What Happened?
Denny Hamlin outlasted the rest of the field in a fuel mileage competition to the checkered flag at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday, June 8. Chris Buescher followed behind him in second, while Ty Gibbs, Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson rounded out the top five.
This is Hamlin’s third victory of the 2025 season, which matches both Larson and teammate Christopher Bell in most wins so far this year.
What Really Happened?
Didn’t Sunday seem a bit nostalgic?
With the way stage racing has neutralized many important strategic elements of NASCAR Cup Series racing, one of the most removed aspects has been that of fuel mileage and conservation.
It’s not gone completely, as there have been a small handful of races in the last few years that’s featured the occasional off-throttle moments of fuel saving. That’s certainly the case for superspeedways and the chaotic finale to last year’s Nashville Superspeedway race that saw five overtime restarts. However, it’s seemingly nowhere near as frequent or as stressful as it used to be.
Yet, Sunday’s race seemed to be reminiscent of the days of old.
Michigan has seen some of the best nail-biting fuel economy finishes in NASCAR’s history. Events like the 2009 summer race that saw both Jimmie Johnson and Greg Biffle run out of fuel on the final lap are among one of the best examples of how simply needing to save fuel can be fun to watch.
With how scarce and difficult passing seems to be nowadays, seeing drivers sweat over when to take their foot off the pedal rather than yell about dirty air is a welcome change of pace.
Not to mention, seeing Amazon Prime Video’s analytics and the “Burn Bar” graphic that displays how much miles-per-gallon each driver is sustaining is something I’ve personally not seen before. It’s honestly downright fascinating to somebody who can’t see with the naked eye how much a driver is trying to conserve.
It felt like a fluke moment to see it again. It doesn’t feel often anymore that we see crew chiefs on pit boxes sweating over calculators and leaders swapping the lead in the closing laps with the threat of potentially running out of gas looming in the final few laps of the race.
That tension is fun, and I hope we see it more often.
Who Stood Out?
You wouldn’t know it if you watched him on Sunday, but William Byron is still winless since his victory in February’s Daytona 500 earlier this year. Of course, he’s certainly gotten close with six additional top-five finishes to account for since then.
However, despite putting on a historical clinic at Darlington Raceway and leading the majority of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Byron has seemed to find a way to stay out of victory lane in some way or form.
Unfortunately, after leading a race-high 98 of the event’s 200 laps, Sunday was no different.
The Charlotte native controlled a vast majority of the event and appeared to be the car to beat once again as he not only led the most laps but won the second stage as well.
Among the drama of fuel mileage, Byron was leading with only four laps to go also. However, he fell to the hard-charging Hamlin and ran out of fuel while coming to the white flag. He pitted and had to settle for a 28th-place result, his worst finish of 2025 so far.
Yet before the No. 24’s loss of the lead, Michigan native Carson Hocevar was the talk of the town.
For the third week in a row, the Spire Motorsports star was in contention once again for the race win, yet this time, he was probably the closest he’d ever been.
Hocevar had the lead again with only 20 laps to go in his home track, had Byron breathing down his neck in second and the threat of running out of fuel on his mind.
But it wasn’t fuel outage nor a late pass that did the hometown hero in.
It was a flat tire.
Hocevar’s 29th-place result and Byron’s finish may not have been the success story that the usual Who Stood Out? prospects have, but at least they were leading and in contention for the win in the end.
Not everyone was so fortunate.
Who Fell Flat?
For a team that has 10 wins at Michigan with three of them in the last decade, Team Penske certainly didn’t display the signs of competitiveness it’s used to having in the Irish Hills.
For the first time since Texas Motor Speedway in 2023, none of the three Penske Fords finished in the top 20 in a non-superspeedway race.
After finishing sixth in stage one, Ryan Blaney was hovering within the top 10 when the event was nearing the end of stage two. Alas, with nearly 20 laps to go in the second segment, last week’s race-winning driver slapped the wall in turn 4 and spun into pit entrance, inducing the event’s fifth yellow flag.
While he was able to continue, the damage sustained slowed the Ford and Blaney left Michigan with only a 32nd-place result, four laps down.
That did, however, open the door for teammate Austin Cindric.
After a series of pit strategy calls during the yellow flag period, Cindric stayed out and restarted as the leader at the end of stage two. However, he led only 10 laps before Byron passed him before the segment’s conclusion. He was able to finish second in the stage.
After that, however, the No. 2 wasn’t back in the picture. A cut tire for the Ford forced Cindric to pit under the green flag during the final stage. He finished 31st – only one spot better than teammate Blaney – and one lap down.
Ironically, the highest finishing Penske driver was the only one that didn’t run at the front of the field all day.
Joey Logano ran a modest Sunday, hovering within the top 20. However, the reigning series champion didn’t earn any stage points throughout the day and didn’t lead any laps – an uncharacteristic performance for a driver with three wins at the two-mile oval.
The Connecticut native finished 22nd, scoring the best finish among the Penske trio.
Paint Scheme of the Race?
It’s that time of the year again – a season of joy and celebration.
That’s right. It’s time for the return of the Busch Light Apple car.
It’s a little ironic to see the beloved red fruit be featured on a car driven by a well-known watermelon farmer in Ross Chastain, but the design is splendid, nonetheless.
While very similar to the scheme Kevin Harvick featured during his final years driving in the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4, it’s still a vibrant shade of red that pops out among the field when they spread out to three-to-four-wide on those busy MIchigan restarts.
Additionally, they get extra points for painting the side skirts, which is something every team should do all the time.
What’s Next?
For the first time in 67 years, the Cup Series will host a points race outside of the United States.
In one of the most historically significant NASCAR events in recent years, the Cup Series will travel south of the border to Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City.
The road course race will be broadcasted live on Amazon Prime Video with coverage beginning at 3 p.m. ET.
Dalton Hopkins began writing for Frontstretch in April 2021. Currently, he is the lead writer for the weekly Thinkin' Out Loud column, co-host of the Frontstretch Happy Hour podcast, and one of our lead reporters. Beforehand, he wrote for IMSA shortly after graduating from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2019. Simultaneously, he also serves as a Captain in the US Army.
Follow Dalton on Twitter @PitLaneCPT