Denny Hamlin is having himself a season.
The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota rallied from the fifth row on the final restart with 49 laps to go to win the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday (June 8). This marks Hamlin’s third win of the season, tying him with Kyle Larson and his JGR teammate Christopher Bell for the most in the Cup Series so far in 2025.
As is often the case at Michigan, fuel mileage played a central role in the closing laps. That begs the question: who was good to the last drop, and who ran dry?
Bowtie Blues as They Run Out of Fuel
When the final caution came out for Todd Gilliland’s blown tire and crash on lap 146, it came right at the edge of the fuel window to make it to the checkered flag.
Two laps later, the field came down pit road for what turned out to be the final stops of the day. While some teams took four tires and packed the tanks full of fuel, a few others rolled the dice on fuel mileage to maximize track position, banking on another caution (that ultimately never came) to save enough for the end.
William Byron was among those on the edge on fuel, restarting fourth with 49 laps left. Hamlin thwarted Byron’s effort to conserve fuel by rallying to second and breathing right down his rear bumper.
Hamlin made the pass on Byron for the win with just four laps left. Two laps later, Byron’s fuel tank ran dry, forcing him to pit just before the white flag. That relegated Byron, who won stage two and contended up front all day, to a disappointing 28th-place finish.
“It was just trying to manage both, trying to keep the lead and save fuel,” Byron remarked post-race. “Ultimately, maybe not as good mileage as the guys further back to start that run. The nature of being closer to the front and burning more fuel.”
Spire Motorsports was another Chevrolet team that did not have the fuel to make it to the finish. Michael McDowell had to come down for fuel on lap 193. Carson Hocevar, while ultimately felled by a blown tire from the lead on lap 182, was on the same strategy and almost certainly would have had to pit as well. Hocevar himself confirmed it in a postrace interview.
“It was going to be near impossible to save four laps [worth of fuel] around this place with how fast we were going,” Hocevar said. “The only reason we were saving, it wasn’t save to make it. It was obviously to save to just try and keep our pit stop short because we needed that yellow.”
One Chevrolet driver did stretch the fuel properly: Larson. The No. 5 crew chief Cliff Daniels painted a clear picture of the fuel situation to Larson as the laps wound down.
“The 24 is similar to us,” Daniels told Larson over the radio. “Do what you got to do.”
Larson remained mindful of the fuel all the way to the finish, taking the checkered flag in fifth for his series-leading ninth top five of the 2025 campaign.
Pit Road Miscues
Here is a summary of notable pit road penalties in The Wolverine State:
- Under the lap 110 caution pit stops, both Brad Keselowski and Gilliland got caught speeding, forced to restart from the rear. While Gilliland had his late crash, Keselowski bounced back for 10th, his second top-10 finish in the last three races.
- During the post-stage two pit stops on lap 123, Shane van Gisbergen left his pit stall with a wedge wrench in the back window. Though he came back to his crew, van Gisbergen still got penalized for removing equipment, ending the day in 18th.
- Tyler Reddick entered pit road third for the final round of stops on lap 148. Reddick did not leave that way, pitting too deep in his pit box and getting boxed in for a costly 19-second pit stop. While not a penalty, it must have felt like one to Reddick, who saw his chance at a second straight Michigan win slip away. Reddick semi-rallied to 13th place at the checkered flag.
Pit Crew of the Race: No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford
While late race strategy calls did not pan out for the Chevrolets, there was one Ford team that did benefit from doing something different on the last pit stop.
Zane Smith pulled into his pit stall for the final time in 16th. Crew chief Ryan Bergenty opted to go with just two-right side tires on the No. 38 FRM Ford, propelling Smith to the race lead.
While Smith did not hold the lead for long, he was able to hold his own to come away with a top 10, crossing the finish line in seventh, an improvement from his stage finishes of 12th and 18th. The weekend as a whole was a confidence boost for the No. 38 team with a 10th-place qualifying effort, and that is why they are this week’s pit crew of the race.
Look Ahead to Next Week
The NASCAR Cup Series goes international next week with the running of the Viva Mexico 250 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City next Sunday, June 15. Race coverage is set to begin at 3 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime Video.
It will be the first time the Cup Series has raced outside the United States since an exhibition race in Japan back in 1998.
With it being the first visit to Mexico, there will be numerous unknowns for all of the teams, including with pit strategy and fuel mileage. Whichever team figures it out first will have a great chance of reaching victory lane.
Andrew Stoddard joined Frontstretch in May of 2022 as an iRacing contributor. He is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College, the University of Richmond, and VCU. He works as an athletic communications specialist at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va.