Emotional Denny Hamlin Ties Kyle Busch With 63 Wins after Resilient Michigan Performance
RPW EXCLUSIVE COLUMN BY: Steven Brien / RACEPROWEEKLY – BROOKLYN, MI – Denny Hamlin overcame a rear-of-the-field start and a race filled with crashes to win Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway, tying Kyle Busch for ninth on NASCAR’s all-time Cup Series wins list with his 63rd career victory.
Hamlin, who qualified on the pole but was forced to start at the rear, methodically worked his way through the field before taking control in the closing stages. He led the final 40 laps and crossed the finish line more than 11 seconds ahead of the field.
“We’re still thinking of Kyle, Samantha, Brexton, and Lennix,” Hamlin said after climbing from his No. 11 Toyota. “Just an unbelievable feeling to be able to strap in every week, I don’t take it for granted.”
The victory also allowed Hamlin to cut into Tyler Reddick’s championship lead after Reddick suffered his first DNF of the season.
“This Joe Gibbs team just keeps giving me fast race cars,” he said. “We had a few good restarts, and once we got to the lead I was gonna leg it out all ahead.”
Michigan native Erik Jones finished second after also starting at the rear of the field.
“I really think we had the best car,” Jones said on pit road. “It just didn’t work out perfect.”
Bubba Wallace led 9 laps and rallied from damage in a major Stage 2 crash to finish third.
“It’s hard to be happy with a third place,” Wallace said after climbing from his No. 23 Toyota. “At the end of the day, it’s no excuses. I just need to be better.”
Kyle Larson came home fourth and Carson Hocevar completed the top five after leading 21 laps.
“There was a few moves that didn’t work out,” Hocevar said. “It’s hard to be on kill and just go on instinct, get eight spots, and then turn it off.”
Daniel Suarez had a strong run, leading 10 laps and finishing sixth. Joey Logano was seventh, followed by Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, and Chase Briscoe completed the top ten.
The race featured a track-record 11 caution flags, including two nine car crashes that dramatically altered the outcome.
The biggest incident occurred on Lap 83 when Hocevar made contact with John Hunter Nemechek on a restart, sending Nemechek into Wallace and triggering a chain-reaction crash involving Wallace, Ty Gibbs, Hamlin, Reddick and Austin Dillon. Reddick and Dillon sustained race-ending damage after colliding with one another.
Earlier, Connor Zilisch’s difficult rookie season continued when he spun twice within the opening nine laps, including a hard impact with the inside wall on the backstretch. The crash left him with a third consecutive last-place finish.
Reddick appeared poised for another strong day before his afternoon unraveled in the Lap 83 pileup. Before the accident, he held off Gibbs to win Stage 1, his first stage victory of the season.
Hocevar finished second in the stage, followed by Chase Elliott, Wallace and Zane Smith. Larson, Buescher, Riley Herbst, Suarez and Gibbs rounded out the top 10.
Elliott dominated the middle portion of the race, leading a race-high 67 laps and capturing the Stage 2 victory after passing Wallace for the lead.
Jones finished second in the stage, while Suarez, Larson and William Byron completed the top five. Christopher Bell, Hocevar, Hamlin, Logano and Smith rounded out the stage points.
Elliott’s bid for victory ended on Lap 148 when he got loose underneath Bell while battling for position. Both drivers slammed the outside wall, ending Elliott’s day and bringing out a red flag while crews repaired the SAFER barrier.
Another major accident followed with 46 laps remaining when Michael McDowell made contact with Ricky Stenhouse Jr., triggering a nine-car crash on the frontstretch. Josh Berry, Cody Ware, Ty Dillon, Noah Gragson, Ryan Preece, Austin Hill and Shane van Gisbergen were also collected.
Smith’s strong afternoon also came to an abrupt end when a tire failure sent his Ford into the Turn 1 wall while running inside the top 10.
Brad Keselowski suffered two separate incidents before exiting the race. He blew a tire on Lap 65 and later crashed after contact with Nemechek on Lap 90.
Despite the attrition and repeated restarts, Hamlin proved untouchable once he reached the front, pulling away over the final green-flag run to secure his third victory of the 2026 season and continue one of the strongest stretches of his career.
The NASCAR Cup Series returns next Sunday at Pocono Raceway.
NASCAR Cup Series Race – Firekeepers Casino 400
Michigan International Speedway
Brooklyn, MI.
Sunday June 7, 2026
- (1) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 200.
- (10) Erik Jones, Toyota, 200.
- (13) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 200.
- (7) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 200.
- (2) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 200.
- (11) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 200.
- (18) Joey Logano, Ford, 200.
- (19) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 200.
- (14) Chris Buescher, Ford, 200.
- (5) Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 200.
- (31) Austin Cindric, Ford, 200.
- (15) Cole Custer, Chevrolet, 200.
- (12) Riley Herbst, Toyota, 200.
- (17) John Hunter Nemechek, 200.
- (37) Josh Berry, Ford, 200.
- (32) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 200.
- (25) A.J. Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 200.
- (9) William Byron, Chevrolet, 200.
- (29) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 200.
- (28) Austin Hill (i), Chevrolet, 200.
- (36) J.J. Yeley (I), Chevrolet, 199.
- (35) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 199.
- (33) Cody Ware, Chevrolet, 198.
- (24) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 196.
- (4) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, Accident, 187.
- (20) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, Accident, 158.
- (22) Noah Gragson, Ford, Accident, 156.
- (27) Ryan Preece, Ford, Accident, 155.
- (23) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, Accident, 154.
- (30) Shane van Gisbergen, Chevrolet, Accident, 154.
- (8) Christopher Bell, Toyota, Accident, 147.
- (6) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, Accident, 147.
- (16) Zane Smith, Ford, Accident, 141.
- (26) Brad Keselowski, Ford, Accident, 89.
- (3) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, Accident, 83.
- (21) Ausin Dillon, Chevrolet, Accident, 82.
- (34) Connor Zilisch (R), Chevrolet, Accident, 8.
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