Denny Hamlin goes from rear of Michigan area to 2nd straight win

Denny Hamlin roared by Daniel Suarez with 38 laps left after passing the whole field for the second straight weekend, winning 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 Joe Gibbs Racing driver won last Sunday night in Nashville after jumping the race’s start from the pole position.

It was his 63rd career victory, tying him for ninth all-time with the late Kyle Busch.

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.

–Field Level Media