By Miguel Mike Medina
Photo Credit: AP Photo/Paul Sancya
Denny Hamlin wins the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway. It’s Hamlin’s third career win at Michigan.
Every time Hamlin wins a race, he can’t stay away and say, “I just beat your favorite driver. ” He did that once again on Sunday. Hamlin embraces the villain role, which is what NASCAR needs—someone with a bravado personality.
The 44-year-old future Hall of Famer has done it all. All he is missing is winning a championship. Hamlin is having a stellar season so far. Winning a championship is still a possibility for him after the way he’s been performing.
Hamlin’s win at Michigan is a feel-good story, especially after his loss at Charlotte a few weeks ago. He wrote a different script this time and made sure that his car had enough fuel to give him the edge over other drivers.
“It’s fantastic,” Hamlin said. “The whole team did a great job, and we’ve been so fast throughout the year. Just haven’t finished it for one reason or another, but it feels good to come here to Michigan, where we’ve been so close over the years, and get a victory for Toyota, Yahoo, Sport Clips, Shady Rays, Jordan Brand, everyone. This is such a gratifying day.”
During the race, Alex Bowman suffered a scary crash. Luckily, Bowman was able to walk away and wasn’t severely injured. It’s tough for Bowman as he received his third DNF and seventh finish of 27th or worse over his last nine races.
The last five laps of the race were exciting because William Bryon and Hamlin were going at it to try to win the race, but Hamlin began to pull away in the last two laps. Byron led 98 of the 200 laps
Chris Buescher finished second. Ty Gibbs finished third. Bubba Wallace finished fourth, and Kyle Larson finished fifth.
The race at Michigan was Hamlin’s 701st career series start. Hamlin won his 57th career race.
Next Sunday is the Viva Mexico 250 at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. It’s the first Cup Series event in Mexico. The race begins at 3 p.m. ET on Prime Video.
X: @mmm_sportnfilms, Instagram: @miguel_passionforsports and @themmmjournal, LinkedIn: The MMM Journal, TikTok: @miguelmikemedina
