AVONDALE, Ariz. -- The desert winds whipped all around as Bob Osborne, crew chief for the No. 99 Ford driven by Carl Edwards, walked through the garage area Sunday night following the Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.

“

It's possible. Not real probable, but possible. But I guarantee you that's not going to change the way we do business. Congratulations to Jimmie and those guys. They're making this really tough.

”

-- CARL EDWARDS

Despite the rapidly dropping temperatures that accompanied the high winds, Osborne's face was beaded with sweat. It had been a long night.

Yet Osborne refused to be anything but upbeat after a fourth-place finish by the No. 99 left him and Edwards 141 points behind race winner and point leader Jimmie Johnson in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. With only next Sunday's race at Homestead remaining, Osborne acknowledged that the deficit will be nearly impossible to overcome.

Johnson needs only to finish 36th or better in the race, and that's if Edwards wins the race and leads the most laps.

"We're going to have to rely on the 48 to have a catastrophe for us to even have a shot to win the championship," Osborne said. "And on top of that, we would have to win the race -- which we all know how difficult that is. But that's what we've got to try to do and that's what we're going to try to do. Then whatever outcome the 48 has, that's what it has."

A glimmer of hope flashed into the heads of the No. 99 team after Edwards drove to consecutive victories at Atlanta and Texas heading into Sunday's shootout at Phoenix -- especially when the usually unflappable No. 48 team of Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus struggled to an uncharacteristic 15th-place finish in Texas.

Once they arrived in the Arizona desert and Sunday's race began, those hopes rapidly evaporated like a mirage. Johnson led a race-high 217 laps -- and as hard as Edwards dug all day, that was 217 more than the No. 99 led. (Continued)