CONCORD, N.C.—We’re more halfway through the Bank of America 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, and already Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Carl Edwards may have ruined their chances of winning the Sprint Cup title.

But Jeff Gordon has fought all the way back to take the lead after brushing the wall twice early in the race. A five-time winner here, Gordon took the lead from Martin Truex Jr. on Lap 210. Now, Greg Biffle and Mark Martin are giving chase on Lap 225.

Edwards, seemingly distracted by his run-in with Kevin Harvick, spotted Johnson some valuable championship points as he struggled soon after the green flag dropped. He found himself three laps down on the Lap 71 restart.

Edwards, who entered the race 72 points behind, pitted just ahead of A.J. Allmendinger’s crash on Lap 43. He radioed to his crew to ask if was leading the race, only to discover that tire vibration problem had worsen.

Then, things went from bad to worse for Edwards. He lost a lug nut after pitting and his No. 99 Ford failed to fire after stalling on pit road on Lap 68. By the time he returned to racetrack he was

“We’re not sure what the problem was,” owner Jack Roush said. “You can’t afford two mulligans like this.”