NASCAR veteran Denny Hamlin made a late charge through the field to capture his second consecutive FireKeepers Casino 400 victory in Sunday’s action-packed thriller at Michigan International Speedway.
Like he did to win last weekend at Nashville, the experienced 45-year-old veteran came from the back of the pack after winning the pole position.
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The first stage of the 400 miler was frustrating for Hamlin because after winning the pole position, he was forced to start at the rear of the field due to “adjustments” made after qualifying. Early race leader Tyler Reddick dominated most of the initial stage, while Hamlin was mired in the bottom half of the field with an ill-handling race car.
But, as this patient NASCAR veteran has done in past races, Hamlin made extra pit stops to have his Joe Gibbs Team make continued adjustments that gradually improved the handling of his car.
Moving patiently through the pack and dodging several wrecks around him, Hamlin made a bold move around race leaders Carson Hocevar and Daniel Suarez with 39 laps remaining. He never looked back, taking the checkered flag an amazing 11.110 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Erik Jones.
Hamlin’s second strait Michigan victory was a milestone in the remarkable NASCAR career for the Virginia veteran. He now has earned 63 Cup Series wins, tying the late Kyle Busch for ninth overall in NASCAR career wins.
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In an emotional tribute to his former teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, Hamlin had his crew place a black and white No. 18 “Kyle Busch” flag in the door of his car after taking the checkered flag at Michigan for the fourth time.
Hamlin drove down the main straightaway with the “Kyle Busch” flag waving as the majority of the sold-out Michigan crowd cheered in approval. Hamlin did a lengthy and smoky victory burnout with the “Kyle Busch” flag waving.
Hamlin stopped on the finish line and emerged from his car. He walked up the track and got the winner’s checkered flag from the flag man and waved both flags to a standing ovation from the crowd in the massive grandstands.
“Great car, unbelievable! Just amazing,” Hamlin said of his car and crew. “That last run there, just hammered down. Had a few good restarts and once I got the lead, I laid out all I had. The offseason was rough for me, rough for the NASCAR family. We lost a lot of people. This week we lost Gentleman Ned (Jarrett) and still thinking of Kyle (Busch), (his wife) Samantha (and children) Brexton and Lennix. Just grateful to be able to strap in every week and I don’t take it for granted this opportunity that I’m in. Just love that we’re making the best of it.”
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The unpredictable race saw a record of 11 caution flags and a rare 20-minute red flag that flew for several wrecks throughout the afternoon.
A nine-car wreck on an early restart eliminated early race leader Tyler Reddick who appeared to have the fastest car.
The most serious wreck happened with 51 laps to go necessitating a 20-minute red flag to repair the track wall. Chase Elliott and Christopher Bell were battling side-by-side for second place in turn one when Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet got loose and slid up the track slamming Bell’s No. 20 Toyota hard into the wall destroying both race cars.
An apologetic Elliott commented on the hard wreck, “Totally my fault. I feel so bad for Christopher (Bell). Just racing really hard…I just told him (Bell) I was sorry. Obviously, it was not on purpose, but I knew it was a really big hit for both of us.”
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Bubba Wallace finished third, with Kyle Larson and Carson Hocevar rounding out the top five.
The NASCAR teams head to the “Tricky Triangle” of Pocono Raceway for next Sunday’s Great American Getaway 400 where Denny Hamlin has a chance to set another career milestone of winning three straight NASCAR Cup Series races…. hopefully not from the back of the pack like his last two wins at Nashville and Michigan.
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