Denny Hamlin triumphs at Michigan by overtaking William Byron and Kyle Larson in the final laps, managing fuel perfectly.
BROOKLYN, Mich β With just enough fuel in the tank, Denny Hamlin pulled off the win in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway.
Hamlin passed William Byron and Kyle Larson in the final 10 laps, as most of the field was running off full-pace in order to save fuel. Byron ran out of gas with two laps to go. Larson saved enough and finished fifth.
“I was going all out the entire time,” Hamlin said after the win. “Once I got to the lead, that’s when I started saving. I knew I was going to have to go 100 percent to get around everybody.”
Chris Buescher finished second, one second behind Hamlin. Ty Gibbs and Bubba Wallace finished third and fourth, respectively.Β
Carson Hocevar, a native of nearby Portage, Mich., led late in the final stage until a flat tire doomed his chance at a win.
Chase Briscoe started on the pole for the third week in a row. Unfortunately for him, it was the third week in a row he was shuffled out of the lead early. Byron then took the lead and held it for much of the first stage.Β
Buescher later challenged and passed Byron to win the first stage.Β
While the first stage ran caution-free, the second stage was full of chaos. Soon after the stage restart, Noah Gragson and John Hunter Nemechek spun out to bring out a caution.Β
Alex Bowman took the hardest hit of the day during a wreck on the next restart. Austin Cindric made contact with Cole Custer, sending the latter driver into Bowman, Briscoe, and Daniel SuΓ‘rez. Bowman’s car slammed into the outside wall and briefly lifted off the ground. Bowman and Custer were knocked out of the race, but the rest of the involved drivers were able to continue.
The crash forced a brief red flag period as crews cleaned up the wreckage. Nemechek wrecked again after the ensuing restart. Ryan Blaney, last week’s winner at Nashville, spun out on his own shortly after the next restart.
Cindric gained the lead by staying off pit road as the rest of the field pitted. He was able to hold the top spot for a bit, but ultimately was passed by Byron and his better tires.
The only caution in the last stage happened when Todd Gilliland lost a tire and hit the wall. This left a 50-lap run to the finish with some teams in position to make it on fuel and others needing to save.Β
Hocevar gained the lead on the restart but knew he was short on fuel for the finish. He tried saving, but faced pressure from Byron and Larson. Hocevar’s hopes for his first career win were dashed when a tire went flat with 18 laps to go.
Byron then held the lead, but Hamlin moved closer to the front and gained the lead with four laps to go. The only driver near the front who had enough fuel to push all the way was Buescher, but he was too far behind to challenge Hamlin.
The NASCAR Cup Series is next in action at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City. It’s the first-ever Cup Series race in Mexico.
