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Motorsport

Nick DeGroot

Denny Hamlin ties Kyle Busch, honors him with 63rd NASCAR Cup win at Michigan

Denny Hamlin Kyle Busch Carson Hocevar Chevrolet Daniel Suarez Elliott NASCAR Reddick (Person) NASCAR Cup Toyota

Denny Hamlin has tied Kyle Busch for ninth on the all-time wins list, collecting his 63rd career win after a dramatic NASCAR Cup race at Michigan International Speedway.

Hamlin won by 11.1 seconds, leading a Toyota 1-2-3 with Erik Jones second and Bubba Wallace third.

Kyle Larson finished fourth, and Carson Hocevar was fifth. Daniel Suarez finished sixth, Joey Logano seventh, Ryan Blaney eighth, Chris Buescher ninth, and Chase Briscoe tenth.

While he started from pole, Hamlin actually had to start from the rear of the field because the car needed repairs following a cut tire in practice. Hamlin also spun as part of a restart crash during the first half of the race, but none of that could deny him another big win on Sunday.

"The off-season, it was rough for me, it was rough for the NASCAR family, we lost a lot of people," said Hamlin. "This week we lost Gentleman Ned (Jarrett), the original badass of the 11. We're still thinking of Kyle, Samantha, Brexton, Lennix.

"You know, just an unbelievable feeling to be able to strap in every week, and I don't take it for granted, this opportunity that I'm in. I just love we're making the best of it."

After the race, Hamlin carried a No. 18 flag throughout his entire burnout celebration, honoring Kyle Busch after matching him on the all-time wins list. Busch died unexpectedly two weeks ago, at the age of 41.

Hamlin and Busch were teammates at Joe Gibbs Racing for nearly 15 years, from 2008 through the 2022 season.

Stage 1

While Hamlin earned pole position, he was one of six cars that went to the rear of the field for the start. That gave control to Hocevar for the initial start, with the Michigan native holding the lead.

On Lap 3, rookie Connor Zilisch spun on his own in Turn 3, impacting the outside wall. Six laps later, he spun again, this time at the exit of Turn 2, slamming the inside wall and ending his day. This is Zilisch's third consecutive DNF, and third straight last-place finish.

As the race progressed, Reddick moved into the lead and controlled most of the stage.

Todd Gilliland had a flat tire and needed to pit under green, while Reddick had to defend from a charging Gibbs.

Just behind the struggling No. 1 of Chastain, Reddick won Stage 1 over Gibbs, Hocevar, Elliott, Wallace, Smith, Larson, Buescher, Herbst, Suarez.

Stage 2

Gibbs won the race off pit road, while Buescher had to make an extra stop to tighten hood pins, giving up a position inside the top ten.

Wallace took the lead on the restart, and then Hocevar, and then Gibbs as the fight for control continued into the second stage.

Back in the mid-field, Keselowski slowed with a flat left-rear tire, causing a caution. Things got worse for RFK on pit road, as Gibbs and Preece collided while exiting/entering their respective stalls.

Gibbs carried on, but Preece did come back down pit road. Hendrick teammates Elliott and Larson were suddenly in control of the race after a two-tire call, and maintained control until the next caution -- Allmendinger spinning at the exit of Turn 2.

However, the following restart on Lap 83 completely changed the complexion of the entire race. Hocevar got into the back of Nemechek, which triggered a chain-reaction crash just beyond the restart zone. Nemechek spun up the track into Wallace, who got turned down into Gibbs, who then spun up into Reddick, and collecting a total of nine cars. As Reddick spun back up the track after impacting the inside wall, he suffered a direct hit from Austin Dillon.

Big names involved in this stage 2 incident 👀 #NASCARonPrime pic.twitter.com/8aupQB9xpN
— Sports on Prime (@SportsonPrime) June 7, 2026

Reddick's No. 45 Toyota was destroyed, ending his top 15 streak and recording his first DNF of the 2026 season. That's quite the blow to the championship leader as he tries to maintain his advantage to the end of the regular season.

The next yellow was for Keselowski, who spun off the nose of Nemechek, ending his day as well.

Up front, Suarez passed Larson for the runner-up spot, only for Jones to overtake both and begin to run down Elliott for the race lead. He almost got there with four fresh tires against Elliott's two, but Elliott managed to hang on for the Stage 2 win.

Behind Elliott and Jones, it was Suarez, Larson, Byron, Bell, Hocevar, Hamlin, Logano, Smith.

Stage 3

Elliott continued to lead the race, with Bell moving up into the runner-up spot.

Just outside the fuel window, Zane Smith lost a tire while running tenth and crashed into the wall. The entire field came down pit road, but a handful opted for two-tire calls, jumping to the front of the field -- Byron, Bell, Chastain, and Logano now led the way.

On the restart, Elliott got loose underneath Bell in the battle for second, and they crashed violently into the outside wall. Both drivers were uninjured, but the wall was damaged and a 20-minute red flag was needed to make repairs

Contact between @chaseelliott and @CBellRacing brings out the yellow on Lap 148. pic.twitter.com/R4qc5Fv61k
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 7, 2026

The race finally resumed with Byron leading the wall, but they weren't done wrecking. A bad push from Stenhouse sent Stenhouse down into Gragson and Preece, triggering another pileup. Shane van Gisbergen, Ty Dillon, Austin Hill, Josh Berry, and Cody Ware were also collected, as was McDowell.

The following drivers were all unable to continue due to damage: McDowell, Preece, Stenhouse, SVG, and Gragson.

The race leader was now Suarez, and that caution broke the record for most cautions ever in a Cup race at Michigan.

On the restart, Hocevar challenged teammate Suarez for the lead, but as the Spire cars ran side-by-side, Hamlin passed them both in a big three-wide move for the lead. Hocevar hit the wall soon after fading back slightly.

With 30 to go, it was Hamlin leading Suarez and Wallace at the front of the field. He extended the lead to several several seconds, as Wallace began to pressure Suarez for the runner-up spot. He cleared him with 17 laps to go, but was over six seconds behind Hamlin.

Hocevar eventually took second from Wallace, but Hamlin was just gone, with a lead margin approaching ten full seconds. The battle for second remained lively, with Jones passing fellow Michigan driver Hocevar with five laps to go.

But there was no catching Hamlin, as he cruised to the checkered flag, 11+ seconds clear of the closest competition.

The victory helped Hamlin to slice into Reddick's championship lead after the 23XI driver recorded his first DNF of the year. The lead shrunk from 97 points to 51 points between Reddick and Hamlin.

Cla	Driver	#	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Points
1	D. HamlinJoe Gibbs Racing	11	Toyota	200	3:13'39.196		8	58
2	E. JonesLegacy Motor Club	43	Toyota	200	+11.110 3:13'50.306	11.110	8	44
3	B. Wallace23XI Racing	23	Toyota	200	+12.062 3:13'51.258	0.952	7	40
4	K. LarsonHendrick Motorsports	5	Chevrolet	200	+12.267 3:13'51.463	0.205	7	44
5	C. HocevarSpire Motorsports	77	Chevrolet	200	+12.274 3:13'51.470	0.007	7	45
6	D. SuarezSpire Motorsports	7	Chevrolet	200	+14.020 3:13'53.216	1.746	7	40
7	J. LoganoTeam Penske	22	Ford	200	+14.492 3:13'53.688	0.472	7	32
8	R. BlaneyTeam Penske	12	Ford	200	+14.888 3:13'54.084	0.396	7	29
9	C. BuescherRFK Racing	17	Ford	200	+18.162 3:13'57.358	3.274	12	31
10	C. BriscoeJoe Gibbs Racing	19	Toyota	200	+19.311 3:13'58.507	1.149	12	27
11	A. CindricTeam Penske	2	Ford	200	+19.404 3:13'58.600	0.093	7	26
12	C. CusterHaas Factory Team	41	Chevrolet	200	+19.828 3:13'59.024	0.424	7	25
13	R. Herbst23XI Racing	35	Toyota	200	+21.696 3:14'00.892	1.868	8	26
14	J. NemechekLegacy Motor Club	42	Toyota	200	+23.008 3:14'02.204	1.312	11	23
15	J. BerryWood Brothers Racing	21	Ford	200	+23.349 3:14'02.545	0.341	11	22
16	R. ChastainTrackHouse Racing	1	Chevrolet	200	+25.485 3:14'04.681	2.136	8	21
17	A. AllmendingerKaulig Racing	16	Chevrolet	200	+25.599 3:14'04.795	0.114	14	20
18	W. ByronHendrick Motorsports	24	Chevrolet	200	+27.139 3:14'06.335	1.540	11	25
19	A. BowmanHendrick Motorsports	48	Chevrolet	200	+30.365 3:14'09.561	3.226	8	18
20	A. HillRichard Childress Racing	33	Chevrolet	200	+31.127 3:14'10.323	0.762	13
21	J. YeleyNY Racing Team	44	Chevrolet	199	+1 Lap 3:13'48.778	1 Lap	13
22	T. GillilandFront Row Motorsports	34	Ford	199	+1 Lap 3:13'52.394	3.616	12	15
23	C. WareRick Ware Racing	51	Chevrolet	198	+2 Laps 3:13'41.956	1 Lap	11	14
24	T. DillonKaulig Racing	10	Chevrolet	196	+4 Laps 3:13'48.184	2 Laps	8	13
25	T. GibbsJoe Gibbs Racing	54	Toyota	187	+13 Laps 3:06'55.373	9 Laps	12	21
26	M. McDowellSpire Motorsports	71	Chevrolet	158	+42 Laps 2:49'10.368	29 Laps	11	11
27	N. GragsonFront Row Motorsports	4	Ford	156	+44 Laps 3:08'52.187	2 Laps	18	10
28	R. PreeceRFK Racing	60	Ford	155	+45 Laps 2:38'43.845	1 Lap	13	9
29	R. Stenhouse JrHyak Motorsports	47	Chevrolet	154	+46 Laps 2:36'50.933	1 Lap	8	8
30	S. van GisbergenTrackHouse Racing	97	Chevrolet	154	+46 Laps 2:36'53.004	2.071	9	7
31	C. BellJoe Gibbs Racing	20	Toyota	147	+53 Laps 2:24'30.371	7 Laps	8	11
32	C. ElliottHendrick Motorsports	9	Chevrolet	147	+53 Laps 2:24'30.448	0.077	7	22
33	Z. SmithFront Row Motorsports	38	Ford	141	+59 Laps 2:14'43.199	6 Laps	6	10
34	B. KeselowskiRFK Racing	6	Ford	89	+111 Laps 1:31'35.313	52 Laps	9	3
35	T. Reddick23XI Racing	45	Toyota	83	+117 Laps 1:24'21.509	6 Laps	5	12
36	A. DillonRichard Childress Racing	3	Chevrolet	82	+118 Laps 1:19'13.720	1 Lap	4	1
37	C. ZilischTrackHouse Racing	88	Chevrolet	8	+192 Laps 9'10.530	74 Laps	5	1