Nascar Race Today

The overarching theme of the 2013 Sprint Cup season: It's weird. Perhaps the weirdest in recent memory.

Sunday's race at Talladega Superspeedway concluded with 10 laps of single-file racing on a track whose furious history has been the antithesis of such tame processions.

This could be taken out of context as an anomaly in Alabama.

Or it could be viewed in context as affirmation in what has emerged as the overarching theme of the 2013 NASCAR season.

It's weird.

The weirdest in recent memory?

Yes, even by the Barnum & Bailey standards that auto racing's most compelling soap opera on wheels barnstorms around the country amidst quasi-controversies that enjoy a typical half-life of five days.

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From the year's first major revelation - that Danica Patrick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. would race for rookie of the year while romantically intertwined - there's nothing that has seemed typical about the incessantly strange sagas dominating the headlines in 2013.

Unlike the history of a sport built on the vitriol of cantankerous feuds and the feel-good vibes of impassioned victories, it's been a theater of the bizarre that largely has unfolded without the hallmarks of the drama that has driven NASCAR for decades.

There was Denny Hamlin announcing he wouldn't appeal a fine for innocuous comments about the Gen 6 car but also wouldn't pay it.

Safety workers attend to Denny Hamlin after he crashed on the final lap of the Auto Club 400 in Fontana, Calif. Hamlin fractured his back and missed the next four races.(Photo: Jeff Gross, Getty Images)

There have been draconian penalties issued to powerhouse teams (Penske Racing at Texas Motor Speedway, Joe Gibbs Racing at Kansas Speedway) that largely were overruled in an appeals process that captivated NASCAR for a few weeks in the gripping courtroom furor of high-profile trials.

There has been tragedy (the death of veteran Jason Leffler) and misfortune (Tony Stewart's season-ending broken leg) from crashes in external sprint car series that have triggered shock waves within NASCAR.

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There have been repeated incidents of fans in precarious positions, whether it was more than two dozen hurt by debris from a Nationwide Series wreck at Daytona International Speedway; a camera cable snapping during the Coca-Cola 600 and injuring 10 at Charlotte Motor Speedway; or an infield death from a self-inflicted gunshot after an NRA-sponsored race at Texas Motor Speedway.

There have been drivers being reprimanded for racial slurs and insensitivity (while another, Travis Kvapil, continued to race despite facing domestic abuse charges) and crew members arrested for their involvement in a post-race fight.

And in the year's biggest story, there was a team orders scandal at Richmond International Raceway that resulted in an unprecedented 13th driver added to the Chase for the Sprint Cup, the departure of a bedrock sponsor in NAPA and the impending contraction of Michael Waltrip Racing to two cars.

All of these bizarre episodes have been juxtaposed with a championship race that has unfolded in a perfunctory and predictable manner.

After six races, the top three drivers in the points standings - Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenesth and Kyle Busch - are the same trio of consensus favorites entering the Chase. The 10-race title run has seemed overshadowed - first by Richmond and now by consecutive winners from outside the Chase for the first time in seven years.

When has NASCAR seemed most like itself this season? On the last visit to Martinsville Speedway, where the Sprint Cup circuit again will head this weekend.

For on-track drama, the apex was in April. All the chatter heading into the race at the 0.526-mile oval revolved around whether Joey Logano would face repercussions from a wild finish at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.., that left Hamlin with a broken back and Stewart with a boiling temper.

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A return trip could be the cure for a season that has seemed so awry. Sunday could bring 500 laps of fender-banging and flared tempers that is quintessential stock-car racing.

Imagine a caution-free race at the series' shortest track and tightest confines.

That would be weird.

Or as it's known in NASCAR this year: normal.