BROOKLYN, Mich. – Denny Hamlin tied the late Kyle Busch for ninth on the all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins list after earning his 63^rd victory in the FireKeepers Casino 400 on Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.

For the second weekend in a row, Hamlin had to come from the back to win. The driver of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 National Debt Relief Toyota won the pole, but he had to start from the rear for unapproved adjustments. By Stage 2, Hamlin was in eight, at the end of the day, he led the final 39 laps en route to victory.

“This Joe Gibbs team just keeps giving me amazing race cars,” Hamlin said. “This National Debt Toyota, it’s just amazing.

“At the last run there, just hammering down. Had a few good restarts, and once we got to the lead, I was going to lay it out, all I had.”

In his post-race celebration, Hamlin honored his former teammate, Busch, by riding around the track and doing a burnout with a black flag featuring a No. 18 in two signature fonts remembering his time at both Joe Gibbs Racing and Richard Childress Racing.

“I mean, the off-season, it was rough for me, it was rough for the NASCAR family, we lost a lot of people,” Hamlin said. “This week we lost Gentleman Ned, 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.”

Legacy Motor Club’s Erik Jones impressed on Sunday as he came home in the runner-up position. The performance marks Jones’ best finish of the season as it is also his first top-five of the 2026 campaign. In fact, it’s his best finish since joining the team in 2023.

“I really think we could have won,” Jones said. “I thought we did have the best car. It didn’t work out perfect. Everything has to work out really well, and some things didn’t go right at the end. And Denny got out front, drove away, and we had to work through some traffic.

“It’s frustrating, but at the same time, the last month and a half has been good for us. We’ve had fast cars. We haven’t quite got the finishes we deserved. Today was obviously we got the finish we deserved, almost, I think.”

23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace finished third, and rounding out the top-five was Kyle Larson and Carson Hocevar who was stout all day long. Completing the top-10 was Daniel Suarez, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher and Chase Briscoe.

Tyler Reddick won Stage 1, and Chase Elliott won Stage 2, both had their days ended with hard crashes.

There were 22 lead changes among 11 drivers. Elliott led a race high of 67 laps.

The caution came out on 11 occasions for 54 laps, and throughout the day, drivers took some wild rides.

On a Lap 83 restart, the bottom row stacked up and contact between Hocevar and John Hunter Nemechek set off a chain reaction that took out Reddick, Ty Gibbs, Austin Dillon and others.

“It was a bit smoky in there, just caught quite a bit of stuff there on the left side, and it got knocked around, so just a lot of exhaust, brings some smoke in,” Reddick said. “I’m alright, just a bummer for our ROCKSTAR ENERGY DRINK Toyota Camry. I felt like we had really good speed. We were set up with a good restart to get second there, and maybe race for the lead there, and just an all-around bummer. I wanted to come in here and have a good points day. We had really, really good speed yesterday and it showed again today. All-in-all, it’s a bummer. It’s a race I felt like we could have won, got away from us.”

On Lap 149, a terrifying accident occurred in Turn 4, when Elliott got loose and immediately sent Christopher Bell and himself into the outside wall. The impact from Bell’s car was so violent that a red flag came out while officials welding the SAFER barrier back together. Both drivers climbed from their cars under their own power, and in fact, Elliott went and checked on Bell. Following the race, Joe Gibbs said that Bell will be further evaluated for a possible wrist and ankle injury.

“It was totally my fault,” Elliott said. “I feel really bad for Bell, just taking him out. I was trying to run the bottom, make use of our fresh tires and at least get to second, I was hoping, and stay side-by-side with him. I just got in there and got free. I thought I was going to spin and was kind of committing to spinning out. As soon as I was committed to spinning, it just hooked up and, unfortunately, sent Christopher into the wall really hard and me shortly thereafter. We were just racing really hard. I thought it was a turning point in the race to make something happen, but just stepped over the line and paid for it.”

Reddick’s point lead was significantly impacted with the 35^th-place finish. Hamlin now only trails by 51 points.

The NASCAR Cup Series will visit Pocono Raceway on Sunday, June 14, for The Great American Getaway 400. Live coverage of the race will broadcast on Prime at 3 p.m. ET.

Photo Credit: Brett Farmer/Getty Images