Stevens has been fined $10,000 and is also on probation until the end of the year.

The rules violations referred to Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4J (any determination by NASCAR officials that the race equipment used in the event does not conform to NASCAR rules detailed in Section 20-A of the rule book); 20A-2.1E (streamlining of the contours of the car, beyond what is approved by the series director will not be permitted. Installation of air directional devices, underpans, baffles, shields or the like beneath the car or the car’s hood and fender area, front firewall, floor, rear firewall area, rear deck and quarter panel area will not be permitted. If, in the judgment of NASCAR officials, any part or component of the car not previously approved by NASCAR has been installed or modified to enhance aerodynamic performance, will not be permitted. Addition of body fillers of any type, to the underside of the body, chassis or suspension components will not be permitted. All cars must remain standard in appearance); 20A-3.10A (front upper bumper cover must be from the respective OEM manufacturer and must be approved by NASCAR. The front lower bumper cover and rear bumper cover must be from an approved manufacturer and must be approved by NASCAR. Once approved, the front lower bumper covers may be used on all approved models. NASCAR officials may use bumper covers provided by the respective manufacturer as a guide in determining whether a competitor’s bumper cover conforms to the specifications of the NASCAR rule book. Unless otherwise authorized by the series director, cutting and reshaping of bumper covers will not be permitted.)

Hamlin, who practiced for 16 laps at Talladega, said afterwards that he was happy to be back in the car, and he thanked Brian Vickers and Mark Martin who filled in for him.

Hamlin said he didn’t experience discomfort once he was in the car, but it did hurt getting into and out of the car through the window. So, he will be entering and exiting the car through the roof.

The plan seems to be for Hamlin to start the race, and climb out of the car at the first caution. He said that he will keep himself out of harms way to ensure that he makes it to the first caution without causing one himself.

Hamlin and his team have practiced the driver swap with Brian Vickers several times. He says that they have it down to about a minute, which should be enough to keep them on the lead lap.

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One of the engines was going to be his primary engine in the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway. The other two were his primary and backup engines for the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway.

David Wilson, of TRD, said:

We took every connecting rod in our inventory and removed anything that was too close for comfort.

The review revealed that one connecting rod in each of the three recalled engines was too close to NASCAR thresholds for comfort.

According to reports, the connecting rod in Kenseth’s race-winning Toyota was outside of the tolerances the manufacturer allows on weight before it was shipped. TRD employees missed it, despite the fact that the connecting rod came with paperwork that clearly stated its weight.

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Unfortunately I won’t be racing this weekend at Richmond. It kills me to not be in the car for my team and… twitpl.us/t/9JT

— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) April 24, 2013

Hamlin had hoped to be back in the car at Richmond.

Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano got together while racing for the win in the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway. Hamlin’s car made hard contact with the inside wall.

Tests revelealed a fractured L1 vertebra that could sideline Hamlin for up to six weeks. Mark Martin and Brian Vickers have filled in for Hamlin in Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 11 Toyota.

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NASCAR found the No. 20 violated Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4J (any determination by NASCAR officials that the race equipment used in the event does not conform to NASCAR rules); and 20-5.5.3 (E) (Only magnetic steel connecting rods with a minimum weight of 525.0 grams will be permitted; connecting rod failed to meet the minimum connecting rod weight) of the 2013 NASCAR rule book.

As a result, crew chief Jason Ratcliff has been fined $200,000 and suspended for the next six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship points events, including the Sprint All-Star Race. He has also been placed on probation until Dec. 31.

Car owner Joe Gibbs has been penalized with the loss of 50 championship car owner points; the first-place finish from the Kansas will not earn bonus points toward the accumulated aggregate car owner points total after the completion of the first 26 events of the current season and will not be credited towards the eligibility for a car owner Wild Card position. Gibbs’ license for the No. 20 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car suspended for the next six championship points events, which means the car will not receive owner points during that period.

Driver Matt Kenseth was also penalized with the loss of 50 championship driver points; the Coors Light Pole award from Kansas will not be allowed for eligibility into the 2014 Sprint Unlimited; the first place finish from Kansas will not earn bonus points toward the accumulated aggregate driver points total after the completion of the first 26 events of the current season and will not be credited towards the eligibility for a driver Wild Card position.

NASCAR has also penalized the manufacturer with the loss of five manufacturer championship points.

Following the penalty, JGR issued a statement:

Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is aware of the penalty issued by NASCAR today regarding the engine in our No. 20 car used in last week’s Sprint Cup Series race in Kansas. It is our understanding that one of the eight connecting rods on the engine was ruled too light. We are working with our partners at TRD on this issue. In the meantime we will plan to appeal the penalty.

Toyota Racing Development issued a statement:

During NASCAR’s routine post-race tear down of Matt Kenseth’s race-winning car and engine from Kansas Speedway, one of our engine connecting rods weighed in approximately three grams under the legal minimum weight of 525 grams. None of the other seven connecting rods were found to be under the minimum weight. We take full responsibility for this issue with the engine used by the #20 Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) team this past Sunday in Kansas — JGR is not involved in the process of selecting parts or assembling the Cup Series engines. It was a simple oversight on TRD’s part and there was no intent to deceive, or to gain any type of competitive advantage. … The goal of TRD has always been — and will continue to be — to build high-performance engines that are reliable, durable and powerful, and within the guidelines established by NASCAR.

Update: Matt Kenseth spoke with the media regarding the penalty. He said:

I think the penalties are grossly unfair. I think it’s borderline shameful. There’s no argument the part was wrong. They weighed it and it was wrong. However, there is an argument that there certainly was no performance advantage. If you can find any unbiased, reputable, knowledgeable engine-builder and if they saw the facts, what all the rods weighed. The average weight of all the rods was well above the minimum — 2.5 (grams) above the minimum at least. There was one in there that was way heavy. There was no performance advantage, there was no intent, it was a mistake. JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) had no control over it.

Update 2: Joe Gibbs Racing appealed the penalties. After hearing testimony, the National Stock Car Racing Appeals Panel amended the original penalties assessed by NASCAR. Crew chief Jason Ratcliff’s suspension was reduced to one Sprint Cup Series championship event. He will be on probation for the next three championship events following his reinstatement.

Joe Gibbs and Matt Kenseth had their points penalties reduced to 12 from 50. All other components of their penalties were rescinded.

Toyota had their manufacturer’s points penalty increased from the loss of five points to the loss of seven.

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The engine of the No. 20 contained a connecting rod that did not meet NASCAR’s weight minimum. Toyota Racing Development provides engines for JGR.

It is standard procedure to take the race-winning engine to the R&D center for a thorough inspection.

NASCAR is currently mulling penalties for the No. 20 team.

JGR President JD Gibbs said:

We’ve been real fortunate to have never been in this situation with the need to find someone to fill in for an injured driver. A lot goes into a decision like this but we are really pleased to have someone of the character and caliber of Mark Martin to fill in while Denny is out. Obviously we’re not exactly sure how long that is going to take, but Mark’s career speaks for itself and our team knows it will have the opportunity to compete for a win every week.

Martin, who currently shares the No. 55 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota with Brian Vickers, will take over driving duties in the STP Gas Booster 400 at Martinsville Speedway.

Martin said:

I’m happy to have this opportunity to help out JGR, FedEx and Denny. Hopefully I can keep those guys up front and compete for wins while Denny heals up.

Vickers is expected to drive the No. 55 while Martin fills in for Hamlin.

Update: Martin will only fill in for Hamlin at Martinsville. He will return to the No. 55 in the NRA 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Vickers will then drive the No. 11.

J D Gibbs said:

Obviously having to find someone to fill in for Denny is not an ideal situation to have to be in and when you start a process like this you obviously begin to look at the drivers that are not only available but also able to drive for your race team and manufacturer. We were a bit premature in determining Mark’s status past Martinsville however. We’re real happy to have the opportunity to get Brian in our Cup cars and with him driving Nationwide for us we think we have some continuity there that is beneficial.

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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.

@keselowski sorry I couldn’t get close to you cuz your genius teammate was too busy messing up the inside line 1 move at a time

— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) February 24, 2013

Logano, who was Hamlin’s teammate for four seasons at Joe Gibbs Racing until he was replaced by Matt Kenseth, moved to Penske Racing in the off-season. Logano replied to Hamlin’s tweet:

@dennyhamlin I Remember when you were MY genius teammate. #LoveYouMeanIt????

— Joey Logano (@joeylogano) February 24, 2013

To which Hamlin responded:

@joeylogano inside line was doomed every 3 wide move that was made. Nobody who went 3 middle went anywhere

— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) February 24, 2013

I’m passionate about winning and that was a big factor in deciding to re-sign with Joe Gibbs Racing. I think JGR gives me the best opportunity to win a championship in the Cup Series for M&M’s and Interstate Batteries. I know that everyone on our team is committed to that goal and will push towards making that a reality in 2013.

With the No. 54 moving to the JGR camp, Busch says his racing team, KBM can focus on them team’s other cars. He said:

I’m extremely proud of what we have accomplished in a short period of time at KBM in both the Camping World Truck Series and Nationwide Series. When we started KBM our attention was to build something for the long term and now we are going to put a greater focus on our future with Parker [Kligerman] competing in Nationwide and Joey [Coulter] running trucks.

JGR President JD Gibbs said:

It’s no secret that you have to have great drivers to win in NASCAR and in the past year we’ve been able to secure long-term deals with Kyle and Denny [Hamlin] and of course we were able to add Matt [Kenseth] as well. Kyle is a big part of our success at JGR and we’re thrilled to know he will be with us for a long time.

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