This past weekend saw the running of both the Kentucky Derby and the spring Talladega NASCAR race, and Yahoo! Sports' Jay Busbee covered both from the infield ... and lived to tell the tale. Read the full article here, then come gather around to chat about the races, the mud, the depravity and the stories that didn't make the official accounts. We won't check IDs, we promise.

Tweet your questions ahead of time using the hashtag #DerbyDega, and we'll answer right here on Tuesday.

The race is done, and that means it's time for Power Rankings. Each week throughout the season, we'll size up who's rising and who's falling, based on current standings, behind-the-scenes changes, expected staying power, recent history and general gut feelings. It is not scientific, nor is it meant to be. And remember, whoever your favorite driver is, we're biased against him and like someone else better. We continue with a guy who is consistent at being consistent, which isn't what he was consistent at last year...

1. Greg Biffle: You got any other ideas here? The Biff was up near the front at Talladega, but it was déjà vu all over again when he couldn't get to Matt Kenseth's bumper over the last two laps. But the consistency that he lacked last year is back this year. Will it be there for the final 10 races?. Last week: 4.

2. Matt Kenseth: Did Flatline just find out how it feels to lose when your car is too good? No one could get to his bumper all day on Sunday, and that

What was left of Jeff Gordon's car after Talladega. (Getty Images)

TALLADEGA, Ala. – It's been a rough year for Jeff Gordon, and Talladega was the cruelest kind of torture: A weekend that began so well ended in wreckage.

Gordon started on the pole at Talladega, but couldn't even lead a single lap. Constant problems with overheating dogged him all afternoon long, and finally on Lap 142, a multi-car wreck collected him and put him in the garage for good. He lost six positions in the standings and now sits in 23rd place, needing wins to have any hope of making the Chase.

"Man, this is just one of the most bizarre years that this DuPont Chevrolet team and Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet team has ever gone through," he said after climbing from the wreck and taking a moment to cool down in his hauler. "I mean, it's almost comical at this point. That was not fun. I didn't like hitting the wall. Gosh, I thought I was clear ... That's just the way our season has been going."

In particular, Gordon hammered on the temperature issue that plagued many cars all

The Big One begins. (Getty Images)

TALLADEGA, Ala. — The problem with Talladega, Tony Stewart says, is that there aren't enough wrecks.

"Honestly, if we haven't crashed at least 50 percent of the field by the end of the race, we need to extend the race until we crash at least 50 percent of the cars," Stewart said after climbing from his car. "It's not fair to these fans to see any more wrecks than that, any more torn-up cars. I mean, we still had over half the cars running at the end, and it shouldn't be that way."

Look, let's stress this right now: Stewart was joking. It was sarcasm. Obviously an owner/driver doesn't want to see more wrecks. But he was absolutely deadpan, with none of the wry wit or sarcasm that usually enfolds his jabs. And with his interview-as-performance art, he was making a point: If this is what the fans want, why not give it to them?

Some more samples of this, one of his strangest interviews in a career marked by bizarre on-camera and on-the-record performances:

• "If we could make [Talladega]

It wasn't a spur of the moment move. It wasn't a move that anyone expected. It was a move that team owner Roger Penske called "pretty amazing." And it was a move that made Brad Keselowski the winner of Sunday's Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega.

Most everyone expected the two-car tandem to be the deciding factor in Sunday's Aaron's 499, just like it was in Saturday's Nationwide Series race. And the common thought was that the driver in second place in that two-car tandem would have the advantage as the finish line approached. Keselowski confirmed the former. But not the latter.

Restarting on the inside of the front row with two laps to go, Keselowski had Kyle Busch (the driver he famously called a rear end in no uncertain terms once in Bristol driver intros) behind him. Race leader Matt Kenseth had his teammate Greg Biffle behind him on the outside line. Just like at Daytona, Kenseth had the dominant car on Sunday. And Just like at Daytona, Biffle couldn't get latched onto Kenseth's

Sunday's inevitable Talladega "Big One" collected 10 cars, including Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards.

As is typical with "The Big One," it started when a car (Dave Blaney) hooked another car (Aric Almirola). However, the circumstances that led to the hooking were some of the most bizarre ones we've seen this Sprint Cup Series season.

Towards the end of a fuel run, many drivers, including Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart, had cars that started acting like they were out of fuel, despite seemingly being comfortably inside their fuel windows, perhaps due to some vapor lock type occurrence, perhaps brought on by the current restrictor plate rules package and the warmer than Daytona in February temperatures.

The same thing happened to Almirola, who had Blaney on his bumper as he slowed on the backstretch. Chaos ensued.

As you can see from the video above, Gordon was ohsoclose to getting through the crash. Alas, this is Jeff Gordon's 2012. He was of course, caught up in the crash.

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In what could be a harbinger of things to come for Sunday's Cup race, Joey Logano pushed Kyle Busch close to the finish line and then passed him before the stripe, taking Saturday's Nationwide Series race at Talladega.

As the race restarted with two laps to go for the second attempt at a green-white-checker finish, the fight for the win quickly came down to tandem drafting, with Logano pushing Busch, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate in the Sprint Cup Series, and Ricky Stenhouse pushing Cole Whitt.

Whitt and Stenhouse, however, were unable to make a serious charge on the final lap, and by the time that they got to Logano's back bumper, he had already made the move to pass Busch on the outside as they exited the tri-oval, nipping Busch at the line.

While tandem drafting was pivotal in the outcome, the practice didn't dominate on Saturday, a good sign for those who dislike the tandem draft, as the Nationwide Series cars are capable of tandem drafting for longer periods of time than the

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Danica Patrick retaliated against Sam Hornish Jr., sending him into the wall in Turn 1 after the two drivers had taken the checkered flag in Saturday's Nationwide Series race at Talladega.

The two drivers were racing for position through the tri-oval of the 2.66-mile superspeedway on the final lap with Patrick outside of Hornish. As it looked like Patrick got close to Hornish and Elliott Sadler in an attempt to side draft off the two cars, Hornish moved up to protect his position and, in the process, both cars hit the wall. Patrick took exception to the move and as the cars slowed entering Turn 1 on the cool-down lap, she rammed into his back bumper and turned him into the fence.

Hornish said after the race that he had a flat tire from contact with Joe Nemechek the lap before.

The two are very familiar with each other. Before Hornish — and subsequently Patrick — moved to NASCAR, the two raced against each other in the Izod IndyCar Series. And the two