Hamlin was in a perilous position as must-win drivers including Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe and Ryan Blaney made their way into the fight for the win at Martinsville.
If one of the above mentioned (or William Byron) won the race, Hamlin was going to need to make it into the Championship 4 on points. In order to do that, he needed to outscore rival Chastain in the standings. Thanks to winning both stages, he was in a very strong position to do so.
Hamlin did everything he needed to do and exited Turn 4 on the final lap two points to the good, while his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell captured the checkered flag and locked himself in.
But the unexpected then happened. Chastain threw his car into the wall, full-throttle and rode it all the way to the checkered flag in an unbelievable maneuver that somehow worked.
Chastain gained five positions and finished fifth, just ahead of Hamlin in sixth, and so, the veteran JGR driver was eliminated.
"Great move," confessed Hamlin. "Brilliant. Certainly a great move. When you have no other choice, it certainly is easy to do that. But well executed."
NASCAR has said that the move is within the bounds of the rulebook and perfectly legal.
Prior to the dramatic last-lap, Hamlin was battling Chastain head-to-head following the final restart and the they made contact multiple times before Hamlin eventually prevailed. The two drivers have had multiple run-ins this year, with flash points at Gateway, Atlanta and Pocono. However, with it all on the line at Martinsville, they avoided another major incident
"We're trying to battle," he said of the back-and-forth fight for position. "Obviously I was trying to get in there. But it's racing. It's what racing is here as Martinsville. Actually pretty happy with somewhat how clean it was there towards the end, as crazy was it was with guys on different tires.
"Can't say enough for my team to give us a shot. We were in 20s for most of the season in our points because of our up-and-down execution. We're going to end up fifth in points. That is what it is."
Hamlin ended up back in traffic after several slow pit stops, costing the No. 11 team valuable track position.
"You got to execute all day," he said. "We just didn't control the race when we had control of it. Each caution we just kept losing some spots. That's the way it is. But thank you (crew chief) Chris Gabehart, the whole FedEx Camry team for giving me a fast car today. It was unbelievable when it was out front.
"Just couldn't quite hang on to it there on pit road. But congrats to Chris (Bell), those guys just did an amazing job, really capitalizing and doing well, winning races when they needed to. Hopefully they can carry the banner for us."
Bell and Chastain will battle former series champions Chase Elliott and Joey Logano in the finale next weekend.
