," Johnson said in an interview. "Maybe I need to be worried and freaked out. But after going through the fire [of prior title battles] I'm a little wiser and a little smarter. " After a record four consecutive titles in stock-car racing's premier series, Johnson is 33 points behind Denny Hamlin with two races left in NASCAR's 10-race Chase for Cup playoff ?

NASCAR on Tuesday said it would not penalize Joey Logano, Tony Stewart or any other driver following the wild finish to the race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. Logano and Denny Hamlin, who already were feuding, collided on the last lap of Sunday's Auto Club 400 as they raced for the win. Both cars spun and Hamlin slammed into an inside retaining wall, with Hamlin suffering a lower-back injury that could sideline the Joe Gibbs Racing driver. Soon afterward, Stewart -- angry at how Logano blocked him on the race's final restart -- got into a shoving match on pit road and they had to be separated by their crews.

Kyle Busch won a wild Auto Club 400 on Sunday when he passed a crashing Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin on the last lap of the NASCAR race in at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. But the fireworks weren't over. Tony Stewart, annoyed with how Logano blocked him on one of the race's late restarts, climbed out of his car and got into a shoving match with Logano on pit road as their crews pulled them apart. That came only a week after Logano and Hamlin tangled in the closing laps at Bristol Motor Speedway and then got into a war of words at the track and on Twitter.

Jimmie Johnson won NASCAR's Daytona 500 for the second time by holding off Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished second, on Sunday. Danica Patrick finished eighth, the highest finish in history for a woman in the Daytona 500, but she was poised to finish higher. As the field started the final lap, Johnson was leading Greg Biffle and Patrick was third. But as the cars made their final trip around the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway, several cars passed Patrick. Another group of cars behind the leaders crashed on the final lap, but NASCAR did not throw the yellow flag and let Johnson and the others race to the checkered flag.

Kyle Busch led at the halfway point of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. Busch, who won the Nationwide Series race on the same track a day earlier, was just ahead of teammate Denny Hamlin in the Auto Club 400. Joey Logano was third, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was running fourth and Matt Kenseth, a three-time winner at Auto Club Speedway, was fifth. Brad Keselowski had climbed to 13th in his No. 2 Ford after the reigning Sprint Cup champion was forced to start at the rear of the 43-car field because of an engine change.

Jeff Gordon, four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, was angry with himself after finishing second to Denny Hamlin in Sunday's race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Gordon is currently on the outside of the Chase for the Cup points standings, in which the top 10 drivers automatically qualify for a 10-race playoff while two wild-card drivers are selected based on wins and points. All other Sprint Cup drivers are just circling the track during those races with no hopes of winning the series championship, although they can still pick up the winner's paycheck.

  It's a tale as old as time: Another NASCAR race at Talladega, another wreck. And one more massive wreck at the racetrack happened Sunday, when defending NASCAR champion Tony Stewart triggered a 25-car pileup as he tried to protect his lead on the final lap of the race. His car sailed through the air and caused a pileup that knocked 10 of the final 12 "Chase for the Cup" drivers out of the race. Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth won under caution. Talladega is a restrictor-plate track, which basically means that everyone races at the same speed, leaving everyone bunched together around the track.