Someone call Marvel. NASCAR may have just found its newest superhero.
For the second consecutive week, Denny Hamlin started at the front, got sent to the back, and somehow ended up standing in Victory Lane.
Last Sunday at Nashville it felt unlikely. Sunday at Michigan International Speedway it felt downright absurd.
In a race that featured a record 11 caution flags, multiple massive accidents, a red flag, and enough twisted sheet metal to keep body shops busy until Christmas, Hamlin methodically carved his way through the field before delivering the knockout punch with 39 laps remaining.
When the green flag waved for the final restart, Hamlin spotted an opening where most drivers would have seen a closed door. Diving to the bottom and making it three-wide entering Turn 1, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver completed a breathtaking pass for the lead and instantly transformed himself from contender to conqueror.
From there, the rest of the field might as well have been driving rental cars.
Hamlin drove away to score his third victory of the season and the 63rd NASCAR Cup Series win of his career, crossing the finish line a staggering 11.11 seconds ahead of runner-up Erik Jones.
Bubba Wallace finished third, Kyle Larson fourth, and hometown favorite Carson Hocevar completed the top five.
The victory was made even more remarkable considering Hamlin never should have been in position to pull it off.
After winning the pole Saturday, damage sustained during practice forced repairs to his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. NASCAR regulations required Hamlin to surrender his starting position and begin Sunday’s race at the rear of the field.
That didn’t stop him.
Again.
“This Joe Gibbs team just keeps giving me amazing race cars,” Hamlin said afterward. “This National Debt Toyota, it’s just amazing.
“At the last run there, just hammering down. Had a few good restarts, and once we got to the lead, I was going to lay it out, all I had.”
Michigan’s afternoon of chaos began almost immediately.
Carson Hocevar inherited the pole position when Hamlin moved to the rear, but Connor Zilisch’s difficult summer continued almost from the drop of the green flag. Running 25th, the rookie spun on Lap 2 but avoided major damage.
His luck lasted only seven more laps.
On Lap 9, Zilisch spun again exiting Turn 2 and this time slammed the inside wall, ending his afternoon and marking his third consecutive race with major problems after incidents at Charlotte and Nashville.
Up front, Tyler Reddick took control on Lap 14 and eventually captured Stage 1, holding off a hard-charging Ty Gibbs. Hocevar finished third while Hamlin quietly worked his way forward from deep in the field.
Gibbs continued to showcase race-winning speed throughout the afternoon, but Michigan’s caution-filled script eventually caught up with him.
The race’s turning point came shortly after a restart on Lap 86.
What began as a routine acceleration quickly turned into a demolition derby when Hocevar attempted an aggressive three-wide move that had worked earlier in the race. This time, however, there wasn’t enough room.
Contact triggered a chain reaction involving seven cars, with John Hunter Nemechek, Gibbs, and Reddick among those collected. For Reddick, who entered Michigan with five victories already this season, it resulted in his first DNF of 2026.
The caution count kept climbing.
AJ Allmendinger spun.
Brad Keselowski’s miserable home-state race unraveled with tire issues and a later crash.
Zane Smith pounded the wall after losing a tire.
Then came the biggest accident of the afternoon.
With 53 laps remaining, Chase Elliott and Christopher Bell made contact while battling near the front of the field. Both slammed the outside wall, with Bell absorbing one of the most violent impacts seen in several years. His damaged Toyota burst into flames after coming to rest, bringing an anxious hush over the speedway.
Fortunately, Bell climbed out under his own power.
The incident triggered a red flag lasting more than 20 minutes while NASCAR repaired the SAFER barrier.
When racing finally resumed, another multi-car crash immediately followed, involving Michael McDowell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Preece, Noah Gragson, Shane van Gisbergen, Josh Berry, and Austin Hill.
The record for cautions was officially broken.
And somehow, amid all the carnage, Hamlin kept moving forward.
By the final restart, he was exactly where he needed to be.
Hamlin’s three-wide move for the lead with 39 laps remaining proved to be the final decisive moment of the afternoon. Once clear of Hocevar and Daniel Suarez, he immediately opened a gap that nobody could challenge.
As Suarez and Wallace battled for second, Hamlin disappeared into the distance.
The victory carried added emotional significance.
The NASCAR community has spent much of the season dealing with loss, including the recent death of two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch and, this week, NASCAR Hall of Famer Ned Jarrett.
“The off-season, it was rough for me, it was rough for the NASCAR family, we lost a lot of people,” Hamlin said. “This week we lost Gentleman Ned, the original badass of the 11. We’re still thinking of Kyle, Samantha, Brexton, Lennix.
“You know, 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.”
Suarez finished sixth, followed by Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, and Chase Briscoe.
Next up is Pocono Raceway, the track where Hamlin earned his first Cup Series victory two decades ago.
Given what he’s done the last two weeks, nobody should be surprised if NASCAR’s newest superhero pulls off another miracle there, too.
RACE RESULTS
Greg was a writer for DriveTribe supporting Amazon's The Grand Tour and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, and a Masters degree in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek and a regular contributor to Forbes.
- When 200mph Stops Being Racing: Elliott and Bell’s Michigan Nightmare - June 7, 2026
- Marvel Has Iron Man, NASCAR Has Denny Hamlin - June 7, 2026
- Tyler Reddick Finally Had a Bad Day. NASCAR Didn’t Waste the Opportunity. - June 7, 2026