HAMPTON, Ga. -- In the end, it was a tough pill to swallow for Denny Hamlin at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

With 16 to go in what would be the second-to-last restart in the Pep Boys Auto 500, Hamlin found himself in the lead and looking to turn around what had been an abysmal Chase and career performance in Atlanta.

But on the restart, eventual winner Carl Edwards had little problems getting around the No. 11 Toyota, and Hamlin was never able to get close enough to challenge for the lead (watch video).

"We had a race-winning car, but our car didn't like those cycles on those cautions," Hamlin said Sunday after posting his first top-five finish in the Chase this season. "We struggled to get going on the restarts -- we were still OK -- but [Edwards] was coming. I think I was in the middle of the track and I don't remember if he was going high or low but he hit us and when he did it knocked us down the racetrack. He chose what lane he wanted to be in when he hit us, and once you get the guy on the outside on the restart it's over."

Hamlin lost another spot to Jimmie Johnson on the final lap and finished third.

"Our car would just not take off, it would not take off at all," Hamlin said (Press Pass). "The last lap with Jimmie, he just had position on the outside and our car was really loose to begin with and with him beside us we almost took him and ourselves out."

It was a solid day all around for Hamlin and his No. 11 team Sunday. Hamlin worked his was into the top 10 by Lap 20 after starting 11th due to qualifying being rained out Friday. Hamlin made it into the top five by Lap 180 and took the lead on Lap 255 after winning the race off pit road.

"Our car was good, we worked it into a top-seven car, worked it into a top-five car around halfway and after that every pit stop got a little better and we started making up positions," Hamlin said. "We knew if we could get past [Matt Kenseth] we were gonna check out, and once we got around him our car was just awesome and we looked good with 30 to go.

"As soon as we came in and took those tires [on Lap 255] and came out with the lead, it looked like we would just cruise on to the win. But then we had that debris caution [on Lap 297] and that just changed the complexity of the race. After that I had no rear grip whatsoever."

With three cautions in the final 30 laps, Hamlin's car just kept going away from him, but he had nothing but praise for his crew after the race.

"We tried to do the best we could," Hamlin said. "Our car did not like cycles at all. Our car was a long-run car, and it just could never come in. My team gave me the best car they've ever given me here. They gave me an opportunity to win and my pit crew did awesome, we just weren't able to capitalize."

Hamlin's disappointment had a silver lining, though.

Atlanta hasn't been a strong track for the three-year Cup Series star. In six Cup races leading up to Sunday, Hamlin had just one lead-lap finish and an average finish of 19.3 at the 1.5-mile track. His third-place finish is easily his career-best at the track. And while he knows this was a good weekend for him and his race team, it's hard to get past what might have been.

"This has not been my best racetrack by far," Hamlin said. "We've run well here, we've run third to fifth here before, had a car capable of running third to fifth but had issues. We had a power steering failure in the spring where we had a good car. By the stats this is a terrible track for us.

"Obviously it gets you excited. With 60 to go I was thinking, 'Man if this was a track where we were to win -- we definitely didn't put this on our calendar to go out and really have a good shot at winning.' We knew we could run well, but you gotta have a really good car to win here. We had it [Sunday] and we just let it slip. We got beat today."