Looking for a rebound after troubles in New Hampshire, Kyle Busch came into Dover eighth in the Chase, 74 points behind leader Carl Edwards. The June Dover winner qualified in the eleventh-spot and carried a bit of momentum from Saturday's Nationwide Series win, yet none of that seemed to matter at the end of the day.

About 140 laps into Sunday's 400-lap event, Busch began to report issues with the motor under the hood of his No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry. When the caution came out on Lap 142, so did the smoke from Busch's tailpipes.

"There's oil in the cockpit," Busch radioed to crew chief Steve Addington. "It's coming through the breather and the oil cover." Dejected after another disappointing run, Busch came back on the radio saying, "It'll blow up here after this restart. Load our stuff up."

The engine held in there after the restart, but not for long. With the smoke getting worse and worse, Busch finally pulled the car into the garage on Lap 178.

"Right now it could be a lifter or a valve spring. We don't know," crew chief Steve Addington explained from the garage. "Ran long enough and just pushed the thrust out of the camshaft and it's leaking oil so we're done."

In two weeks, Busch has gone from the championship favorite to the driver many are already counting out. While most agree a driver in the Chase can afford one "mulligan" race in the Chase, two may just spell the end of anyone's hopes - even the guy with eight wins this year. After Sunday's 43rd-place finish, Busch fell another four spots in the series standings to twelfth, 210 points behind leader Carl Edwards.

"At this point it doesn't matter," Busch said of his championship chances. "Same thing happened two years ago - exact same thing. Wrecked at Loudon, blew up here. So, where did we end up - dead last."

The trouble this 23-year-old has experienced over the past two weeks seems to have overshadowed his success earlier in the year. "We're out of the title hunt," Busch said. "That's for sure. So we'll manage what we can.

For Steve Addington, the Chase does not end here. "We've got to do it as a team," Addington explained. "Just step up, go out and we can take chances now and win races and show them tat it was just bad parts that got us."