Hamlin knew Bell "was going to ship it in there" for Phoenix win

Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson were the two drivers on the losing end of Sunday's thrilling two-lap dash to the checkered flag. It's not the first time either driver has been within arm's reach of Victory Lane, leaving disappointed.

Hamlin was leading the Daytona 500 with half-a-lap to go when he was wrecked from the lead, while Larson was on the losing side of a three-wide situation when the race-ending caution flew at Atlanta.

Sunday at Phoenix, they were both keen to deny Bell his third consecutive Cup Series victory, and a late-race caution gave them the opportunity to do just that. Hamlin had the edge entering the final corner, but Bell drove it in deep and sent both drivers up the track. It took all Hamlin had just to keep his car from slamming the outside wall, but he wasn't surprised by the outcome.

"We got a good restart," said Hamlin afterwards. "The 5 [Larson] really gave me a great push on the frontstretch on the restart, down the backstretch. I had kind of position on the 20 [Bell]. I knew he was going to ship it in there. He had to use me. He could. Obviously we just kind of ran out of racetrack there.

Hamlin went on to call it a "great finish," applauding Joe Gibbs Racing for securing a 1-2 finish.

Watch: Bell keeps Hamlin at bay to win third Cup Series race in a row

Larson chose patience in three-way battle

Larson once again found himself on the losing end of a three-way fight for the win, but when the JGR drivers pushed up the track in the final corner, the door nearly opened wide enough for him to sneak through. He even swiped across the rear bumper of Bell's car at corner exit, crossing the line 0.097s away from the victory.

"I felt like that was my only hope," said Larson, who got himself a great exit in case the JGR teammates tangled. "Yeah, I felt like I made the correct decisions there. I don't know, I'd have to look back at it."

Larson also had the chance to take the Toyota duo three-wide entering Turn 3 just before the white flag, but chose not to. Instead, he gave Hamlin a shove and continued to shadow them to the very end.

"I thought being patient to try and keep them side-by-side down the back was good," explained Larson. "I could have shot to the bottom, but I felt like I would have wrecked everybody there. Yeah, just kind of gave ourselves a shot for them to maybe get into each other and us squeak by ... Good to finish third."

Watch: Kyle Larson: 'Good to finish third' after last-lap battle with Bell, Hamlin

Sunday's finish ended up being the second-closest in the history of Phoenix, only bested by a 2016 finish where Kevin Harvick beat Carl Edwards by just 0.010s.