Denny Hamlin gets fuel-mileage NASCAR Cup Series win at Michigan

BROOKLYN, Mich. — Denny Hamlin won in a wild fuel-mileage finish to the NASCAR Cup Series’ FireKeepers Casino 400 in Michigan.

Hamlin earned his 57th career win in the NASCAR Cup Series after having enough fuel to get to the end of a wild race. He passed William Byron with four laps to go after swapping side-draft moves for several laps.

Never a fan of a dominator, certainly not someone who is 11th on the all-time wins list, the crowd booed Denny Hamlin as he exited his car.

“I’m sorry, dad, but I beat your favorite driver again,” Hamlin said, repeating a victory quote he said his dad didn’t like. “All of them.”

Hamlin, the 44-year-old senior driver at Joe Gibbs Racing, leads all drivers for wins with the team. He’ll bring home a win to his wife who is on baby watch.

Hamlin’s teammate, Ty Gibbs, finished third. Gibbs, the 22-year-old junior driver at Joe Gibbs Racing driver, took second from Byron after Hamlin passed Byron.

“I wish we could’ve gotten one but it’s not the option we had with the fuel-mileage situation we were in,” Gibbs said.

William Byron ran out of fuel on the final lap. After leading 98 of 200 laps, earning a bonus point for the fastest lap of the race and finishing second and first in the stages, Byron finished 28th.

“We just didn’t have as good of mileage who were further back in the run and that’s just the way the cautions go with the nature of being up front. It stings. I thought we executed well and waited on fuel but burned too much fuel. It is what it is,” Byron said.

Chris Buescher took second and led three RFK Racing cars in the top-10 finishing order.

TOP-10 FINISHERS (LAP 200): Hamlin, Buescher, Gibbs, Bubba Wallace, Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain, Zane Smith, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Preece, Brad Keselowski.

Carson Hocevar had a chance at getting his final lap but needed a caution as he was four laps short on fuel, unless he dropped back to save fuel. The caution never came and Hocevar had a left-rear tire issue 15 laps before he needed to pit — disappointing the hometown crowd who came to see the Portage native win for the first time in the Cup Series. Hocevar finished 29th, one lap down.

NASCAR Cup Series Results: 2025 FireKeepers Casino 400 in Michigan

1. Denny Hamlin
2. Chris Buescher
3. Ty Gibbs
4. Bubba Wallace
5. Kyle Larson
6. Ross Chastain
7. Zane Smith
8. Kyle Busch
9. Ryan Preece
10. Brad Keselowski
11. Erik Jones
12. Josh Berry
13. Tyler Reddick
14. Daniel Suarez
15. Chase Elliott
16. Christopher Bell
17. AJ Allmendinger
18. Shane van Gisbergen
19. Austin Dillon
20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
21. Justin Haley
22. Joey Logano
23. Chase Briscoe
24. Ty Dillon
25. Riley Herbst
26. Cody Ware
27. Noah Gragson
28. William Byron
29. Carson Hocevar (-1 lap)
30. Michael McDowell (-1)
31. Austin Cindric (-1)
32. Ryan Blaney (-4)
33. Todd Gilliland
    • Crashed out after 146 laps
34. John Hunter Nemechek
    • Crashed out after 72 laps
35. Cole Custer
36. Alex Bowman
    • Bowman and Custer each crashed out after 66 laps

NASCAR Cup Series playoff standings bubble after Michigan

• Bubba Wallace +61
• Chase Briscoe +41
• Chris Buescher +20
• Alex Bowman +13
• Ryan Preece: +0
• Kyle Busch -0
• Carson Hocevar -18
• AJ Allmendinger -18
• Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -20
• Erik Jones -36
• Zane Smith -37
• Michael McDowell -37
• Ty Gibbs -52
• John Hunter Nemechek -52
• Austin Dillon -52
• Todd Gilliland -57
• Daniel Suarez -68

Below is an archive of the live updates throughout the FireKeepers Casino 400.

FINAL STAGE

William Byron, Carson Hocevar, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Preece, Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, Kyle Busch, Erik Jones, Josh Berry, Chris Buescher, Ty Gibbs, AJ Allmendinger, Daniel Suarez, Brad Keselowski and Christopher Bell stayed out, restarting first through 16th on lap 126.

Kyle Larson pitted with everyone else on the lead lap, going back to 32nd. Larson jumped to 10th but reported possible voltage issues.

Top 10 on Lap 141: Byron, Hocevar, Reddick, Hamlin, Wallace, Busch, Berry, Buescher, Jones, Larson.

Suarez, Preece, Chastain and Gibbs dropped to 11th through 14th.

Todd Gilliland crashed in turn two on lap 147 after blowing a left-rear tire. Gilliland was running 17th before the crash.

“I hit insanely hard so we are done,” Gilliland said on the radio.

With 52 laps to go, everyone pitted. They can likely make it to the end on fuel, especially if there are several cautions. Christopher Bell made it 59 laps on fuel earlier in the race.

Zane Smith, Michael McDowell and Chase Briscoe took two tires and exited pit road first, third and eighth.

Taking four was Carson Hocevar (second), William Byron, Kyle Larson, Josh Berry, Chris Buescher (fourth through seventh), Ty Gibbs and Bubba Wallace (ninth and 10th).

Larson didn’t have to take as much fuel, allowing him to gain as many positions as he did.

On the other end, Tyler Reddick had issues getting out of his pit stall. He dropped to 19th.

Outside of the top-10: Denny Hamlin (11th), Kyle Busch (12th), Brad Keselowski (16th)

Carson Hocevar took the lead from Kyle Larson with a full-send move in turn one. Larson lost second to William Byron.

Hocevar was told he is four laps short while Byron is two laps short. Hocevar was told he is doing a good job saving fuel with 42 laps to go.

Tyler Reddick is up to 10th after restarting 19th. He is one of the biggest movers since the restart:

• AJ Allmendinger: +15 to 13th
• Tyler Reddick: +10 to 9th
• Ross Chastain +9 to 8th
• Justin Haley: +6 to 25th
• Michael McDowell: -9 to 12th
• Chase Briscoe: -9 to 18th
• Ty Dillon: -8 to 28th
• Noah Gragson: -8 to 30th

According to Prime Video, third-place Kyle Larson is getting 5.8 mpg while drafting off of William Byron but keeping enough of a gap to minimize dirty air in the turns. Carson Hocevar is getting 4.7 mpg and can’t save enough out in front to make it to the end on fuel, he is told.

“So basically, I just go?” Hocevar said.

Denny Hamlin has jumped to fifth after restarting 11th. Hamlin took longer on pit road to fill up with fuel and was told the top-5 is concerned with fuel. He is “a half lap to the good” and doesn’t need to save fuel.

TOP-10, 20 TO GO: Hocevar, Byron, Larson, Gibbs, Hamlin, Buescher, Zane Smith, Ross Chastain, Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick.

With 19 laps to go, Hocevar blew a left-rear tire and lost the lead to Byron. Hamlin took third from Gibbs with 15 to go and got Larson on the same lap. He has no fuel mileage concerns.

Larson dropped to fifth behind Gibbs and Buescher with six laps to go as Byron and Hamlin battled for the lead.

Denny Hamlin took the lead from William Byron after a wild battle with four laps to go after swapping sidedraft moves for several laps. He tried to become the 10th driver to win a Cup race after 700 starts.

Byron ran out coming to get the white flag.

STAGE TWO WINNER: William Byron

STAGE TWO TOP -10 (LAP 120): William Byron, Austin Cindric, Tyler Reddick, Ross Chastain, Ryan Preece, Bubba Wallace, Denny Hamlin, Ty Dillon, Erik Jones.

• This is Byron’s seventh stage win of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season
  • Second only to Kyle Larson, who has eight stage wins
• 10 lead changes through 120 laps:
  • Chase Briscoe: 0 to 11
  • William Byron: 12 to 34
  • Chris Buescher: 35 to 47
  • Denny Hamlin: 48
  • Ty Dillon: 49
  • Ryan Blaney: 50 to 56
  • Chase Elliott: 57 to 76
  • Christopher Bell: 76 to 77
  • Byron: 78 to 109
  • Austin Cindric: 110 to 119
  • Byron: 120 to stage end

Cautions breed cautions in racing, they say. Stage two exemplified just that.

Ryan Blaney led the field for the first restart of stage two. Blaney exited pit road first, ahead of Denny Hamlin, Carson Hocevar, Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, William Byron, Bubba Wallace, Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain.

Polesitter Chase Briscoe dropped from fourth to 12th. Josh Berry dropped from fifth to 11th. Christopher Bell dropped from 22nd to 27th.

Chase Elliott made a huge four-wide move on Carson Hocevar and Denny Hamlin for second on lap 54. Elliott then went up and took the lead from Blaney three laps later.

On lap 58, Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin nearly reignited their rivalry. Hamlin ran to the inside of Larson for sixth when his car tightened up on him. Hamlin kept his car off of Larson’s but Hamlin dropped to 12th.

John Hunter Nemechek “snapped loose” exiting turn two on lap 61 and crashed with Noah Gragson. Josh Berry, AJ Allmendinger, Chase Briscoe, Riley Herbst, Austin Dillon, Joey Logano, Todd Gilliland, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez, Cole Custer, Ty Dillon, Austin Cindric, Justin Haley, Ryan Preece, Cody Ware, Michael McDowell and Brad Keselowski pitted under caution. They will restart 17th through 34th.

The top-16 is: Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Carson Hocevar, Ross Chastain, Kyle Larson, Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick, Kyle Busch, Erik Jones, Chris Buescher, Denny Hamlin, Zane Smith, Christopher Bell, Shane van Gisbergen.

Alex Bowman crashed hard, head-on into the outside wall in turn two after Cole Custer, Daniel Suarez and Austin Cindric made contact with each other. The wreck happened 67 laps in and also collected Chase Briscoe.

MORE: Alex Bowman slips further in NASCAR Cup points after hard Michigan crash

Under caution on lap 69, Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell, Michael McDowell, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Todd Gilliland, Ryan Preece, Austin Cindric and Justin Haley stayed out while everyone pitted to top off for fuel.

On pit road, Larson was caught speeding.

John Hunter Nemechek ran into trouble again, spinning on lap 73 — 47 laps to go in the stage. Larson jumped from 30th to 26th in the couple of laps run under green.

Top-10: Elliott, Bell, McDowell, Keselowski, Logano, William Byron, Haley, Gilliland, Preece, Tyler Reddick.

Denny Hamlin moved to 10th when Alan Gustafson called Elliott to pit road. They pitted on lap 47 and were going to need a lot of cautions and some miracles to make it to the end of the stage on fuel.

Christopher Bell restarted as the leader on lap 77 with Michael McDowell to the inside on the front row. McDowell raced Bell hard which allowed William Byron to take the lead on the first lap of the restart. Bell held on to second while McDowell dropped to sixth.

Todd Gilliland, who has hardly stood out this season, made waves on lap 85. He took fifth from Joey Logano with a slick move on the frontstretch.

13 laps after pitting, Elliott moved from 33rd to 22nd. Teammate Larson is up to 19th, in between Blaney and Buescher, as strategies have shaken up the outlook of the race.

TOP-10: Byron, Bell, Reddick, Keselowski, Gilliland, Preece, Hamlin, Hocevar, Logano, McDowell.

Front Row Motorsports is trying to fulfill the promise of their name as Zane Smith joined Gilliland in the top-10, taking ninth on lap 93. Smith restarted 18th.

Excluding Elliott (+12 spots to 20th), Smith is the biggest mover, in a positive direction, tied with Josh Berry (+9 to 22nd). Larson gained eight spots to 16th, Hocevar and Chastain +7 to seventh and 12th respectively.

Logano is slipping back, dropping to 14th on lap 97 and 19th on lap 100.

Meanwhile, Bubba Wallace is on the move, cracking the top-10 briefly before Cindric passed him.

Bell pitted on lap 106, stretching the fuel 59 laps. He had 13 caution laps helping him go that far.

Logano has dropped to 23rd as the caution flies on lap 109 for Blaney hitting the wall off of turn four and spinning. Bell will take the free pass.

“Well not exactly our lucky day but we will make it work,” crew chief Adam Stevens said on the radio.

“I think we know the car is good if we can ever get back to the front,” Bell said.

Austin Cindric, Austin Dillon and Chase Briscoe stayed out under caution. On pit road, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Carson Hocevar, Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, Ryan Preece, Ross Chastain and Kyle Larson pitted and restarted behind them. Brad Keselowski was caught speeding after running inside the top-10.

FanDuel mid-race favorites: Byron +380, Hamlin +500, Reddick +650, Elliott +800, Larson +950

On the restart Cindric held on to the lead after fiercely defending Tyler Reddick. Reddick had to fend off William Byron who took second and challenged Cindric.

With three laps to go in the stage, Byron drove hard into turn one and took the lead from Cindric. Cindric had a challenge from Carson Hocevar, a native of nearby Portage, he successfully defended.

Buescher won stage one. It was his first stage win of the season.

STAGE ONE WINNER: Chris Buescher

• STAGE ONE TOP -10 (LAP 45): Chris Buescher, William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, Josh Berry, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, Bubba Wallace, Kyle Busch, Carson Hocevar.
  • This is Buescher’s first stage win of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season
  • Lap leaders: William Byron (23), Chase Briscoe (11), Chris Buescher (11)

Chase Briscoe led the NASCAR Cup Series field to the green flag and claimed lap one of 200 in the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

Briscoe held off a challenge from front row sharer Kyle Busch to lead the first lap. Busch fell back to fourth after the inside lane didn’t have as much momentum and grip as the outside lane.

Tyler Reddick started in the rear of the field but jumped up to 19th in five laps — far exceeding the team’s expectation to be in the teens at the end of the 45-lap stage.

Briscoe lost the lead on lap 12 to William Byron. Byron worked him over for a few laps but finally caught the run just right off of turn two to get a side draft off of his left-rear quarter panel.

Call it deja vu but Chris Buescher called it taking the lead from William Byron after working him over for multiple laps and catching the right run on lap 36.

On lap 18, Reddick has stalled out in 20th. Up front, Chris Buescher is on the move, taking second from Briscoe. Briscoe is falling back as he lost third to teammate Denny Hamlin on lap 22.

Teammate Ty Gibbs is hurting. He started eighth and fell to 23rd on lap 37. Gibbs reported he is loose and had a vibration in the right-rear tire. Gibbs lost the most positions in the opening 45 laps losing 18 positions and dropping to 26th. Alex Bowman was next, dropping from 16th to 32nd.

Ryan Blaney is flying through the field. Blaney started 13th and easily passed Ty Gibbs for eighth on lap 19. Carson Hocevar is following him through the field after starting 14th.

Blaney is now up to sixth while Hocevar has fell to 10th on lap 41.

Daniel Suarez had a tire issue and pitted during the stage. He received the free pass during the caution for the first stage.

NASCAR Cup Series 2025 FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan Starting Lineup

1. Chase Briscoe
2. Kyle Busch
3. Denny Hamlin
4. William Byron
5. Kyle Larson
6. Chris Buescher
7. Josh Berry
8. Ty Gibbs
9. Bubba Wallace
10. Zane Smith
11. Austin Cindric
12. Tyler Reddick
    • Started from the rear due to a flat tire in practice
13. Ryan Blaney
14. Carson Hocevar
15. Joey Logano
16. Alex Bowman
17. Chase Elliott
18. Ty Dillon
19. AJ Allmendinger
20. Ross Chastain
21. John Hunter Nemechek
22. Erik Jones
23. Ryan Preece
24. Cole Custer
25. Christopher Bell
26. Shane van Gisbergen
27. Brad Keselowski
28. Austin Dillon
29. Noah Gragson
30. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
31. Justin Haley
32. Michael McDowell
33. Todd Gilliland
34. Riley Herbst
35. Daniel Suarez
36. Cody Ware