■ Denny Hamlin was released from a hospital yesterday, a day after a tire failure led to a hard crash at Talladega Superspeedway, The Associated Press reported.
Hamlin was kept overnight for observation at UAB Medical Center after his car slammed into a wall. He was alert and awake when he was transported to the hospital but was complaining of a headache and possibly had a concussion. He was also favoring his right foot after a slow exit from his crumpled car.
Hamlin, one of 12 drivers racing for the Sprint Cup title, was leading midway through the race when his right front tire failed and his Toyota shot into the outside wall.
■ Kevin Harvick, who was caught up in the big late-race crash triggered by Carl Edwards, didn't have many kind words for Edwards or his lag-back strategy during the AMP Energy 500.
"It looked like Carl should have been drafting the rest of the day, because obviously he didn't know where the front of his car was," Harvick said. "Maybe he should have raced the rest of the day. I know his fans won't be very proud of him sitting back there riding around like a pansy.
"But when he got up there and decided to start racing, it caused a big wreck. It caused a big mess. But, man, that's Talladega."
■ The crash also took out Dale Earnhardt Jr., who is now a sizable 249 points down in the Chase.
"We was already kind of a long-shot for this thing," Earnhardt said wearily.
Earnhardt hasn't won a rock-em-sock-em race in a long, long time (Michigan was a gas-mileage win) and hasn't been running as strong as the tour's top three, but Sunday, he had a car that could have won … until Edwards' crash.
"Greg was turned sideways, and Carl had him hooked off in the corner, and he went down and hit Matt and turned up in front of me," Earnhardt said. "I was just sitting there trying to get to the front, man…. I ran in to Matt pretty hard. I'm glad everybody is all right."
■ AJ Allmendinger will drive the No. 00 Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing at Lowe's Motor Speedway this weekend, The Associated Press reported yesterday, but will have to qualify on speed for Saturday's race because the team is 36th in owner points.
Kenny Wallace raced the car to a season-high 12th-place finish at Talladega on Sunday. Now MWR is turning to Allmendinger, who is looking for a full-time job since Red Bull Racing released him two weeks ago.
■ Jeff Gordon is still winless after 30 of 36 races. He was tooling along minding his own business Sunday when David Reutimann blew a tire right in front of him and sent Gordon hard into the outside wall.
"There are all kinds of things that determine the Chase and race wins," Gordon said, "and you've got to take the good with the bad.
"Guys were idiots driving into one another. That's the way you have to race any more. I include myself in that statement because that's the kind of racing we have out there....
"It's crazy. It's great when you come to the checkered flag, and you're in one piece. But it's getting there that's tough."
■ Brian Vickers said that the epidemic of blown tires was scary.
"I just went into the tri-oval, and it didn't cut or go flat, it exploded," Vickers said. "I saw the right-front fender going through the air before the front of the car even dropped. Unfortunately we had several of those this weekend, where a tire just comes apart."
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