Clutch Transmission Questions on 2010 SRT8

HI All, I didn't see an area specific to clutch's so I am putting this here. Car has 33K miles on it, nearly flawless, so I think well taken care of historically.

1. My 2010 6.1L has a Hurst shifter, is that stock or an add on?

2. When I first get in and start the car, I always take it out of gear, and it is a son of a gun to get it out, very hard, but then it acts fine, almost like it needs to warm up, but I have tried that also, anyone else experience this?

3. When I first go to put it in gear, whether 1st or R, it wants to grind/find the gears, every time on the first start of the day. It has happened only a couple of times while driving so I thought maybe that was just me.

4. There is a ton of slop in the shifter handle. I like the "clunkiness of shifting" but this amount of play seems strange. When I rest my hand on the shifter handle while driving I can "feel" the gears sometimes.

So, any previous experience with things like this? Should I start with the clutch, shifter, transmission? I am hoping that handle might just be loose from the shifter box, but thought I would ask before I take it somewhere or try to remove the console to get a look at it all.

Anyone have a write up to removing and replacing the shifter?

Thanks.