Joe Gibbs Racing placed three of its drivers in the top five Sunday in the Goody's Fast Relief 500.

So why wasn't anybody smiling?

One week after teaming up to run at the back of the pack at Talladega, the JGR Toyotas ran up front at Martinsville Speedway, as Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch combined to lead 227 of 500 laps.

But this week, there was very little teamwork.

Independently, each of the JGR pilots thought they could have won, or at least challenged Jimmie Johnson for the win. Instead, they were beaten not only by Johnson's Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, but by the Ford of Chase outsider Brad Keselowski of Team Penske.

And they pretty much blamed each other.

Busch, who finished fifth, believed if he just could have gotten past Kenseth, he would easily have moved by Hamlin to take the attack to Johnson.

Kenseth led 176 laps and thought he had a car that could fight with the Hendrick Chevy, but he was frustrated by the difficulty he encountered trying to pass his teammate Hamlin.

"I was way quicker than Denny, but Denny is just so good here," Kenseth said after finishing fourth. "He knows how to take your line away and put his car right where it made my car the worst. I just burned off my front tires trying to pass him and just kind of got stuck behind him and couldn't get around him."

That left Kenseth fending off Busch, who believed he was faster than both of his teammates.

The defending Sprint Cup Series champion was indignant after finishing fifth.

"You can't wreck each other and that's all there is to it, I guess," Busch told reporters. "We worked so good together that we gave the 48 [Johnson] the win today -- that's how good JGR is.

"We could have been a little farther up front, but we were held up there and we couldn't pass," he added. "If I did try to make moves or try to make a pass, I got cut off. But we came through it with a top-5, though we probably could have been about second."

Hamlin not only came in for criticism from his teammates, but from race winner Johnson. At one point early in the race, Hamlin and Johnson raced hard in the top 10 for several laps before Hamlin put the bumper to Johnson and moved him up the track.

Much later, Johnson tracked down Hamlin's Toyota and executed a clean pass for a lead he would not relinquish.

Kyle Busch, top, was mad at Matt Kenseth, middle, who was mad at Denny Hamlin, bottom. The Joe Gibbs Racing teammates all finished in the top five, despite battling with each other down the stretch. Daniel Shirey/Getty Images

Hamlin later claimed he was upset with Johnson for the way the six-time Cup Series champion raced him earlier in the Chase, in races at New Hampshire and Charlotte.

He was also unrepentant about fiercely defending his position from his JGR teammates.

"I had no idea why anyone was mad at me, to be honest with you," he said. "None of us were going to get the 48. That's real talk there. Nobody was on my rear bumper at the end of the race. I think I had six car lengths to the 20 [Kenseth] and more back to the 18 [Busch].

"If someone's upset, I think it's just because we all had a top‑three car during the end of the race and we ended up three, four, five," he added. "That's never happy."

Hamlin admitted that being a good teammate will be even tougher over the next two weeks as the Gibbs drivers vie to join Johnson in the championship's Final Four at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

"That's the tough part of it, for sure," Hamlin said. "We're in a team business, but we're also in a business to win for our sponsors and ourselves.

"I think at the end, you have to do what's best for yourself."

Aside from Johnson, who is locked into the Final Four, Hamlin, Kenseth and Busch are currently the three top drivers in the Chase points battle. Teammate Carl Edwards had a tough day at Martinsville with a tire problem relegating him to a 36th-place finish, last among the Chase contenders.

While the Gibbs team was lamenting a lost win that might have been, Stewart-Haas Racing was left contemplating a much less successful weekend.

After a strong qualifying performance by team owner Tony Stewart, none of the SHR Chevrolets were remotely competitive on Sunday. Kevin Harvick, master of the elimination-format Chase, was the team's leading runner with a dismal 20th-place finish. And even that was in dispute, with Harvick one of several drivers who may have benefited from a timing and scoring mix-up.

"We were slow all weekend," Harvick said. "We could just never get the handle on it."

Kurt Busch finished 22nd, with Danica Patrick 24th and Stewart 26th. Harvick and Busch rank sixth and seventh in points among Chase-eligible drivers, 16 and 18 points behind Kyle Busch in fourth.

"We picked a bad day to miss it," Busch said.

Camping World Truck Series: Sauter the first to earn a finale berth

Johnny Sauter told his team after winning the Camping World Truck Series race Saturday at Martinsville that he drove the smartest race of his career.

Sauter saved his brakes enough to win the opening race of the truck semifinal round, earning a spot among the four drivers who will vie for the title at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Johnny Sauter is through to the finale with a shot at the championship at Homestead. Robert Laberge/Getty Images

He now needs one more smart race -- the season finale. He finished second in the standings in 2011, a year when he won at Homestead but still lost the title by six points to Austin Dillon.

"Having been there and lost the championship by six points was a bummer. ... I want to win a championship," said the 37-year-old Sauter, who has 12 career wins in 195 career series starts. "A championship was something that has eluded me. I came close once or twice but we're going to have to get it done this time."

Sauter said Martinsville and Homestead have something in common -- he likes both those tracks and has won at both of them. That puts a pep in the GMS Racing driver's step. He also believes the team has saved some of its best trucks for the end and the team can focus on its Homestead truck the next few weeks.

"I can tell you some race tracks that I'm not particularly fond of," Sauter said with a laugh. "Nobody was happier than the Chase format than me. ... They're all tremendous race tracks [for me]. We had won at five of the last seven race tracks.

"They're just great race tracks, very racy places. I just feel comfortable and confident of where we are as a team right now."

-- Bob Pockrass