Avondale, Ariz. ? Carl Edwards marked the end of a 70-race losing streak by climbing into the grandstands at Phoenix International Raceway for a raucous celebration with the fans.

Roughly 50 feet away, Denny Hamlin sat in silence on the pit-road wall, wondering how his ironclad grip on the Sprint Cup had been pried apart by fuel strategy.

“It’s tough to not be happy having the point lead going into the last race. But we were sitting pretty,” Hamlin said.

He was in prime position to take a comfortable lead into next week’s season finale by dominating Sunday’s race at Phoenix. He led a race-high 190 laps and had four-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson in trouble for much of the afternoon.

And when third-place driver Kevin Harvick was penalized for a loose lug nut on a late stop, nothing seemed to be in the way of Hamlin’s first career NASCAR title.

Then cautions didn’t fall as they should have, Edwards chased him down, and Hamlin had to burn a ton of fuel trying to preserve the win. His Joe Gibbs Racing crew knew he was going to be at least a dozen laps short of making it to the finish on his last tank of gas, and crew chief Mike Ford called in the No. 11 Toyota for gas with 14 laps remaining.

Hamlin was in second place when he headed to pit road, with a nearly 60-point lead over Johnson. The pit stop dropped him to 19th, and he had to drive like a madman through the field trying to salvage the day.