updated 8:04 p.m. ET March 16, 2008

BRISTOL, Tenn. - Tony Stewart should have won the race. And when he didn’t, it gave Denny Hamlin a clear shot at victory.

But the Joe Gibbs Racing drivers failed to seal the deal — again — at Bristol Motor Speedway, and Jeff Burton and his Richard Childress Racing teammates were there to capitalize.

Burton scored his first victory at Bristol Motor Speedway, leading teammates Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer to the first 1-2-3 sweep in RCR history by pouncing when the JGR drivers faltered at the very end Sunday.

“We did the little things right,” Burton said. “That’s the sign that this team’s matured. That’s the sign of a team that’s ready to take advantage of situations. I won’t lose sleep tonight because somebody says, ‘We had a faster car.’

“All I know is we’ve got the trophy.”

A year ago, Stewart and Hamlin combined to lead 434 of the 504 laps here before mechanical failures sabotaged seemingly surefire wins.

This time, Stewart, Hamlin and Kyle Busch combined to lead 372 of the 506 laps, but Hamlin’s sixth-place finish was all they had to show for it.

Busch’s power steering failed, causing him to crash while he was leading midway through the race. Then Harvick wrecked Stewart with two laps to go, setting up a two-lap overtime sprint to the finish.

All Hamlin had to do was hold on for two laps and the win was his. But a fuel pickup problem on the restart allowed Burton to race past him and pull his RCR teammates along for the sweep.

“It’s just a shame. We had another win taken away,” Hamlin said. “Our cars just won’t pick up fuel. Everyone else’s does. It cost us the race. I could have held those guys off, as fast as the car went after it picked back up.

“This is so frustrating to have days like this.”

Stewart led a race-high 267 laps — 10 more than he did in this event last year — but again fell short because of questionable strategy and the contact with Harvick.

Stewart was chugging along toward the victory, trying to hold off the hard-charging Harvick and Hamlin, when Brian Vickers crashed to bring out a caution with 11 laps to go. Stewart thought he should pit for tires, but was overruled by crew chief Greg Zipadelli, who wasn’t sure there were enough laps left to warrant coming in.

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So Stewart stayed out — along with Hamlin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. — while everyone else on the lead lap headed to the pits. Zipadelli instantly questioned the call.

“I don’t know if that was right or wrong,” he radioed Stewart, “but it’s in your hands now.”

Stewart was great on the restart with five laps to go, but Hamlin quickly chased him down and moved into first. Harvick, who restarted fourth with fresh tires, also closed quickly on Stewart’s bumper.

But as Harvick moved in for the pass, the cars made contact and Stewart went spinning into the wall.

“I just lost it there underneath of Tony. Just made a mistake,” Harvick said. “They can take it for what it’s worth, and move on.”

Stewart, who finished 14th, was livid on his radio after the accident but had calmed by the time he climbed from his car and was taking partial responsibility for the contact.

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