Denny Hamlin takes Charlotte win in thrilling shootout

Hamlin’s win came despite a late-race penalty on his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team for an uncontrolled tire that he apparently never served.

Hamlin was told repeatedly over the NASCAR radio he had to start “all the way in the back” but when he crossed the line on the restart, he was scored in 13th and was running in the middle of the pack.

NASCAR officials claimed the restart was “acceptable” because Hamlin dropped down to the bottom groove but the cars behind him didn’t pass him.

Joey Logano finished third, Cole Custer was fourth and Regan Smith was fifth.

With two of the scheduled 200 laps remaining, Erik Jones slammed the wall which sent the race into overtime. Then-leader Larson and Logano remained on the track while Hamlin and others pit for new tires.

Hamlin lined up sixth on the final restart with four new tires. He moved into the lead just before the completion of the first lap of overtime.

“Obviously we were hoping for that caution there at the end and we got it,” Hamlin said in Victory Lane. “We were able to get four tires and took off.”

The win was Hamlin’s fourth this season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 12 series starts. It was also the 15th of his career.

Hamlin quipped, “Now I know why Kyle (Busch) wins these all the time – this thing’s easy.”

Staying out on old tires, Larson quickly gave up the lead but he was able to power back into second place on the final lap and give Hamlin a run for the win before falling just short.

“I didn’t get a great take-off (on the restart) and Joey got around me, stuck on my door. Denny then gave me a huge shot but it was pretty hard to beat four (new) tires,” Larson said. “I think I had almost 40 laps on my tires.”

Logano, who briefly held the lead during the overtime, called the last two laps “wild.”

“It was like what the all-star race was supposed to be with old tires versus new tires and all that,” he said. “My car was the fastest it’s been all year. We can’t hold our heads down about it. This car was capable of winning.

“When I got out front I thought I might have a shot but it’s really hard to hold off the four tires. What a fun race. It got really exciting. I got passed on the top by Denny and then Kyle got going up top and had a good run. I was hoping they would get into each other.”

Daniel Suarez, who finished 12th, took over the series points lead. He holds a 14-point advantage over Elliott Sadler, who finished 28th.