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Hamlin, who led the race for six laps, said on his podcast – Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin – that he had an big opportunity to win until the final pitstop cycle, when he pitted from a top-five place with 23 laps to go with Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team-mate Martin Truex Jr.
The plan was for them to rejoin in tandem, but Truex needed much less gas to get the end and exited the pits too far ahead of Hamlin to draft immediately. Meanwhile, their rivals pitted in greater numbers and gained so much time on their out-laps that the Toyota duo was dumped to the rear of the field.
Truex and Hamlin finished 15th and 17th respectively.
“This race is just becoming more and more unpredictable every single year,” said Hamlin. “It’s so hard to pass in these Next Gen cars on superspeedways, the racing was two-by-two, so you just can’t go to the back of the pack at any point and come back, especially towards the end of the race.
“I came out from the last pitstop in 18th and I basically told Chris [Gabehart, crew chief] ‘we’re ****ed’ – I had nowhere to go. [Before that] I thought …