2026 Firekeepers Casino 400 (Michigan) Race Recap

By Adam Carabine

Is this déjà vu? Denny Hamlin won the pole, went to the rear, and then drove all the way to the front for the second week in a row.  There was a lot of crashing and carnage at Michigan, but Denny rose above it to capture the win. 

Let’s have a look at how it all shook down!

Lap 1:  Denny Hamlin should have been on pole, but had to make repairs to his car, so he had to start at the rear.  Carson Hocevar became the control car, and Tyler Reddick made his way up to the front row with him.

Lap 3:  CAUTION – Connor Zilisch spins, it doesn’t look terrible, but he got a bit of damage after hitting the wall.

Lap 6:  Back to green with Hocevar and Reddick again on the front row.

Lap 7:  Ty Gibbs with a neat little move to take it three-wide.  He gets the lead for a second, but stalls out and Hocevar gets it back.

Lap 9:  CAUTION – Connor Zilisch again.  This time he spins and hits the inside wall, and the damage is too much for him to continue.  He’s out of the race.

Lap 15:  Back to green, Hocevar and Reddick again.  However, this time, Reddick gets a heck of a restart and takes the lead from the bottom lane.

Lap 21:  Hamlin had worked his way up to around 27^th but has started falling back again.

Lap 30:  Reddick still leads, Ty Gibbs in 2^nd, Hocevar in 3^rd.  Hocevar is saving fuel at a much better rate than the other two leaders, though.

Lap 39:  Todd Gilliland got a flat tire but managed to limp his car to pit road with no incident.  The race stays green.

Lap 44:  Ty Gibbs is suddenly gaining on leader Reddick, with just a few laps to go in the stage!

Lap 45:  Tyler Reddick holds on and wins Stage One.

Lap 48:  Pit road open, Gibbs wins the race off.  Reddick loses four spots, but the team had planned on getting more fuel on this stop.

Lap 52:  Stage Two is green, Ty Gibbs and Bubba Wallace on the front row.  Wallace gets the lead from the inside lane.

Lap 59:  Carson Hocevar takes the lead.

Lap 66:  Ty Gibbs gets the lead back, but immediately there is a CAUTION – Brad Keselowski has a tire go down and he hits the wall.

Lap 68:  Contact on pit road between Ty Gibbs and Ryan Preece, but both are able to continue.

Lap 71:  Green flag.  Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson on the front row.  Again, the inside lane gets Larson the lead, despite not being the control car.

Lap 72:  Cancel that, Elliott takes the lead back.

Lap 78:  CAUTION – AJ Allmendinger spins on his own.

Lap 82:  Green flag, Elliott and Larson again.  However, HUGE crash on the restart resulting in another CAUTION.  Hocevar gets into the back of John Hunter Nemechek, spinning him, and causing some major carnage with many cars.  Tyler Reddick and Austin Dillon take the worst of it.

Lap 90:  Back to green, but then CAUTION – Keselowski is spinning again, this time he hits the inside wall.

Lap 94:  Green flag, Larson and Elliott.

Lap 96:  Seemingly out of nowhere, Bubba Wallace comes and gets the lead!

Lap 99:  Chase Elliott gets the lead back.  Lots of back and forth up front.

Lap 120:  Chase Elliott holds it down and wins Stage Two.  Erik Jones has made his way up to P2.

Lap 127:  Final stage is green, Chase Elliott ahead of William Byron. Christopher Bell gets the lead from third.

Lap 142:  CAUTION – Zane Smith spins on his own.

Lap 148:  Green flag, Byron and Bell, but then as Bell and Elliott battle for the lead, Elliott gets loose, and takes both himself and Bell out.  A very violent crash for Bell, but both got out of their cars okay. 

Lap 150:  The SAFER barriers were so damaged by such a hard crash that the race has to be red flagged for them to repair the wall.  The race goes back to yellow about 20 minutes later.

Lap 153:  Back to green, this time it’s William Byron and Daniel Suarez.  Suarez takes the lead on the restart, and now Denny Hamlin is up to third!

Lap 154:  CAUTION – Multiple cars in a wreck. 

Lap 161:  Back to green again, Suarez over Byron.  Hocevar battles up to the front with a great restart.

Lap 162:  Then there goes Hamlin! He takes the lead.

Lap 165:  While battling, Hocevar gets into the wall, but not enough to bring out a caution, and he keeps running, looking no worse for wear.

Lap 179:  Hamlin’s lead is now up to 2.5s over Suarez.

Lap 184:  Bubba Wallace passes Suarez for P2.

Lap 186:  Denny is just running away with it, his lead is now 6.5 seconds.

Lap 191:  Hocevar is back in the picture and takes P2 from Bubba Wallace.

Lap 195:  It’s a battle for second place.  Erik Jones passes Hocevar now for P2.

Lap 197:  Denny’s lead now over 10 seconds.

Lap 200:  Denny Hamlin wins the race!

Hamlin earns his 63^rd Cup Series win, tying him for 9^th on the all-time wins list with the late Kyle Busch.  He celebrated with a tribute flag to Busch while doing his burnout.

Next week we are in Pocono!