Ultimately Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota had just enough fuel to claim the checkered flag at Michigan International Speedway and do one celebratory series of burnouts in front of the huge grandstand crowd before running out of gas on his encore celebration and needing a tow to his ultimate destination: Victory Lane.
The 44-year-old put on a master class in fuel saving and end-of-race pressure at the two-mile oval – taking his third win of the season and 57th of his career. Hamlin crossed the line 1.099-second ahead of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Chris Buescher and his JGR teammate, Ty Gibbs, after the day’s most dominant driver, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron had to pit for fuel on the last lap.
“No, not really,’’ Hamlin said, insisting he wasn’t overly worried about running out of fuel in the closing laps. “I wanted to get the lead and obviously he [William Byron] was doing a really good job defending.
“Sorry, but I beat your favorite driver,’’ a grinning Hamlin – in his 701st career series start – addressed the rowdy Michigan crowd.
“This whole team just stepped up,’’ he said. “Great job. We’ve been so fast this entire year, just haven’t finished it for one reason or another, so it feels good to come to Michigan where we’ve been so close the last couple of years.
“Such a gratifying day to restart 11th or 12th and charge to the front,’’ added Hamlin, who has now won multiple races in the last seven consecutive seasons.
With 20 laps remaining, Hamlin had made his way from 11th place to fifth in the running order, behind the day’s most dominant cars – Carson Hocevar in the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet and Byron in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
Both Hocevar, a Michigan native racing for his first career NASCAR Cup Series win, and Byron were told by their crew chiefs they were going to run out of fuel before the end of the race. Instead of a fuel issue however, Hocevar, who led 32 laps, had to pit from the race lead with 19 laps remaining for a flat tire.
Byron, who led a race best 98 of the 200 laps, inherited the lead from Hocevar and then had to try to fend off Hamlin – who methodically started moving forward – racing Byron hard and forcing the championship leader out of any sort of fuel-save mode.
Hamlin got by Byron with four laps to go and Byron dove down pit road for fuel on the final lap, having to settle for a 28th place finish. Hocevar finished 29th.
“Ultimately, maybe not as good mileage as the guys farther back to start that run and that’s just the way the cautions go and the nature of being closer to the front and burning a lot of fuel,’’ Byron said. “That one, you can’t really do a lot about. It sucks. It really stings.
“But we had a really good car. I thought we executed well It seemed like we waited a little more on fuel on that last stop and just burned more, not able to do much about that. So it is what it is.’’
Bubba Wallace drove the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota – a team Hamlin co-owns – to fourth place. Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson was fifth.
Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain was sixth. Front Row Motorsports’ Zane Smith finished a season-best seventh place. Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch was eighth followed by RFK teammates Ryan Preece and Brad Keselowski – marking the first time all three RFK cars finished among the top-10 this season.
There were 13 lead changes among 11 drivers and Hamlin led only five laps on the day.
A nearly 12-minute red flag period occurred early in the race while workers ensured the track was race-worthy after a four-car incident that sent the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, driven by Alex Bowman, hard into the wall after being clipped by Cole Custer’s spinning No. 41 Haas Factory Team Ford. Bowman spoke to reporters after being checked out at the medical center. It marked the seventh time in the last nine races, however, that the perennial championship contender Bowman has finished 25th or worse.
With 11 races remaining in the regular season, Byron holds a 41-point lead over Larson in the championship points standings. There have been nine race winners. Team Penske’s Austin Cindric currently holds the 16th and final spot in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs point standings.
The NASCAR Cup Series will make its first international points-paying trip next weekend with Sunday’s Viva Mexico 250 at Mexico City’s renowned Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez road course (3 p.m. ET, Amazon Prime, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, MAX).
Interviews:
NCS Race Winner – Denny Hamlin (No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) –
NCS Race Winning Crew Chief and Owner – Chris Gayle and Heather Gibbs (No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) –
Grand Marshall – Kerby Joseph (Detroit Lions Safety) –
NASCAR Cup Series Race – FireKeepers Casino 400
Michigan International Speedway
Brooklyn, Michigan
Sunday, June 8, 2025
1. (3) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 200.
2. (6) Chris Buescher, Ford, 200.
3. (8) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 200.
4. (9) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 200.
5. (5) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 200.
6. (20) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 200.
7. (10) Zane Smith, Ford, 200.
8. (2) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 200.
9. (23) Ryan Preece, Ford, 200.
10. (27) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 200.
11. (22) Erik Jones, Toyota, 200.
12. (7) Josh Berry, Ford, 200.
13. (12) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 200.
14. (35) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 200.
15. (17) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 200.
16. (25) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 200.
17. (19) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 200.
18. (26) Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 200.
19. (28) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 200.
20. (30) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 200.
21. (31) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 200.
22. (15) Joey Logano, Ford, 200.
23. (1) Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 200.
24. (18) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 200.
25. (34) Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 200.
26. (36) Cody Ware, Ford, 200.
27. (29) Noah Gragson, Ford, 200.
28. (4) William Byron, Chevrolet, 200.
29. (14) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 199.
30. (32) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 199.
31. (11) Austin Cindric, Ford, 199.
32. (13) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 196.
33. (33) Todd Gilliland, Ford, Accident, 146.
34. (21) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, Accident, 72.
35. (24) Cole Custer, Ford, Accident, 66.
36. (16) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, Accident, 66.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 142.574 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 48 Mins, 20 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.099 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 7 for 33 laps.
Lead Changes: 15 among 11 drivers.
Lap Leaders: C. Briscoe 1-11;W. Byron 12-34;C. Buescher 35-47;D. Hamlin 48;C. Ware 49;R. Blaney 50-56;C. Elliott 57-75;C. Bell 76-77;W. Byron 78-109;A. Cindric 110-119;W. Byron 120-147;C. Hocevar 148;Z. Smith 149-150;C. Hocevar 151-181;W. Byron 182-196;D. Hamlin 197-200.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): William Byron 4 times for 98 laps; Carson Hocevar 2 times for 32 laps; Chase Elliott 1 time for 19 laps; Chris Buescher 1 time for 13 laps; Chase Briscoe 1 time for 11 laps; Austin Cindric 1 time for 10 laps; Ryan Blaney 1 time for 7 laps; Denny Hamlin 2 times for 5 laps; Zane Smith 1 time for 2 laps; Christopher Bell 1 time for 2 laps; Cody Ware 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 17,24,11,19,21,12,5,23,8,77
Stage #2 Top Ten: 24,2,77,45,1,60,23,11,10,43
