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On lap 194, Hamlin’s car went up in smoke with a blown engine, and he finished the race 39th. After starting the day ninth in points, 565 behind leader Kyle Busch, Hamlin earned 46 and fell to 12th — 694 behind.

“We just can’t seem to get there, every week it’s something,” Hamlin said.

He wasn’t the only driver to see his standing fall in the Chase for the Sprint Cup after Sunday, when Carl Edwards got his fifth victory. Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon dropped three spots.

Kahne headed to the garage with engine problems at lap 136 and later returned to the track, but his engine wasn’t at full power and he was in the pits at lap 162.

“We just had something break inside the engine, something real small, but big enough to take us out,” Kahne said. “I’m upset because I thought we had a car to finish inside the top 10 today.”

Kahne entered the race at eighth in points and 541 behind leader Busch. He finished 40th, earned 43 points and ended the day 11th in points, 673 behind Busch. He hasn’t had any engine troubles in his three years at Gillett Evernham.

Gordon, who started the day in sixth and 500 points off the lead, fell to ninth, 638 behind Busch. He was out at lap 111, cutting a tire and hitting the wall after making contact with Jimmie Johnson, and earned 37 points.

“We should have come out of there in the top 5 and been up there just running our own race,” Gordon said. “Instead, we’re back here in the middle of the whole mess.”

Racing infraction

NASCAR inspectors late Saturday caught Joe Gibbs Racing trying to alter the results of chassis-dyno tests on the Nationwide cars of Tony Stewart and Joey Logano after the CARFAX 250 at MIS.

Robin Pemberton , NASCAR vice president of competition, said inspectors found magnets on the gas-pedal stop to prevent an accurate reading of horsepower. J.D. Gibbs , president of JGR, said he expects significant penalties from NASCAR early this week. He also said there will be in-house penalties against those involved.

“That was a really poor and foolish decision on the part of our key guys,” Gibbs said before the Sprint Cup race. “A couple of guys chose to make a decision there that really impacts all of us. To me, the frustrating part is, why?”

NASCAR last month issued a rules change to cut the horsepower of Toyotas in the Nationwide series. The move was meant to even the field after chassis dyno tests showed the Toyotas making more horsepower than the other three makes.

Lee White , president and general manager of Toyota Racing Development, said he was “astonished” when he heard about the infractions.

“I want to make it very clear that Toyota had nothing to do with it,” White said.