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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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