June 8, 2025 | By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service

Denny Hamlin showcases master class in fuel-saving to win at Michigan

BROOKLYN, Mich.—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).


NASCAR Cup Series Race Number 15
Race Results for the FireKeepers Casino 400 - Sunday, June 8, 2025
Michigan International Speedway - Brooklyn, MI - 2. - Mile Paved

Total Race Length - 200 Laps - 400. Miles

Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sunday, 6/8/2025 @ 05:37 PM Eastern

Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 3 11 Denny Hamlin Yahoo! Toyota 200 3 8 51 Running 2 5 5
2 6 17 Chris Buescher Kroger/Kraft/Artesano Ford 200 1  45 Running 1 13 1
3 8 54 Ty Gibbs Monster Energy Toyota 200   34 Running  
4 9 23 Bubba Wallace Columbia Toyota 200 8 7 40 Running  
5 5 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 200 7  36 Running  
6 20 1 Ross Chastain Busch Light Apple Chevrolet 200  5 37 Running  
7 10 38 Zane Smith Long John Silver's Ford 200   30 Running 1 2
8 2 8 Kyle Busch BetMGM Chevrolet 200 9  31 Running  
9 23 60 Ryan Preece Castrol Ford 200  6 33 Running  
10 27 6 Brad Keselowski BuildSubmarines.com Ford 200   27 Running  
11 22 43 Erik Jones Dollar Tree Toyota 200  10 27 Running  
12 7 21 Josh Berry Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford 200 5  31 Running  
13 12 45 Tyler Reddick Mobil 1 Toyota 200  4 31 Running  
14 35 99 Daniel Suarez Jockey Infinite Cool Underwear Chevrolet 200   23 Running  
15 17 9 Chase Elliott UniFirst Chevrolet 200   22 Running 1 19
16 25 20 Christopher Bell Rheem Toyota 200   21 Running 1 2
17 19 16 AJ Allmendinger Action Industries Chevrolet 200   20 Running  
18 26 88 Shane Van Gisbergen # Safety Culture Chevrolet 200   19 Running  
19 28 3 Austin Dillon Dow Mobility Science Chevrolet 200   18 Running  
20 30 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Real American Beer Chevrolet 200   17 Running  
21 31 7 Justin Haley Garner Trucking Chevrolet 200   16 Running  
22 15 22 Joey Logano Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford 200   15 Running  
23 1 19 Chase Briscoe Bass Pro Shops Toyota 200 4  21 Running 1 11
24 18 10 Ty Dillon Sea Best Chevrolet 200  9 15 Running  
25 34 35 Riley Herbst # Monster Energy Zero Sugar Toyota 200   12 Running  
26 36 51 Cody Ware Jacob Construction Ford 200   11 Running 1 1
27 29 4 Noah Gragson MillerTech Ford 200   10 Running  
28 4 24 William Byron Raptor Chevrolet 200 2 1 29 Running 4 98 1
29 14 77 Carson Hocevar Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet 199 10 3 17 Running 2 32
30 32 71 Michael McDowell Delaware Life Chevrolet 199   7 Running  
31 11 2 Austin Cindric Discount Tire Ford 199  2 15 Running 1 10
32 13 12 Ryan Blaney Menards/Knauf Ford 196 6  10 Running 1 7
33 33 34 Todd Gilliland Martin Transportation Systems Ford 146   4 Accident  
34 21 42 John Hunter Nemechek Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota 72   3 Accident  
35 24 41 Cole Custer HaasTooling.com Ford 66   2 Accident  
36 16 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 66   1 Accident  

Fastest Lap Bonus:  # lap 154 / 37.3
24                                                                   

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 48 Mins, 20 Secs. Average Speed: 142.574 MPH Margin of Victory: 1.099 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 17, 24, 11, 19, 21, 12, 5, 23, 8, 77
Stage 2 Top 10: 24, 2, 77, 45, 1, 60, 23, 11, 10, 43

Race Comments: Denny Hamlin won the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway, his 57th NASCAR Cup Series victory. Prior to the green flag, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field for the reasons indicated: No. 45 (unapproved adjustments).

Failed to Qualify: None.

Caution Flags: 7 for 33 laps; Laps: 47-52 (Stage 1 Conclusion [99]); 61-65 (#4, 42 Incident Turn 2 [None]); 68-70 (#2, 19, 41, 48, 99 Incident Turn 2 [Red Flag 0:11:32] [None]); 73-77 (#42 Incident Turn 4 [None]); 110-113 (#12 Incident Turn 4 [20]); 122-126 (Stage 2 Conclusion [12]); 147-151 (#34 Incident Turn 2 [12]).

Lead Changes: 15 among 11 drivers; 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.

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Next Race: June 15, 2025 - Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez

NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications @ P.O. Box 2875, Daytona Beach, FL 32120-2875


NASCAR Cup Series Points Report
Michigan International Speedway
FireKeepers Casino 400

UNOFFICIAL Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sunday, 6/8/2025 @ 06:15 PM Eastern UNOFFICIAL

Rank Driver Car Starts GL Points Ldr Nxt Race Wins Stage Wins Playoff Pts
1. William Byron 24 15 0 576 0 0 1 7 12
2. Kyle Larson 5 15 0 535 -41 41 3 8 23
3. Denny Hamlin 11 15 -1 494 -82 41 3 3 18
4. Christopher Bell 20 15 1 480 -96 14 3 1 16
5. Chase Elliott 9 15 0 464 -112 16 0 0 0
6. Tyler Reddick 45 15 0 460 -116 4 0 0 0
7. Ryan Blaney 12 15 0 427 -149 33 1 3 8
8. Ross Chastain 1 15 -1 414 -162 13 1 0 5
9. Joey Logano 22 15 1 395 -181 19 1 2 7
10. Bubba Wallace 23 15 0 383 -193 12 0 2 2
11. Chase Briscoe 19 15 0 363 -213 20 0 0 0
12. Chris Buescher 17 15 -2 342 -234 21 0 1 -4
13. Alex Bowman 48 15 1 335 -241 7 0 0 0
14. Ryan Preece 60 15 -2 322 -254 13 0 1 1
15. Kyle Busch 8 15 0 322 -254 0 0 0 0
16. Austin Cindric 2 15 3 318 -258 4 1 2 7
17. Josh Berry 21 15 -3 309 -267 9 1 1 6
18. Carson Hocevar 77 15 1 304 -272 5 0 0 0
19. AJ Allmendinger 16 15 0 304 -272 0 0 0 0
20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 47 15 2 302 -274 2 0 0 0
21. Erik Jones 43 15 -3 286 -290 16 0 0 0
22. Zane Smith 38 15 -3 285 -291 1 0 0 0
23. Michael McDowell 71 15 2 285 -291 0 0 0 0
24. Ty Gibbs 54 15 -3 270 -306 15 0 0 0
25. John Hunter Nemechek 42 15 4 270 -306 0 0 0 0
26. Austin Dillon 3 15 -1 270 -306 0 0 0 0
27. Todd Gilliland 34 15 4 265 -311 5 0 0 0
28. Daniel Suarez 99 15 0 254 -322 11 0 0 0
29. Justin Haley 7 15 0 234 -342 20 0 0 0
30. Ty Dillon 10 15 0 232 -344 2 0 0 0
31. Noah Gragson 4 15 0 224 -352 8 0 0 0
32. Brad Keselowski 6 15 0 221 -355 3 0 0 0
33. Shane Van Gisbergen # 88 15 0 192 -384 29 0 0 0
34. Riley Herbst # 35 15 -1 185 -391 7 0 0 0
35. Cole Custer 41 15 1 175 -401 10 0 0 0
36. Cody Ware 51 15 0 95 -481 80 0 0 0
37. Jimmie Johnson  2 0 35 -541 60 0 0 0
38. Katherine Legge  1 1 7 -569 28 0 0 0
39. Derek Kraus  1 1 5 -571 2 0 0 0
40. Chad Finchum  2 1 3 -573 2 0 0 0
41. Casey Mears  1 1 2 -574 1 0 0 0
42. Burt Myers  1 1 1 -575 1 0 0 0
43. Martin Truex, Jr.  1 1 1 -575 0 0 0 0
44. Corey Heim(i)  2 -1 0 -576 1 0 0 0
45. Bj Mcleod(i)  2 -1 0 -576 0 0 0 0
46. Corey Lajoie(i)  3 -6 0 -576 0 0 0 0
47. Connor Zilisch(i)  2 -1 0 -576 0 0 0 0
48. Anthony Alfredo(i)  1 -2 0 -576 0 0 0 0
49. Jesse Love(i)  3 0 0 -576 0 0 0 0
50. Austin Hill(i)  1 -1 0 -576 0 0 0 0
51. Jj Yeley(i)  5 -1 0 -576 0 0 0 0
52. Josh Bilicki(i)  2 -1 0 -576 0 0 0 0
53. Justin Allgaier(i)  1 8 0 -576 0 0 0 0
54. Chandler Smith(i)  0 1 0 -576 0 0 0 0
55. Helio Castroneves  1 -1 0 -576 0 0 0 0

-Ldr/-Nxt = Points behind Leader/Next higher, (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series