Hamlin was able to climb out of the car on his own, but he immediately went down. He was airlifted to local hospital for observation. He spent the night at Loma Linda University Medical Center. Hamlin was diagnosed with a fractured L1 vertebra.

He was released on Monday — and walked out of the hospital under his own power — and was allowed to fly home.

Dr. Jerry Petty of Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Associates evaluated Hamlin. Joe Gibbs Racing issued the following statement on its Facebook page:

Dr. Petty determined that Hamlin will not require surgery, but will need time to properly heal, which is estimated around six weeks time. Dr. Petty will make the determination when Hamlin will be able to return to racing this season. No decision has been made on a replacement driver for Hamlin during his absence from the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

This news effectively ends Hamlin’s chances to win the Sprint Cup Series championship.

After his release from the hospital, Hamlin said he knew he was in trouble because he felt his back pop after the violent collision. He said he couldn’t breathe and is still having difficulty breathing.

Hamlin said that Logano has not reached out to him. He added that he made sure to give Logano plenty of room. But, he said:

I think he saw I was going to win and wasn’t going to let that happen.

For his part, Logano said:

I just thought we were racing hard, you know? It happens. You don’t ever want anyone to get hurt; you don’t ever want anything to happen, especially to Denny. We were racing really hard there at the end of the race. I wish there was a SAFER barrier down there, and I wish I knew before I made any comments on TV also.

Following the race Logano said:

He probably shouldn’t have done what he did last week (at Bristol), so that’s what he gets.

He later said he didn’t try to wreck Hamlin in “any way, shape, or form.”

Kerry Tharp, NASCAR Director of Communications, tweeted that “NASCAR will issue no penalties from last weekend’s events at [Auto Club Speedway].

While no announcement has been made as to a replacement, Elliott Sadler, who drives for JGR in the Nationwide Series, seems like a logical choice to replace Hamlin.

Busch finished .834 seconds ahead of Nationwide Series leader Sam Hornish Jr. to claim his sixth win at the two-mile track and the ninth straight for Joe Gibbs Racing, extending the record for consecutive victories for a Nationwide car owner at a single speedway.

With his third trip to Victory Lane in five starts this season, Busch also extended his own record for career wins in the series, pushing that number to 54. The six wins at a single track ties his personal best; Busch also has six NNS victories at Charlotte.

After the race, Busch seemed just as cognizant of JGR’s failure to win a Sprint Cup event at Fontana as he was elated at keeping the Nationwide streak alive.

“I think it’s pretty cool that you can see a team go to a race track and dominate like that in a series,” Busch said, “although it’s really, really awkward, because we’ve got nine in a row here in the Nationwide Series, and JGR has yet to win a Cup race here.

“That’s quite an odd stat, but I know (polesitter) Denny Hamlin is really good here for (Sunday’s Auto Club 400 Cup race). And I think we’re OK for (Sunday), too, so hopefully we can change that.”

Regan Smith rallied from a lap down — the result of an early flat tire — to claim third, with Parker Kligerman running fourth in a Toyota owned by Busch. Austin Dillon came home fifth, followed by rookie Kyle Larson.

Elliott Sadler, Brian Scott, Trevor Bayne and rookie Kevin Swindell completed the top 10.

Hornish led by more than a half second over Busch when Jason White’s spin through the frontstretch grass caused the fourth caution of the afternoon on Lap 110.

Brad Keselowski stayed on the track under the caution and led Hornish and Busch (who took fuel only under the yellow) to the green flag on Lap 116. Before the cars reached Turn 1, however, Hornish had reclaimed the top spot from his Penske Racing teammate, with Busch in hot pursuit.

Hornish held the point until Busch passed him on Lap 126, and from that point on Busch paced the field. Busch conceded that Hornish may have had the better car, but Busch found a line — or, more accurately, a variety of lines — that worked in the late going.

“I don’t think we were the best car, but I got up on the wheel there at the end and just chased down that 12 (Hornish),” Busch said. “He was really, really good today. I didn’t want to see him win here in front of our home-town crowd of (sponsor) Monster Energy folks that were in the stands and, of course, the Toyota folks that were here today.

“So we got up on the wheel, like I said, and just tried to push hard as far as I could. I ran the top side for a little bit, ran him down, got there and was able to do like a draft move by him.”

Hornish was gaining on Busch in the closing laps until his No. 12 Ford scraped the wall.

“We just didn’t have enough to be able to beat Kyle today,” Hornish said. “I ran hard and got the lead on the restart a couple of times. He’d run real hard throughout the first 50 to 75 percent of a run, slide the car around, wear it out, and then we’d catch him in the last 25 percent.

“We were doing it again on the last run. I got within about 10 car lengths of him and got a little greedy, drove it in a little bit too hard and got into the wall. But we want to win races as bad as we want to lead the points. When there was still smoke inside the car halfway down the back straightaway, I was a little bit worried that we were going to end up with a flat tire, and I was going to look real bad. So I’m just glad that things worked out as well as they did.”

Hornish increased his series lead to 28 points over Smith, who passed 11th-place finisher Justin Allgaier for second in the standings. Scott remained third in points, 31 behind Hornish and one ahead of Allgaier in fourth place.

Notes: Kligerman’s fourth-place finish was a career best in the series… Brian Vickers’ day ended with an engine failure after 53 laps. He finished 34th and dropped six spots to 11th in the standings.

After raindrops slowed the race on Lap 124, Stewart, the race leader, faked a move toward pit road but stayed on the track and matched the pace car’s speed of 65 mph, a far cry from the lightning-fast laps he ran under the green flag.

But that move — staying out and running slow caution laps before NASCAR stopped the race on Lap 129 — proved decisive for the defending NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, who claimed his second victory of the season, his second at Fontana and the 46th of his career, tying him with Buck Baker for 14th on the career victory list.

Kyle Busch, who stayed out with Stewart, finished second, with Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards completing the top five.

Greg Biffle ran sixth, followed by Ryan Newman, Martin Truex Jr. and Kurt Busch, all of whom gambled on protracted rain and stayed on the track during the initial shower. Jimmie Johnson and polesitter Denny Hamlin came to pit road and finished 10th and 11th, respectively.

“I don’t think that I faked him out,” Stewart said of Hamlin. “I’m sure he had made his decision already — looked good, though.”

Never before has Stewart won two Cup races this early in a season. Stewart was at a loss for an explanation.

“I don’t know, but I like it,” he said. “I’m really proud of (crew chief) Steve Addington and all of our guys. This Office Depot Chevy was bad fast.”

In Johnson’s case, the top-10 was a godsend, given that the No. 48 Chevrolet developed an oil line problem as the cars circled the two-mile track under caution. Johnson’s car began smoking and he kept it rolling on the apron until NASCAR stopped the race.

The event ran caution-free for 124 laps, until rain in Turns 3 and 4 brought out the first yellow flag of the afternoon. Stewart had retained the lead through a third cycle of green-flag pit stops, with Hamlin chasing him.

Hamlin had made a run at the leader when the rain began to fall, but he and Johnson opted to give up positions in the top five and come to pit road, after Stewart made his feint toward the pits but remained on the racetrack.

Feint or not, Hamlin was committed to the trip to pit road, and he explained the decision.

“We were planning on the race going back to green, and if it doesn’t, we’ll lose some spots, but if we chose to stay out there, we would have to be behind all the cars that pitted (if the race restarted),” Hamlin said as the rain intensified. “(In that case), your chance of winning decreases greatly.

“So you could give up a few spots if it finishes up here and lose a chance to win in the grand scheme of things . . . We had finally gotten to (Stewart’s) bumper when the rain came.”

That left Busch in second place. The driver of the No. 18 Toyota had led 80 laps to that point, but Busch had rubbed the wall in traffic before the halfway point, and the handling of his car deteriorated thereafter.

Busch wasn’t dismayed that the race ended when it did.

“I wish we would have been able to race the whole thing, on the one hand,” he said, “but, on the other hand, I’m kind of glad we’re not, because we have a little bit of damage that slowed us down there . . .

“Trying to run back with Stewart’s lap times, that’s when I was trying too hard, too close to the fence, got myself in trouble there — caught the right side a little bit.”

Notes: Biffle retained the series lead, seven points ahead of second-place Harvick . . . Earnhardt’s third-place finish elevated him to third in the standings, 17 points back of Biffle and one ahead of Stewart in fourth.

“We believe the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule will once again provide fans with what they’ve come to expect every season – the world’s most exciting and competitive form of motorsports,” said Brian France, NASCAR chairman and CEO. “Next year’s schedule has a few adjustments that we think will be good for the fans and good for the overall flow of the season. One thing will remain constant, however, and that’s the intense competition we see week in and week out from our drivers and race teams.”

One of those adjustments takes place during NASCAR’s playoffs – the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup – and could affect the strategy during the championship run. Talladega Superspeedway’s Chase event moves up two weeks to Oct. 7, becoming the fourth race in the Chase. Often labeled as the wild-card track in the Chase, Talladega’s grueling test is now staged during the first half of the Chase.

Talladega swaps its Chase date with Kansas Speedway (Oct. 21) to accommodate Kansas’ repave, scheduled for after the track’s spring event. As such, Kansas’ spring date has also been moved. Kansas now will be the eighth race of the season on April 22. Talladega’s spring event moves to May 6, and Dover International Speedway’s spring event returns to its traditional spot on June 3.

As previously announced, the season-opening Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway will start one week later with the running of the preseason “non-points” Shootout at Daytona on Feb. 18. The 54th annual Daytona 500 will run on Feb. 26.

The race dates for Phoenix International Raceway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway have likewise been moved a week later, to March 4 and March 11, respectively.

Two other featured adjustments to the 2012 schedule:

Texas Motor Speedway’s spring date will be moved to April 14, to accommodate the traditional open week for the Easter holiday.

Daytona’s summer event and Kentucky Speedway’s race will swap weekends in 2012, as the July 4th holiday falls mid-week next year. Kentucky’s race will be June 30; Daytona will run on July 7.

As in past years, FOX will broadcast the first 13 races of next year’s schedule. TNT will follow, broadcasting the next six. ESPN/ABC will broadcast the final 17 events. Race start times will be announced at a later date.

NASCAR will also release the 2012 schedules for the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at a later date.

2012 NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES SCHEDULE

ACS president Gillian Zucker said:

It’s impossible to ignore the on track excitement we experienced at Auto Club Speedway in October, as a result of NASCAR reducing the Chase race from 500 to 400 miles. We’re confident the newly [shortened] Auto Club 400 will continue the momentum we have been experiencing and that March’s race will be the most exciting ever at Auto Club Speedway.

Kerry is the son of the seven-time Sprint Cup champion, and half-brother of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jeffrey is the grandson of Dale Sr.

RWR fields that No. 31 and No. 41 Chevys in the series. The No. 31 will be the focus of the team, with the No. 41 running on a part time basis.

Jeffrey was, and still is, a developmental driver for Dale Earnhardt Inc. DEI and RWR formed an alliance, and DEI will provide some Chevys to RWR.

Jeffrey is slated to drive  at Dover International Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, Watkins Glen International, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Michigan International Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway and Lowe’s Motor Speedway.  Jeffrey may also race at Iowa Speedway and Auto Club Speedway, but those would have to be switched for other races to keep Jeffrey eligible for Rookie of the Year in 2010.

Kerry Earnhardt will run “several” races for the team, making his debut with the team at Texas Motor Speedway. He is also expected to run at Talladega Superspeedway and Atlanta.

In addition to the Earnhardts, Stanton Barrett, Derrike Cope, Travis Kittleson, Tim Brown and Tim Andrews drive for RWR.

Martin has experienced a ton of misfortune to start this season. He was running fourth in the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway when he ran over a piece of debris, cutting a tire and severly damaging his No. 5 Kelloggs/Carquest Chevy. He finished 31st.

During the previous two races, the Shelby 427 from Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the Auto Club 500 from Auto Club Speedway (Fontana), he experienced engine failures that gave him a pair of 40th place finishes. 

His 16th-place finish in the Daytona 500 looks pretty good right now, compared to his finishes in the last three races.

Crew cheif Alan Gustafson was expected to meet with Martin to discuss how the team can save its season. The problem is, it hasn’t been mistakes as much as it has been bad luck.

The Daytona 500 was called early due to rain. If it hadn’t been, Martin may have finished better than 16th. He won the pole at Atlanta and was running in the top 5 when his tire blew.

He didn’t have winning cars at Las Vegas or Fontana, but he certainly could have finished better than 40th.

As a result of the misfortune, Martin is changing his focus from the Chase and championship to winning races. He is mathematically still in contention, but he knows that making up points on one person is easier than making up points on 34 people.

So, for now, Martin is concentrating on winning his first race since 2005.

But three laps into the Shelby 427, Kenseth was on pit road with engine trouble, his team trying desparately to diagnose and fix the problem. By lap 6, his potentially historical day ended in a plume of white smoke from the rear of his USG Sheetrock Ford Fusion. He finished dead last, and dropped from first to third in points.

Kenseth’s Sunday performance just goes to show that no matter how invincible a driver seems at a given time, he can be knocked right back into mortality by factors beyond his control.

No one knows this better, perhaps, than Kyle Busch. Last season, Busch was the hottest driver in the sport, winning more than 20 races in NASCAR’s top three series. But, in the Chase, he stumbled, bumbled, and fumbled his way to an 10th place finish. 

In a sport where talent and ability can take a back seat to quality of equipment and a little bit of luck, we’ve all learned that no one is invincible.

The Monday after the race, the media sounded the alarms, perhaps rightfully so. After all, NASCAR’s prodigal son, and most popular driver, would be in danger of missing a race.

Throughout the week, story after story, and column after column, highlighted Jr’s plight. Many stressed the need for a good finish, which Jr earned quietly in last weekend’s Shelby 427 from Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

One day after the Shelby 427, in which we saw Mark Martin lose an engine and finish 40th, I wonder if we’ll see the same amount of coverage that Jr received. My guess is no.

One could argue that Martin is just as talented as Jr. One could even argue that Martin is statistically better than Jr (career-wise.) But why won’t Martin receive as much media coverage? He’s on a high-profile team. He’s considered a Chase and championship contender.

Perhaps Matt Kenseth’s lost engine will be the bigger story, he was the points leader, after all. He also finished dead last. Still, you would think Martin would warrant the same coverage, at least, as Jr. Right? I mean, he lost two engines in as many weeks. He shares a shop with Jr at Hendrick Motorsports. There’s got to be some media value there.

But, at the end of the day, Martin’s blown engine will not receive as much coverage as Jr’s. Why? Because Jr is like the Dallas Cowboys of NASCAR. Every thing that happens to him and his team receives big coverage because it will generate clicks on a website.

Love him or hate him, most every NASCAR fan will read stories about him. Some hope the story will give them hope, while others hope the story will call him overrated and provide substance to their arguments that he is overrated.

In his Inside Line column, David Caraviello may have described the situation best. He wrote:

Any other driver misses his pit board in the Daytona 500, and it’s a non-story; Junior does it, and it’s a crisis. Any other driver crashes with Brian Vickers trying to get a lap back, and it’s a controversy; Junior does it, and it provokes debates over the most overrated athlete in history.

Instead, he suffered from a punctured oil filter. Once replaced, the car fired, but the damage sustained from his contact with the wall prevented the team from returning to the Auto Club 500 from Auto Club Speedway.

Harvick’s inability to return to the race also ended his streak of consecutive races without a DNF. He was reportedly three short of the record.