Who… should you be talking about after the race?
Before his winning interview on the frontstretch began, the Amazon Prime Video broadcast noted Denny Hamlin performed a “masterclass at saving fuel.”
For the third time in 2025, Hamlin was victorious, this time on Sunday (June 8) at Michigan International Speedway. It’s his third career triumph at MIS and the first for Joe Gibbs Racing since 2015.
Hamlin scored his 57th career NASCAR Cup Series win, adding another impressive notch to his Hall of Fame resume.
The winningest driver in JGR Cup history is quite the accomplishment, given how many talented drivers have driven for the organization.
Hamlin became the 10th driver to win after eclipsing 700 starts. So, at what point do we consider Hamlin to be the best driver in JGR history? Frankly, it’ll probably take a championship to award him those honors, but he is definitely in that mix.
Mind you, Hamlin didn’t lead the most laps at Michigan. He only led five, including the final four when he took the lead from William Byron, who then ran out of fuel shortly after losing the lead.
Hamlin, meanwhile, spent the whole weekend on baby watch. He finished his race weekend with enough fuel to win the race, complete the cool-down lap, and celebrate with a burnout.
With his third trophy this year, Hamlin is tied for the most wins in Cup. He still trails by 82 points in the regular season standings, so barring bad luck for Byron and Kyle Larson, he won’t win that crown to earn 15 more playoff points. But his three wins and 18 playoff points, the second most, have him in a prime position to make the Championship 4.
On the other hand…
The Chevrolet trio of Alex Bowman, Byron and Carson Hocevar all left Michigan with disappointing results.
Let’s start with Hocevar. His storylines entering the FireKeepers Casino 400 were aplenty.
In his second Cup season, he has made headlines many times in 2025. He finished second, tying his career-best finish, in the most recent race at Nashville Superspeedway. Michigan is his home Cup racetrack. He finished 10th there in 2024.
On Tuesday (June 3), he won the super late model Money in the Bank at his true home racetrack Berlin Raceway. Prior to that race, Hocevar talked to FloRacing about how he was tired of talking about finishing second in Cup, how he wanted to win so badly. He won that night.
Hocevar led 32 laps late in the FireKeepers Casino 400, but Spire Motorsports informed him that he was four laps – eight miles at the 2-mile track – shy of fuel.
Misfortune struck him again, albeit due to a flat left-rear tire. After pitting, Hocevar wound up 29th. As a result, he is 18 points below the playoff cut line. In a race where his No. 77 team improved his racecar, the finishing result and subsequent lost points sting.
Bowman is 15th in the playoff grid, 13 points above the cut line. Yet since his runner-up day at Homestead-Miami Speedway, he’s had seven finishes worse than 25th place. His wreck at MIS was vicious, too, though he thankfully walked away.
With upcoming road courses, the Chicago street course, the two drafting-style racetracks, along with the possibility for more drivers below the cut line winning, more poor finishes could cost Bowman a playoff spot.
How can Byron be on this list, you ask? He won the Daytona 500. He leads the regular season points.
Because once again, Byron led the most laps, including a stage two win, but didn’t win the race. In fact, the Daytona 500 is his only win of the season. Yes, he’s going to the playoffs. Yes, he is a safe bet to advance at least one round in the playoffs. But his inability to close out races lands him on this list. In the FireKeepers Casino 400, Byron took the lead from Hocevar, but then ran out of fuel. Byron finished 28th and ultimately was on the short end of the race-winning move.
What… does this mean for the point standings?
The playoff picture technically remained the same. The only notable difference from Michigan is that Ryan Preece and Kyle Busch are tied for the final position, with Busch holding the tiebreaker.
The fuel-mileage factor only bit two drivers: Hocevar and Byron. So, how much did second-place Chris Buescher, third-place Ty Gibbs and fourth-place Bubba Wallace have left in their fuel tanks?
In the case of Gibbs, he might look back at Michigan as the best chance he had to make the playoffs. It is almost impossible for him to point his way into the playoffs; winning would’ve not only sent him to the playoffs but also shaken up the playoff field.
Where… did he come from?
Wallace qualified ninth and finished eighth and seventh in the two respective stages. Did you notice he finished fourth, though?
Improving from seventh at the end of stage two to fourth at the checkered doesn’t seem like much. Yet it earned him the third-most points in the race. It kept him as the third-highest winless driver in the playoff grid. On a day when polesitter Chase Briscoe lost 22 spots, Hocevar’s finish cost him points, and Bowman wrecked, quietly finishing fourth is a stout day. Still, did the broadcast mention him during the final green flag run to the finish?
Gibbs didn’t win, but he continued his trend of running well at Michigan. He has a NASCAR Xfinity Series win there and his first Cup top 10 there, too.
In now four MIS Cup starts, he has two top fives and three top 10s. Yet after starting eighth, Gibbs slid backwards in stage one. Remember, I said he cannot make the playoffs via points? He didn’t help his cause in that department by not earning any stage points.
Then, late in the race, he seemed to be on the precipice of contending for the win. As Hocevar, Byron and Hamlin all talked about fuel saving, Gibbs looked like he would put the pressure on those three to drive faster or risk losing their position. Ultimately, Hamlin saved enough and Buescher passed Gibbs in the closing laps for second, but a third-place effort is his second top five of the season and first top-15 result since that previous top five (third place at Bristol Motor Speedway).
When.. was the moment of truth?
Just when the announcers were talking about the final pit stop and team strategies, Todd Gilliland crashed out due to a blown tire. Everyone pitted.
Zane Smith and Hocevar restarted on the front row. Hocevar took the lead, and Byron and Larson settled into second and third. As those three raced, fuel saving while still going fast, Gibbs drove into the picture. Hamlin steadily gained positions and factored into the race. He drove up to third when Hocevar’s car blew a tire on the backstretch. Byron led 15 laps before he darted to pit road.
Enter Hamlin, who saved enough fuel to win by 1.099 seconds ahead of Buescher. Hamlin stated post race that he wasn’t really focusing on fuel saving. The Prime Video broadcast showed he saved some fuel, though. Everyone knew fuel would be tight, so credit JGR for ensuring the No. 11 Toyota was full of fuel, unlike at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and fast enough to go to victory lane.
Why… should you be paying attention this week?
We’re going road course racing internationally next weekend.
The Cup and Xfinity Series go to Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City. The road course hasn’t hosted NASCAR national series racing since 2008. None of NASCAR’s national series have raced internationally since 2019.
For the Cup Series, expect the top road course racers to be up front. It’s worth noting that the last time the Cup Series went to a racetrack for the first time, it was the Chicago street course. The winning driver: Shane van Gisbergen, who needs a win to make the playoffs. The point standings section of this column could see far more expansion.
How… did this race stack up?
The Next Gen has received just criticism in many races this season. Dirty air still mattered at Michigan, but the FireKeepers Casino 400 featured many key components to what many fans would consider to be great racing.
There were only 15 lead changes, tied for the fewest since Michigan began hosting only one race weekend. Yet there was passing, partly due to the different strategies. The fuel saving was exciting to watch, too, because everyone pitted at the same time during a caution. The seven cautions at Michigan stayed consistent, as three of the past four races have now had seven.
In 2019, Michigan was the first racetrack I visited as a credentialed media member, so I am sentimental about the racetrack. Of the MIS races in my Frontstretch tenure, I’d rank this one as the best.
Mark Kristl joined Frontstretch at the beginning of the 2019 NASCAR season. He is the site's ARCA Menards Series editor. Kristl is also an Eagle Scout and a proud University of Dayton alum.