NASCAR at Michigan results: Denny Hamlin prevails in fuel mileage duel for his third win of the season

After pushing William Byron to the limits of his fuel tank while making sure he had enough gas to get to the checkered flag himself, Denny Hamlin took the lead with four laps to go and drove away to victory in the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday, picking up his third win of 2025 and the 57th win of his Cup career. Hamlin’s win is also the third of his Cup career at Michigan, and his first since 2011.

The final laps at one of NASCAR’s fastest tracks came down to fuel mileage, as the leaders were forced to manage their pace in order to make sure they had enough gas to get to the finish. Carson Hocevar, trying to get his first Cup win at his home racetrack, was in the unenviable position of trying to hold onto the top spot while being short on fuel, but that would end up a moot point after he blew a left rear tire with 19 laps to go, handing the lead to Byron.

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Steven Taranto

While Byron was in position to try and make it to the end on the tank of gas he had, Hamlin was given the go-ahead to turn up the wick after his team confirmed they were a quarter of a lap to the good on fuel, allowing him to drive up to second and begin applying the pressure to Byron for the lead. The two engaged in a side-by-side battle over the final laps that ended with Hamlin completing the pass and taking the top spot with four laps to go, which he held onto the rest of the way while Byron was forced to come to pit road coming to the white flag.

Hamlin winning on fuel mileage helps take the sting out of the end of the Coca-Cola 600, where he missed out on a chance to win after being short on fuel to the finish, and it also comes while he’s dealt with being on baby watch expecting the birth of his next child in addition to the ebbs and flows of the Cup season.

“It’s fantastic. [Crew chief] Chris Gayle and this whole team has just done a great job,” Hamlin told Prime. “We’ve been so fast throughout the entire year and just haven’t finished it for one reason or another, but it feels good to come here to Michigan where we’ve been so close over the years and get a victory … I was going all out pretty much the entire time. Once I got to the lead, that’s when I started saving.

“They kept telling me I was good, and I knew I was gonna have to go 100 percent to get around everybody. But just worked them one by one.”

The win put Hamlin, who has embraced his role as NASCAR’s heel, in an especially devious mood while working the crowd in post-race. Not only did he hit the Michigan faithful with an “O-H” sign thanks to his bandwagon Ohio State fandom, but he also unsheathed his favorite zinger — despite the request of his father to retire the saying for being too cocky.

“Daddy, I’m sorry, but I beat your favorite driver folks,” Hamlin told the crowd. “… All of them.”

Chris Buescher earned his best finish of the 2025 season in second, with Ty Gibbs third, Bubba Wallace fourth and Kyle Larson fifth. Ross Chastain finished sixth, followed by Zane Smith in seventh (his best finish of the season), Kyle Busch eighth, Ryan Preece ninth and Brad Keselowski 10th.

Byron — who led nearly half the race with 98 circuits out front — ended up finishing 28th after being forced to pit with one lap to go, just ahead of Hocevar who finished a lap down in 29th after leading 32 laps. Byron and Hocevar were among the big names in the field left with disappointing finishes, which included Ryan Blaney, who finished 32nd after crashing off turn 4, and Alex Bowman, who finished 36th after a vicious head-on impact with the turn 2 wall.

“That hurt a lot. That was probably top of the board on hits I’ve taken, and unfortunately I’ve taken a lot of hits,” Bowman told Prime. “… Looks like (either) the 41 got loose or the 2 got into him or something, and then at that point you’re just along for the ride. Couldn’t really do anything except think about ‘oh s—, this is about to hurt really bad.'”

Hamlin, who made the 700th start of his Cup career a week ago at Nashville, now becomes the 10th driver in Cup Series history to have won a race after his 700th start. Hamlin joins Richard Petty (22 wins), Kevin Harvick (seven), Jeff Gordon (six), Mark Martin (five), Kurt Busch (three), Ricky Rudd (three), Bill Elliott (one), Bobby Allison (one) and Terry Labonte (one) in that category.

Hamlin’s 57th career win also makes him the winningest driver in Joe Gibbs Racing history, breaking a tiebreaker he had held with Kyle Busch at 56 wins. Hamlin has been the driver of JGR’s No. 11 since late in the 2005 season and continues to build his legacy with the team nearly 20 full years into his tenure as their driver.