FireKeepers Casino 400

Denny Hamlin won for the third time of the year and third time at Michigan International Speedway in the FireKeepers Casino 400. Chris Buescher finished second with Ty Gibbs in third. Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson rounded out the top five. 

Chase Brisco won his third straight pole to start out front with Kyle Busch beside him.  Brisco led the first twelve laps of the race until William Byron was able to pass him for the lead. Chris Buescher took the lead on lap 36 and held on to win stage one for his first stage win of the year. 

Stage two started with Ryan Blaney out front for the first few laps until Chase Elliott passed him for the lead. The next caution came when Noah Gragson and John Hunter Nemechek spun on the backstretch on lap 60. Thay were only able to go seven laps before the next caution as Austin Cindric contacted Cole Custer, sending Custer into Alex Bowman who hit the outside wall head-on in a vicious wreck. Daniel Suarez and Brisco were also involved in the incident. On lap 75, Elliott gave up the lead as he made his pit stop handing the lead to Christopher Bell. Bell led a few laps before Byron passed him and took the lead again. Ryan Blaney brought out the caution with twelve laps to go in the stage when he hit the turn four wall and spun out. With ten to go in the stage, most drivers pitted, moving Cindric to the lead. Byron was able to get by Cindric on the last lap of the stage to get the stage two win, his seventh of the year.

Byron started the final stage out front and stayed there until the next caution on lap 146 when Todd Gilliland blew a left rear tire, hitting the outside wall. Zane Smith assumed the lead when most of the field made a pit stop, but Smith only took two tires, allowing him to come out with the lead. The two tires were not enough to keep him out front as Hocevar was able to take the lead. With 19 laps to go, Hocevar’s rear tire went down and forced him to pit for four tires and gas, handing the lead back to Byron. Denny Hamlin passed Byron with four laps to go and was able to hang on for the win.  

Ryan Blaney had a strong final stage and won his first race of the year in Nashville at the Cracker Barrel 400. Carson Hocevar had a good showing for the day and ended up finishing second with Denny Hamlin third. Joey Logano and William Byron rounded out the top five. 

A pair of Toyotas were out front for the start of the race, Chase Briscoe on the pole and Denny Hamlin in second. Briscoe jumped out front and stayed there until Hamlin assumed the lead during green flag pit stops. Both Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney spent time up front during the green flag cycle. Briscoe was back up front with 20 laps remaining in the stage and stayed there until Hamlin passed him with 7 laps to go in the stage. Hamlin won stage one with Tyler Reddick second. It was Hamlin’s third stage win of the year.

Ryan Blaney and his teammate Austin Cindric took two tires and found themselves up front for the start of stage two. Blaney took the lead at the drop of the green flag. The yellow flag came out on lap 106 when Carson Hocevar made contact with Ricky Stenhouse, sending Stenhouse into the wall. After the pit stops, Hamlin was back out front but it was not long before the caution came out again, this time when Noah Gragson and Alex Bowman got together. As soon as the green flag came out, contact between Eric Jones and Christopher Bell ended with Bell in the outside wall. The next caution came out on lap 131 when Corey Heim wrecked coming out of turn 4. With 16 laps to go in the stage, Blaney took the lead with William Byron in second, Hamlin fell to third. Blaney stayed in the lead and won stage two. 

The final stage started with Joey Logano leading the pack to the green flag but they only made it two laps before the caution flag flew again, this time as Ryan Preece spun out. On the restart, Blaney was able to get in front of Logano to take the lead. During the green flag pit stops, Hamlin stayed out to take the lead and ran until he ran low on fuel. Cindric assumed the lead when Hamlin pitted and handed the lead to Austin Dillon when he hit pit road. Dillion led a handful of laps before pitting allowing Brad Keselowski to lead for a few laps before making his stop, cycling the lead back to Blaney. Blaney would lead the rest of the laps of the race.