Terry Renna / AP

Jimmie Johnson raises the trophy in victory lane after winning the NASCAR race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., on Saturday.

Hamlin also thought he was headed for a title-saving finish a week after driver error dropped him into a deep hole. A win over Johnson at Charlotte might have given him another chance, and after leading 54 early laps, he was in position for an upset victory.

Then the engine of his Toyota began to sputter, and Hamlin’s night was over just past the halfway point.

“Just had a rough couple weeks,” said Hamlin, who crashed while leading at California in the last race. “I had a great shot to win it and was being so patient and not trying to push it and not show what I had ’til the end. We’re in contention to win every race, we just can’t get it together.”

His 42nd-place finish dropped him to 11th in the standings, a ranking not at all indicative of how strong he’s been.

That wasn’t lost on Hamlin, either.

“You run your tail off for 26 weeks, and it just doesn’t matter,” he said of NASCAR’s 10-race Chase format. “One bad week, for a driver mistake and a parts failure, and you’re done. That part of it is frustrating.”

And that’s why Johnson won’t relax.

He heads next to Martinsville, where he’s won five of the last six races, but the week after that is Talladega and he’s had his share of struggles at the Alabama track. The restrictor-plate race is considered the wild card of the Chase, and Johnson refuses to believe a disastrous day there won’t put everyone else back in contention.

Crew chief Chad Knaus is looking even longer into the future. No matter how big a points lead Johnson may build, Knaus said the team won’t feel comfortable until “lap 287 at (season-finale) Homestead.”

“It’s all about circumstances and timing,” Knaus said. “We’re fortunate over the course of the last couple years we haven’t had a significant failure in the Chase, but it is very, very possible. The potential is there every time you go on the race track.”