BROOKLYN, Mich. — There were no boos for Denny Hamlin after this winning burnout at Michigan International Speedway.
Holding a black No. 18 flag out the window, the Joe Gibbs Racing star celebrated his 63rd career victory by smoking the tires of his No. 11 Toyota down the straightaway in honor of Kyle Busch, his late former teammate whom he tied for ninth on the all-time wins list in NASCAR Cup Series competition.
“Truthfully, I had to outlive him to tie him,” said Hamlin who said “We love you, KB” over the team radio during his victory lap. “He was an amazing teammate. He taught me so much at tracks like this. I just can’t say enough.”
It was the second consecutive victory for Hamlin and his second consecutive win at Michigan, where he celebrated last year by taunting fans who booed him.
But there were only raucous cheers from the grandstands on the front stretch Sunday as Hamlin jogged up to the flag stand to get the checkered flag while still carrying his tribute flag to Busch, who had been in the No. 8 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing since the 2023 season.
Busch drove the No. 18 from 2008-22 for JGR, teaming up with Hamlin for a NASCAR-record 523 races. Busch’s death on May 21 at age 41 rocked NASCAR, which was already grieving over the offseason deaths of former driver Greg Biffle and his family in a plane crash. Hamlin’s father also died in a Dec. 28 house fire.
Noting that NASCAR Hall of Famer Ned Jarrett also died last week, Hamlin dedicated his third win this season to two-time Cup Series champion Busch and his family.
“The offseason, it was rough for me, and it was rough for the NASCAR family,” Hamlin said. “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.”
Just like his win a week earlier at Nashville Superspeedway, when Hamlin started on the pole position but was penalized for jumping the start, he qualified first Saturday at Michigan but dropped to the back at the green flag because of a penalty for unapproved but necessary adjustments to his car due to damage from practice.
Hamlin patiently worked his way to the front over 400 miles. He took the lead for good on a three-wide pass during a restart with 38 laps remaining, sweeping into first around Spire Racing teammates Daniel Suarez and Carson Hocevar, a home-state favorite.
Hamlin won by 11.110 seconds, his widest margin of victory in a Cup Series race and the biggest margin at Michigan since June 1991.
“This Joe Gibbs team just keeps giving me amazing race cars,” the 45-year-old Hamlin said. “This Toyota was just amazing. And at the last run there, it just hammered down. It had a few good restarts, and then once we got to the lead, I was going to lay it out.”
Erik Jones, another Michigan native, finished second after also starting from the rear for unapproved adjustments to his Legacy Motor Club Toyota. Bubba Wallace, another Toyota driver, was a season-best third; he drives for 23XI Racing the team co-owned by Hamlin.
They were followed by reigning Cup Series champion Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports and fellow Chevrolet driver Hocevar, who notched his best Michigan finish.
“I don’t think anyone was going to contend with Denny at the end,” Larson said. “He was flying.”
Suarez wound up sixth, while Team Penske’s Joey Logano was seventh in the best finish for a Ford driver.
The race was stopped with 51 laps remaining to repair a damaged SAFER barrier after a hard crash involving JGR’s Christopher Bell and Hendrick’s Chase Elliott.
During a restart on the 148th lap, the drivers were running side by side for second. Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet bobbled and skidded up the track into Bell’s No. 20 Toyota, which shot into the outside wall at the two-mile oval where speeds top 200 mph.
The impact with Bell’s Camry severely deformed the SAFER barrier, which is comprised of steel and foam to absorb energy in wrecks. A red flag was displayed for 20 minutes to fix the damaged section of the barrier.
Both drivers climbed from their cars and walked to an ambulance for a trip to the track’s infield care center. Team owner Joe Gibbs said after the race that Bell had wrist and ankle injuries that would need to be evaluated this week.
Elliott patted Bell on the shoulder and apologized for the wreck before they entered the ambulance.
“I’m fine; it was totally my fault,” said Elliott, the 2020 Cup Series champion who has been voted the most popular driver by fans the past eight years. “I feel really bad for Bell, just taking him out. I was trying to run on the bottom and make use of our fresh tires and at least get to second and hopefully stay side by side with him. I got in there and got free and thought I was going to spin and was committing to spin out, and as soon as I started to commit to spinning, it just hooked up and hooked a right.
“Unfortunately, it sent Christopher into the wall super hard, and then me shortly there behind. Just racing really hard. I felt like that was kind of a turning point in the race. We needed to make something happen. I stepped over the line again and paid for it. … I just told him I’m sorry. Obviously, it was not on purpose.”
A nightmarish debut season in the Cup Series continued for Connor Zilisch, who crashed twice in the first eight laps and finished last in the 37-car field. The Trackhouse Racing driver has finished outside the top 30 the past three races and is still seeking the first top-10 finish of his first full-time season on the top circuit.
“I was really loose, but it’s just unfortunate,” Zilisch said. “Another short race for us. We’ll go try and get them at Pocono next week.”
Next Sunday’s stop at Pocono Raceway will be the only one for NASCAR at the Pennsylvania track this year.