Denny Hamlin admitted that restarts at Michigan International Speedway nearly ruined his race before he went on to win it. Speaking on his Actions Detrimental podcast, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver explained how Michigan’s high-speed nature can make restarts harder than they look.
Hamlin, who started Stage 2 in second place, was almost taken out when he got loose coming off Turn 2 after a close run-in with Kyle Larson. The incident happened early in Stage 2 of the FireKeepers Casino 400. As Hamlin exited the corner, Larson got to his outside, and the two touched.
The racing to start Stage 2 of the FireKeepers Casino 400 has been INSANE! This was a wild moment, where Denny Hamlin was able to somehow hold on with a very loose car under Kyle Larson’s No. 5 car. pic.twitter.com/j5IrUC9fCh
— Toby Christie (@Toby_Christie) June 8, 2025
That moment sent the No. 11 car into a sideways drift, which Hamlin had to save with quick reflexes. Several cars passed him right after, and it looked like his day might be over. But Hamlin kept his cool. Using the speed of the 2-mile track, he fought back down the straightaways and worked his way back to the front.
In the end, he went on to claim his third win of the 2025 season. Looking back on the near-disaster during his recent podcast, Hamlin pointed to how tricky Michigan restarts can be.
“Michigan is one of the toughest tracks for (restarts), where, when you actually have a lot of corner speed, it can be a negative thing,” he shared. “I feel like so many times I’ve been caught going in the sucker hole of like, okay, I’m just going to go down here and pass this guy because I’m faster. Well, I don’t clear, and then next thing you know, here comes one, two, three cars down the straightaway.
“It’s like, if Atlanta is a mile and a half to super speedway hybrid, Michigan is a hybrid of Atlanta to a mile and a half. There’s more drafting, but handling does matter. It’s just a perfect, and I said this in my post-race (interview), Michigan is just wildly one of the most underrated racetracks that we go to, just simply because it fits the car’s characteristics so well,” he added.
The victory helped Hamlin climb up into the third spot in the drivers’ standings, and he now trails the championship leader William Byron by 82 points.
Denny Hamlin Explains How He Managed To Beat Byron in Michigan
Hamlin used a smart fuel strategy to beat William Byron late in the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver pressured Byron in the final laps, forcing the Hendrick Motorsports driver to burn more fuel than he could afford.
That pressure helped Hamlin take the win while Byron ran out of gas and had to pit with just one lap to go. Byron had led a race-high 98 laps and looked strong all day. But as the race neared the finish, his team warned him that he might not have enough fuel to make it to the end.
Hamlin, on the other hand, had enough fuel in the tank and was running close behind. With just four laps left, Hamlin passed Byron on the inside of Turn 3 and took the lead for good. During the podcast, Hamlin explained how he approached his battle with William Byron for the race win.
“He made it difficult, but I thought that since I got there with 10,12 to go, it was going to be difficult for him to hold us off for that long,” Hamlin said (via X/Dirty Mo Media). “I’d never wanted to assume he was going to run out of gas. And even as his crew chief said, ‘run it all out here, you gotta keep the lead.’ We forced him to use more gas than what he was budgeting.”
When did @dennyhamlin know this was his race? 👀 pic.twitter.com/4br44QMtML
— Dirty Mo Media (@DirtyMoMedia) June 9, 2025
Hamlin will return for more Cup Series racing action on Sunday, June 15, for the Viva Mexico 250 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit.