Denny Hamlin is getting pretty good at this whole start at the front, go immediately to the rear and end up in Victory Lane deal.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver roared by Daniel Suarez with 38 laps left after passing the whole field for the second straight weekend, repeating as winner of the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway Sunday afternoon in Brooklyn, Mich.
Starting last due to an unapproved adjustment on his No. 11 Toyota after a practice incident, Hamlin won for the third time in 2026 by topping the No. 43 of Erik Jones by 11.11 seconds in the 200-lap race that featured a track-record 11 cautions.
The 45-year-old driver won last Sunday night in Nashville after jumping the race’s start from the pole position and being sent to the back.
It was his 63rd career victory, tying him for ninth all-time with the late Kyle Busch, and the third straight for Toyota at MIS.
The Virginia native did burnouts on the frontstretch with a Kyle Busch No.18 black flag then talked about his surge at the end.
“At the last run there, it was just hammer down,” said Hamlin, who became a four-time Michigan winner. “Once I got to the lead, I was going to leg it out with all I had.”
Hamlin acknowledged the hurt for the NASCAR family since December and entering the race weekend.
“The offseason was rough for me, for the NASCAR family and we lost a bunch of people,” he said. “This week we lost Gentleman Ned (Jarrett), the original badass of the (No.) 11. We’re still thinking of the (Busch family).”
Jones, a Michigan native, recorded his first top-five through 15 races.
Bubba Wallace, Kyle Larson and Carson Hocevar rounded out the first five finishers.
Polesitter Hamlin moved to the field’s rear because his team worked on his Camry after a flat tire in practice, giving Tyler Reddick’s No. 45 the top spot. He led the majority of Stage 1, which featured a wreck by rookie Connor Zilisch.
The Toyotas of Reddick and Ty Gibbs finished 1-2, and Wallace’s Camry was fifth behind the Chevrolets belonging to Hocevar and Chase Elliott.
In Stage 2, Brad Keselowski suffered a flat left rear and lost a lap as Elliott and Larson flexed their muscle at the front in their Hendrick Motorsports Chevys after Gibbs and Wallace had a brief turn up front.
As the group was getting up to speed on Lap 83, Hocevar’s car clipped and turned John Hunter Nemechek’s No. 42. The chain reaction tagged Wallace, who then hit Gibbs, and the No. 54 turned Reddick’s machine, which received major damage as did Austin Dillon’s No. 3.
Elliott moved past Reddick for laps led and zoomed on to the Stage 2 win over Jones. Suarez, Larson and William Byron followed behind, and Hamlin broke into the top 10 by ending up eighth.
With 60 laps left, Elliott led Christopher Bell by 0.4 of a second with Byron about the same distance behind Bell’s No. 20 Toyota, but Zane Smith wrecked his No. 38 Ford.
On the restart and up to full speed, Elliott got loose under Bell and the pair wrecked violently between Turns 3 and 4 to bring out a 20-minute red-flag condition with 50 to go to set up the finish.
“I was just trying to run the bottom and make use of our fresh tires, at least get to second,” said Elliott. “I got in there and got free. … After I committed to spinning out, it just hooked up and sent Christopher into the wall super hard.
“I just stepped over the line. … Totally my fault.”
The DNF was the second for Elliott this season.
–Field Level Media
