Larson slowly and methodically cut into Hamlin’s lead, chopping it down to 1.7 seconds with 14 to go and cutting it to inside a second coming to five laps left.
But though Larson’s valiant charge got him to within two car lengths of Hamlin, traffic kept him from making a move for the win and he came to the line half a second back as the checkered flag waved.
“I felt like if I ever got close enough to him (Hamlin), I could carry a lot more speed into the entry and middle than he could. So I felt like I probably could get close to him and follow him in his line up top … and maybe tried to get it pointed on exit better than him.”
“This is a heck of a day for our Target team, though. We had to start last and finished second again. That’s the third out of four times we’ve done that. I wish we could have gotten the win, but it was a hard fought effort all day. Really proud of the team. We’ll keep fighting hard.”
Truex completed the top three after starting on the pole and leading 137 of the 301 laps, but battling handling issues after the late-race restart.
“Restarting third was not the best place to be,” admitted Truex. “I’d like to have restarted fourth where Denny did; obviously that is where you wanted to be. I don’t think our car was as good on the last two runs. The PJ1 wore off the track towards the end and probably the last 100 laps, we lost our advantage.”
“In the first 200 laps we were really stout, but once we got that flat tire … I don’t know if we knocked some cooling off the right front or what, but it just wouldn’t turn and it would feel tight in 20 laps and I couldn’t run with them (Hamlin and Larson). We had to battle hard, we had some adversity there and to come home third is a good day.”
Kenseth finished fourth in a second Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, while Harvick was the highest-finishing Ford in fifth.
Daniel Suarez, Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski and Jimmie Johnson completed the top 10.
Johnson’s rally came after jumping the initial start, in which he beat Truex to the start-finish line and had to serve a pass-through penalty as a result.
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series returns to action on July 23, with the 24th running of the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Full race results can be viewed on the next page…
