SM Staff

After experiencing success at the Limited Late Model level, Kevin Cornelius is making the move up to the OSCAAR Super Late Model division.

Joe Gibbs Racing has announced that Mark Martin will fill in for the injured Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 FedEx Camry.

With eight years of racing experience, Bobby Tolton is embarking on a new challenge for the 2013 race season. With experience in both the Mini Stock division and the Limited Late Model division, Tolton is making the move to the OSCAAR Modified ranks for 2013.

From three-wide racing to the splitter-challenging bumps, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 17th annual Auto Club 400 in Fontana, California.

Joe Gibbs Racing has released a statement stating that Denny Hamlin will miss six weeks due to a L1 Compression Fracture to his back following his crash on the last lap at Auto Club Speedway.

“There's been a lot of talk about it in the off-season, when that first one was going to come, what we had to do to get there. My answer was always the same. We had to minimize the mistakes.”

With all due respects to college basketball's annual super tournament, that takes weeks to complete, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series displayed their own version of "March Madness", at the Auto Club Speedway, that contained far more excitement and it only took two hours, 57 minutes and 19 seconds, during the course of a single Sunday afternoon, to complete.

All last year, folks commented that the racing in NASCAR’s top series was boring. Most of them pointed to the late-race action at Martinsville Speedway last April. On Sunday, at near 200 mph, they saw more of the same. This time it was Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin, fresh off a dustup at Bristol Motor Speedway where both drivers pointed fingers.

While Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart stole the headlines, lost in it all was the fact that ‘Rowdy’ Busch was able to steal the victory.

There are as many opinions as there are fans as to whether or not Joey Logano is at fault for the late-race wreck on Sunday at Fontana that sent driver Denny Hamlin to the hospital.