Source: USA TODAY

Denny Hamlin is sitting out his third NASCAR Sprint Cup race today at Kansas Speedway, waiting for his broken back to heal.

Hamlin was involved in a March 24 crash with former teammate Joey Logano at Auto Club Speedway.

Meanwhile, Logano has been driving and accumulating points toward a possible berth in the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup.

He hasn’t had a smooth ride, however.

Last week at Texas Motor Speedway, he and teammate Brad Keselowski were hit with penalties for confiscated rear suspension parts.

Sunday at Kansas, his No. 22 Ford was hit by Hamlin’s teammate Kyle Busch’s No. 18 Toyota after Busch’s car caromed off the high side and came down across the track.

Hamlin tweeted: I know Joey felt bad but he doesn’t have to keep falling in the points on my count #seeyasoon

Hamlin told USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Ryan on Saturday that while he’s still hoping to return to his home track at Richmond, his doctors are 75 percent sure he’ll be back for Talladega on May 5. However, Hamlin said if he started that race, he’d switch to a backup driver at the first caution.

He said he was scheduled for another scan this week.

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Source: USA TODAY

NASCAR paid tribute to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings before and during Sunday’s STP 400 at Kansas Speedway.

Before the race, the track held a moment of silence for the victims and heroes of the bombings and their aftermath.

During the race, several cars were sporting special paint schemes or decals.

David Stremme’s car had a paint scheme of the Boston tribute ribbon on its hood.

And as announced last week, the cars of Michael Waltrip Racing had Boston Marathon bibs on the doors for Clint Bowyer, Mark Martin and Martin Truex Jr.

Roush Fenway Racing, which is half owned by the same group that owns the Red Sox and Fenway Park, will donate $100 for every lap their team leads during Sunday’s race to “The One Fund Boston,” which was established this past week to help people most affected by the tragedy.

The cars of Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. carried the ‘B’ Strong logo.

On Friday, Hendrick Motorsports announced machinist Andrew Collier is the brother of slain MIT police officer Sean Collier.

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.