Kyle Larson captured his second Cup Series championship, finishing third on an overtime restart at Phoenix Raceway as Denny Hamlin endured yet another title heartbreaker in NASCAR’s premier series.

Hamlin, who was trying to punctuate his 20th Cup season with the first championship of his career, finished sixth after leading a race-high 208 of 312 laps. He was three laps from winning the title (or “40 seconds from a championship,” as Hamlin later put it) when a yellow flag flew for title contender William Byron, who hit the wall with a flat tire while running second.

“Man, if you can’t win that one,” Hamlin told NBC Sports’ Dave Burns after coming up short in his fifth Championship 4 appearance, “I don’t know which one you can win.” Watch Cup Series Championship's dramatic finish Wat

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