FONTANA, Calif. -- It was the same gut-wrenching scene from the 2008 Chase race at Charlotte Motor Speedway playing out yet again for Carl Edwards.

During Sunday's Pepsi Max 400, the No. 99 stalled on the track with green-flag racing going on behind him. Edwards suffered another mechanical failure that more or less extinguished his chance at a championship.

“

I had no indication. The engine just let go at the end of the backstretch.

”

-- GREG BIFFLE

"We'll just hang around all day because someone might have trouble," Edwards told crew chief Bob Osborne via the team radio.

Plenty of other drivers had troubles, including both of his Roush Fenway Racing teammates Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth. But that wasn't enough to make a difference for the No. 99 team.

On Lap 57, Edwards struggled on a restart and came to a stop after the car began to sputter. The No. 99 went to the garage and, after a lengthy inspection, it was determined something malfunctioned with the rotor and the distributor was changed.

Edwards returned to the track almost 15 laps off the pace.

In 2008, it was an ignition problem, but both times the car lost power. He dropped two spots in the point standings to fourth then; however, he battled back to finish 69 points behind championship winner Jimmie Johnson.

After Sunday's incident, Edwards dropped three spots to seventh with six races left in the Chase.

"Bob if there's anything you want to try here... we could use this as a test session," suggested Edwards on the radio.

He finished the race 34th.

Biffle wasn't as fortunate. His day ended well less than one-quarter of the way through the race.

Nearing Lap 40, the No. 16 Ford blew an engine and ended the team's day -- dropping them two spots in the points to 10th and more than 200 points behind Johnson.

Frustrated and with no viable chance at a championship, Biffle said he didn't know what happened.

"I had no indication," Biffle said. "The engine just let go at the end of the backstretch. I let up on the throttle going in the corner and it broke. It probably broke a rod. That's typically what happens at the end of the backstretch when you lift on the throttle like that. It looked like maybe it windowed the block and the oil pan, so probably something in the lower unit."

Biffle said the oil pressure was good and the temperature was fine, so he was surprised.

"It's unfortunate for us," he said. "This was our opportunity to get back in the Chase and it doesn't look like it's going to happen. It's disappointing, but what can you do? It broke. Everybody is giving this program 110 percent, so you can't blame anybody. We were trying hard to win the title and it isn't going to happen this year."

On Lap 191, Kenseth was running in the top 15 when his engine started to let go, but he managed to finish the race in the 30th spot. He remains 11th in the standings.

After the race, Kenseth said Ford and the engine builders have worked hard to give the teams more power to be competitive.

"There are always growing pains with that, every once in a while, getting that figured out, but Doug Yates and all those guys at the engine shop do a great job and I'm sure we'll figure out what the problem is when the truck gets back in a couple of days," he said.

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