Larson and Logano elected not to pit, while Austin Dillon and Justin Allgaier gambled on two tires for the final sprint. Cole Custer and Hamlin were the first cars with four sticker tires, restarting side-by-side on row three, and that decision paid dividends.

Hamlin surged on the outside lane, railing from sixth to second in the first lap of the overtime finish as Logano snatched the lead away from Larson, who fell back and tagged the wall on the final lap. That was of no consequence to Hamlin, who powered to the point in turn two and soared home to the thrilling victory, completing the stunning late-race comeback.

“Really, I had a great car — and then obviously we had that penalty and I had to go the back,” Hamlin said of his late-race roller-coaster ride through the field. “I think I drove it as hard as I could on that last run and got back up to third. We needed a caution to get caught up and we got it and it worked out to where I was going to do whatever the opposite of the guys in front of me.”

“It was obviously a great break for us to get that caution,” he added. “I gave the 42 (Larson) a push down the back straightaway, which cleared him of whoever he was beside and then I shot the middle of him and that other car, whoever it was, and got to second pretty quick. That was kind of the turning point of our race. I’m glad it worked out, and it’s great for all of our guys at Hisense to be able to celebrate this win … in their weekend that they sponsor. That’s a really cool deal for us (at Joe Gibbs Racing).”

Dillon finished second, .291 of a second shy of his second-straight win in the spring race at Charlotte, while Logano hung on for third and said after the race that he had a good chance at coming away with Team Penske’s first series triumph of the year — until Hamlin got to his bumper coming to the white flag.

“We were sitting out there with 40-lap tires on and I knew we had a bunch of two tires and four tires behind us, so I knew I had to get a good start at least, get by Larson, and then you’re just hoping for the best at that point,” Logano said. “I was able to execute that plan and get out in front of Larson, and then the next thing you know here comes Denny Hamlin. He was coming like crazy and I went into three thinking I was gonna win the race, and by the time I came off of four he was all over me.”

“I said to myself, ‘Oh, boy. I may not win this one.’ But overall, we have to look at the silver lining today and say there was a big improvement for us as a team. We didn’t win the race, but we made big improvements from where we were. We led laps, were out front and had a shot, and that’s a big deal for us after the way our season’s started over here on the XFINITY side. It’s a good day.”

Cole Custer finished a career-best fourth in just his second-ever XFINITY start, while his teammate Justin Allgaier rounded out the top five.