DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Denny Hamlin and his crew had overtaken victory lane here, hugs and high-fives everywhere in a place that until the final mile of the final lap of the Daytona 500, they had no earthly reason to believe they'd reach.

So for all the celebrating there was also a mystery to solve, with crewmembers and their driver turning to each other shouting, "what happened?" and "how?" and then laughing at it all because no one knew … not even Hamlin.

"I don't know where it came from," Hamlin said at the time. "I don't know what happened. I don't know what I did."

What he did was win the Daytona 500 by 0.010 seconds, the smallest margin the 58-year old history of the Great American Race. What he did was deliver one of the most epic final half lap come-from-behind victories in a race where passing the leader was virtually impossible.

What he did was race Martin Truex Jr. for 2,640,000 feet to beat him by one. What he did, by first acting as a good teammate and trying to block an approaching threat, then via absolutely audacious driving was finally break out of a career best known for near misses to win the biggest one of them all.

"I feel like I've knocked on the door, knocked on the door, and sometimes you have to kick it in," Hamlin said.

What he did was the stuff of legend.

And here is how he did it.

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View photos Denny Hamlin's margin of victory was 0.010 seconds, the closest in Daytona 500 history. More

If there was one truism of Sunday's Daytona 500 it was that when someone got to the front of the lower line of cars on the superspeedway, it was nearly impossible to pass them. Heading into the final lap there were just a meager three green-flag passes, and none since way back on Lap 78 of the 200-lap race.

This was follow-the-leader racing. The bottom line had too much momentum for anyone to pass on the outside. No one knew it better than Hamlin, who was up there for 95 laps, a race-best. Lead changes came during yellow flag pit stops. When Hamlin lost his spot up front during one late in the race, a single thought ran through his mind.

"I blew it," he said.

This felt par for the course, par for the career. No one ever doubts Hamlin's talent around here, or even his week-in, week-out competitiveness and results. He's a great driver. He just never seems to truly break through to the top when it matters most. In 2010, he famously took a 15-point lead in the Chase for the Championship going into the final weekend of the season only to watch it slip away to Jimmie Johnson. "A complete debacle," Hamlin called it.

The 35-year-old has had plenty of good moments since but for the most part something has been missing. He won just four races over the past three seasons.

As the drivers took the white flag Sunday it didn't look like a fifth was in the making for Hamlin despite leading the most laps. He sat in fourth place, on the bottom row, trailing a bunch of fellow Toyota drivers, Matt Kenseth, Truex and Kyle Busch.

Teamwork is a stated priority. The momentum that group had meant victory was almost certain for Kenseth. Jumping out of line and trying to win instead – which wouldn't have been guaranteed anyway – and in the process exposing the whole operation to the unknown variables, would not have been appreciated.

"I'm sitting there and I'm thinking at three to go, 'If it wasn't my teammates, I'd be making a move right now,' " Hamlin said. "Two to go, 'If it wasn't my teammates, I'd make a move right now.'

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