In a race that came down to fuel mileage and late-race pressure, Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota had just enough gas to claim the checkered flag at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday, securing his third NASCAR Cup Series win of the season and the 57th of his career.
Hamlin crossed the line 1.099 seconds ahead of RFK 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 penultimate 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 [Byron] was doing a really good job defending.”
The 44-year-old Hamlin, in his 701st career series start, addressed the rowdy Michigan crowd, saying, “Sorry, but I beat your favorite driver,” with a grin on his face.
“This whole team just stepped up,” he added. “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.”
With 20 laps remaining, Hamlin had climbed from 11th place to fifth, 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 informed by their crew chiefs that they would run out of fuel before the end of the race.
Hocevar, who led 32 laps, had to pit from the race lead with 19 laps remaining due to a flat tire, while Byron inherited the lead and tried to fend off Hamlin. Hamlin got by Byron with four laps to go, and Byron dove down pit road for fuel, ultimately finishing 28th. 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 finished fourth in the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota, a team co-owned by Hamlin, while Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson rounded out the top five.
The race featured 13 lead changes among 11 drivers, with Hamlin leading only five laps on the day. A nearly 12-minute red flag period occurred early in the race after a four-car incident that sent Alex Bowman’s No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet hard into the wall.
With 11 races remaining in the regular season, Byron holds a 41-point lead over Larson in the championship points standings. The Cup Series’ next race is the Viva Mexico 250, scheduled for Sunday at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, marking the series’ first event in Mexico.
