Denny Hamlin qualified on the pole for the FireKeepers Casino 400 of the NASCAR Cup Series at Michigan International Speedway, but the Joe Gibbs Racing team decided to make adjustments to the Toyota number 11 and that forced him to start from the last position on the 37‑car grid. Two hundred laps later, Hamlin took the checkered flag with an 11.110‑second advantage over Erik Jones, the largest margin between first and second since the series introduced the Next Gen car in 2022. The result was his 63rd victory in the series, tying him with his late former teammate Kyle Busch for ninth on the all‑time wins list.

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The tribute to Kyle Busch came as soon as the race ended. Hamlin pulled a flag with the number 18 out of his window — the number Busch used for most of his career at Joe Gibbs Racing — and did a burnout in front of the full grandstands, who responded with a standing ovation. "I knew that flag was waiting on pit road. It was a moment I wanted to happen soon, not a year from now, because then it wouldn't have carried the same weight," Hamlin said.

The race began with eleven caution flags and a twenty‑minute red‑flag stoppage, a combination that eliminated contenders in waves. The first major crash came on lap 83, when Carson Hocevar touched John Hunter Nemechek on a restart and triggered a chain‑reaction wreck that collected nine cars. Tyler Reddick, the championship leader and winner at Michigan in 2024, was caught in the incident and recorded his first retirement of the season. Hamlin nearly suffered the same fate because his Toyota slid through Turn 1, but no other car hit him. At that moment his pace was modest and he was running around 30th.

The second major incident occurred with 51 laps to go, when Chase Elliott and Christopher Bell were running side‑by‑side for second place. Elliott lost the rear of his Chevrolet and pushed Bell into the wall with such force that race control stopped the race with a red flag for twenty minutes to repair the barriers. Elliott, who led 67 laps during the day (the most of any driver), accepted full responsibility, stating that it was his mistake and a very hard hit for both, especially for Bell.

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Hamlin survived to that point thanks to the adjustments he called for in the early pit stops, which transformed a car running 30th into one capable of posting lap times at the front. With a clear track and recovered race pace, he moved to the lead when the competition resumed and led the final 40 laps unchallenged. Erik Jones, of Legacy Motor Club, finished second for his best result of the season. Bubba Wallace was third, Kyle Larson fourth, and Carson Hocevar fifth.

Daniel Suárez, the winner at Charlotte two weeks earlier, finished sixth, followed by Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher and Chase Briscoe. Reddick's retirement reduced his championship lead from 97 to 51 points over Hamlin. With eleven races remaining before the end of the regular season, 26 points separate 14th place from 17th in the battle to make the Chase. The next event is the Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway.

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FireKeepers Casino 400 2026

Pos	Nº	driver	brand	time
1	#11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	-
2	#43	Erik Jones	Toyota	+11.11s
3	#23	Bubba Wallace	Toyota	+12.06s
4	#5	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	+12.27s
5	#77	Carson Hocevar	Chevrolet	+12.27s
6	#7	Daniel Suarez	Chevrolet	+14.02s
7	#22	Joey Logano	Ford	+14.49s
8	#12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	+14.89s
9	#17	Chris Buescher	Ford	+18.16s
10	#19	Chase Briscoe	Toyota	+19.31s
11	#2	Austin Cindric	Ford	+19.40s
12	#41	Cole Custer	Chevrolet	+19.83s
13	#35	Riley Herbst	Toyota	+21.70s
14	#42	John Hunter Nemechek	Toyota	+23.01s
15	#21	Josh Berry	Ford	+23.35s
16	#1	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	+25.48s
17	#16	AJ Allmendinger	Chevrolet	+25.60s
18	#24	William Byron	Chevrolet	+27.14s
19	#48	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	+30.36s
20	#33	Austin Hill(i)	Chevrolet	+31.13s
21	#44	* JJ Yeley(i)	Chevrolet	+1 vuelta
22	#34	Todd Gilliland	Ford	+1 vuelta
23	#51	Cody Ware	Chevrolet	+2 vueltas
24	#10	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	+4 vueltas
25	#54	Ty Gibbs	Toyota	+13 vueltas
26	#71	Michael McDowell	Chevrolet	+42 vueltas
27	#4	Noah Gragson	Ford	+44 vueltas
28	#60	Ryan Preece	Ford	+45 vueltas
29	#47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Chevrolet	+46 vueltas
30	#97	Shane Van Gisbergen	Chevrolet	+46 vueltas
31	#20	Christopher Bell	Toyota	+53 vueltas
32	#9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	+53 vueltas
33	#38	Zane Smith	Ford	+59 vueltas
34	#6	Brad Keselowski	Ford	+111 vueltas
35	#45	Tyler Reddick	Toyota	+117 vueltas
36	#3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	+118 vueltas
37	#88	Connor Zilisch #	Chevrolet	+192 vueltas