No start after shut down

Back in August of 2016 I took my XJ on Barret Lake Trail with my friend who has a cruiser. On the way up the Hwy about an hour into the drive the XJ started back firing and shut down at 70 MPH and I had to pull over. I tried starting the XJ but it would not start just turned over and over. I looked over everything and did not see any problems. After about 20 minutes I tried starting the XJ again it still would not start so I pushed the exccelator to the floor board and the check engine light came on the XJ gargled and started up like it had been flooded. Once the XJ was started the check engine light turned off. I had been waiting for this trip for a long time so I continued onto the trail head. We wheeled all day with no problems until I got to a rock garden that worked the XJ real good. After getting through the rock garden I shut the XJ down to help my friend in the cruiser. When I went to start up the XJ it would not start. We waited a while with no luck on a restart. Some JK guys helped me out we used a pair of underwear soaked in ice water to wrap the fuel rail thinking the problem was vapor lock but the XJ still would not start. One of the guys from the JK group stuck his finger in the fuel fill hole and said start it and BAM! it started right up. The JK guy said he felt a lot of air come out of the fuel fill hose when he stuck his finger in it. So now we are using wet underwear and sticking fingers in holes to keep the XJ running. I continued on the trail were not to far up the trail I got the XJ stuck on a ledge. I got out of the XJ to move a 100+ pound rock under the tire but when I moved the rock a larger rock rolled behind it and crushed my hand break my bone in compound fracture fashion. We wrapped my hand up and I drove out with a heavy foot smashing the XJ through every obstacle in a rush to get to the hospital before I went into shock. So now my hand is healed up but I have nerve damage and can't feel half of it and I am ready to fix the XJ. Sorry for the long story but felt it was nessesary for everyone to read all the details to get the proper feed back. My thoughts are fuel filter, Evap Canister or Vapor Lock. Any feed back would greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

try a new gas cap--- the vent in the cap may be plugged.

x2 on the gas cap. cheap and easy fix first.

I didn't think it would be something as simple as that. Is there a way to check the cap?

you would probably spend more on some funkey-fresh tester than the $10.00 cap

Agreed but wanted to make sure it was the cap and not something else.