After a restart with four to go in regulation, when Denny Hamlin got a sluggish start and Truex was able to pull away, the caution flew one final time when Kurt Busch got loose on the bottom lane in turn two and spun up into Larson.

While it caused damage to Larson’s quarter-panel and relegated the elder Busch well outside the top 10, it also gave Harvick one last chance to restart on the front row alongside Truex as NASCAR Overtime hit the speedway.

In the end, it didn’t matter, as Truex pulled away while Chase Elliott powered past Harvick on the inside to claim his second-straight runner-up finish.

“We needed to be a little better in the middle stage and not lose so much track position. That was where Martin (Truex, Jr.) came on and got his track position … while we lost ours,” admitted Elliott. “It was just hard to get all of it back there toward the end. It was a hard-fought day and really, from where we were in those middle stages, I was proud of the way we fought back and were able to get back to the front.”

“It’s frustrating to run like this. We’re definitely tired of running second. But, if we keep running like we are, hopefully the opportunities will be there (to win).”

Harvick fell to third after sweeping the first two stages and leading a race-high 149 laps.

“(We finished) about about where we were gonna run, second or third,” Harvick said. “We just lost a little bit of the track there as the VHT started to wear off in the second half of the race. … For the most part, we had good stops all day – just the timing of the bad one came at the end. (The pit crew) did a great job, though.”

“I would get close (to Truex) and then I would get loose, and as the day went on I just got looser on the entrance to the corners. Everybody is doing a good job with the speed of the cars, though. This is a solid run for us.”

Hamlin and Jamie McMurray completed the top five, in a race that was extended three laps beyond its scheduled distance.

Rookie Daniel Suarez crossed the line sixth, while Johnson rallied back from his pit stop issues to finish seventh. Ryan Blaney, Kasey Kahne and Larson completed the top 10.

After two incidents that heavily damaged the right-rear corner of his Toyota, Kyle Busch dropped to the turf after climbing from his car at the end of the race. He was tended to on-scene by medical officials before later being treated and released from the infield care center.

The younger Busch brother’s disastrous day ended with a 29th-place finish, six laps down, and he drops from second to sixth in the championship standings.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series returns to action Oct. 15, with the Alabama 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Full race results can be viewed on the next page…