Hampton, GA (Best E Casino) - When Denny Hamlin stalled on the lap 324 restart of Sunday's Pep Boys Auto 500, it was assumed that he run his fuel cell dry. Apparently what really happened was that it was water, not fuel, being sucked into the carburetor that cause the No.11 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet to stumble and then finally stall.

"When I actually hit the gas (in turn four) it took off and then it stopped," Hamlin said. "Usually when that happens, it will go ahead and take off. But when it actually cut off, I pulled down to the middle."

Most of the cars managed to get either to the inside or the outside of Hamlin, but Martin Truex Jr. couldn't avoid him and slammed into the trunk ending the day for both "Chase" drivers.

All fuel put in the cars comes from one source - NASCAR and Sunoco. It was designed that way so teams could not fool around with additives to gain a competitive advantage.

NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Director John Darby said that "no water was found" in the Sunoco pumps following the race.

"We just took it apart and pulled some gas out of the fuel cell and once again, we got water," said Hamlin.

Bill Davis Racing's Dave Blaney also found water in their fuel.

Hamlin was leading the race at the time and when he stalled, Jimmie Johnson, who was second at the time, grabbed the lead and ended up winning the race to pull within nine points of four-time Nextel Cup champion Jeff Gordon.

Three races remain in the "Chase for the Nextel Cup" with the first of these scheduled for Sunday at the Texas Motor Speedway.