NASCAR
Fuel Mileage Drama gives Denny Hamlin the FireKeepers Casino 400
BROOKLYN, Mich. – 52 laps of green-flag racing to close out Michigan caused a fuel-mileage race for the ages. Two front runners took themselves out of contention inside the final 20 laps. This allowed the seas to part for Denny Hamlin. After the No. 11 Toyota got by William Byron, he set sail for his third checkered flag of 2025 and Michigan triumph number three. Joe Gibbs Racing also returns to Michigan victory lane for the first time in a decade. This marks back-to-back Toyota wins in the Irish Hills.
2023 Michigan winner Chris Buescher flexed his muscles early, taking the Stage 1 win. The RFK Racing No. 17 methodically worked its way forward after starting sixth.
Early in Stage 2 saw a scary accident for Alex Bowman. He would be an innocent bystander taken out when others got loose underneath him. The No. 48 Chevrolet was sent head on into the outside wall. Bowman later called this one of the hardest hits of his career after thankfully walking away. A frantic final few laps of Stage 2 gave this win to Bowman’s teammate William Byron.
Byron proved to be the fastest car in Stage 3 as well, restarting up front and only losing ground on pit road. Just inside of 50 laps to go, Michigan native Carson Hocevar took command and tried gapping the 24. Hocevar’s aspirations for what appeared to be a maiden triumph at home only unraveled with 18 laps left. A cut left rear tire on the No. 77 relegated him to a 29th-place finish, and gave the lead back to Byron.
While Hocevar was told he was four laps short on fuel, Byron’s tank was equally short. Following a few laps of spirited back-and-forth battling with Denny Hamlin, the 24 slowed coming to the white flag. It took Hamlin almost 10 laps to finally get by the 24, and set sail for victory lane.
“I wanted to get the lead, obviously [Byron] was doing a great job defending,” Hamlin said. “Daddy, I’m sorry, but I beat your favorite driver folks. All of them.”
“It’s fantastic, Chris Gayle, this whole team just did a great job, and we’ve been so fast throughout the entire year. Just haven’t finished it for one reason or another. It feels good to come here to Michigan, where we’ve been so close over the years and get a victory for Toyota, Yahoo, Sport Clips, Shady Rays, the Jordan Brand, everyone. Man, this is such a gratifying day to restart 11th or 12th and then drive to the front.”
“I was going all out pretty much the entire time. Once I got to the lead, that’s when I started saving. He kept telling me I was good, and I knew I was going to have to go 100% to get around everybody. I just had to work them one by one.”
Rallying to second behind Hamlin in the closing laps was Chris Buescher, who passed Ty Gibbs late. Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson rounded out the top-five. They were ahead of: Ross Chastain, Zane Smith, Kyle Busch, Ryan Preece, and Brad Keselowski.
Hamlin now owns 57 career Cup victories, all of which have come with Joe Gibbs Racing. This breaks a tie with Kyle Busch for JGR’s all-time winningest driver. Hamlin is also the tenth man in NASCAR history to win after their 700th start, which happened last week in Nashville. Hamlin captured the eventual checkers after leading just six laps all afternoon. Now tied as the winningest man of the season, the sky truly seems to be the limit for team 11 in 2025.
Hamlin and the rest of the Cup Series will face a monumental test in next week’s inaugural Mexico City race. The Viva Mexico 250 will be the first international Cup race in over 60 years. Everyone will see a brand new course at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. The green flag will fly Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on Prime Video, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credits to Meg Oliphant/Getty Images
