Denny Hamlin won Sunday’s (June 8) NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway after he saved just enough gas in the closing laps to notch his third victory of 2025.
Hamlin passed William Byron with four laps to go and was able to drive away after Byron was forced to pit.
The final green-flag run turned into a fuel-mileage race, and while Hamlin pushed the pace, Byron and Carson Hocevar were forced to save gas.
“I wanted to get the lead,” Hamlin told Amazon Prime. “Obviously, he (Byron) was doing a great job defending. (Crew chief) Chris Gayle (and) this whole team has done such a great job.”
Byron finished 28th after he pit for fuel.
“We didn’t have enough,” Byron told Prime Video. “We were going to run out with a lap and a half left, we did run out with a lap and a half left. It was trying to manage both, manage the gap and save.”
Chris Buescher, Ty Gibbs, Bubba Wallace, Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain, Zane Smith, Kyle Busch, Ryan Preece and Brad Keselowski completed the top 10.
“We had a very fast Monster Energy Toyota Camry,” Gibbs said after his third-place effort. “Wish we could’ve gone out and won. That wasn’t the option with the fuel spot we were in.”
Hocevar led 32 laps but suffered a flat tire with 19 laps to go, which forced the No. 77 to pit road and took him out of contention.
Alex Bowman suffered a hard crash in stage two, while Nashville Superspeedway winner Ryan Blaney made contact with the wall in the final stage. Blaney and Bowman finished 33rd and 36th, respectively.
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The NASCAR Cup Series will race in Mexico City for the first time on June 15. Coverage of the Viva Mexico 250 will begin at 3 p.m. ET on Prime Video, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
A member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Samuel also covers NASCAR for Yardbarker, Field Level Media, and Heavy Sports. He will attend the University of Arkansas in the fall of 2025.