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Denny Hamlin wins at Michigan for his 3rd NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season

Denny Hamlin wins at Michigan for his 3rd NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season

Fox Sports2 days ago

Associated Press
BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP) — Denny Hamlin outlasted the competition at Michigan International Speedway, winning his third NASCAR Cup Series race this season and the 57th of his career on Sunday.
Hamlin, in the No. 11 Toyota, went low to pass William Byron on the 197th of 200 laps and pulled away from the pack.
The 44-year-old was prepared to leave his team to join his fiancée, Jordan Fish, who is due to give birth to their third child, a boy.
Hamlin said he would skip next week's race in Mexico City if necessary to witness the birth. He's also co-owner of 23XI Racing with Michael Jordan, which is involved in a lawsuit against NASCAR.
Chris Buescher finished second, followed by Ty Gibbs, Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson.
Pole-sitter Chase Briscoe was out front until Byron passed him on lap 12. Buescher pulled ahead on lap 36 and stayed up front to win his first stage this season.
Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott took turns with the lead before a crash involving Alex Bowman brought out the red flag on lap 67.
Byron took the lead again after a restart on lap 78 as part of his strong start and surged to the front again to win the second stage.
Carson Hocevar took the lead on lap 152 and was informed soon thereafter that he didn't have enough fuel to finish, but that became moot because a flat tire forced him into the pits with 18 laps to go. Rough times for Bowman
Bowman hit a wall with the front end of his No. 48 Chevrolet as part of a multi-car crash in his latest setback.
'That hurt a lot,' he said after passing a medical evaluation.
Bowman, who drives for Hendrick Motorsports, came to Michigan 12th in points and will leave lower in the standings. He has finished 27th or worse in seven of his last nine starts and didn't finish for a third time during the tough stretch. Reddick rallies
Defending race champion Tyler Reddick qualified 12th, but started last in the 36-car field because of unapproved adjustments and rallied to finish 13th. Up next
NASCAR shifts to Mexico City for its first points-paying international race in modern history on June 15.
___
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
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Mexican driver Daniel Suarez has all the pressure heading to home race
Mexican driver Daniel Suarez has all the pressure heading to home race

Fox Sports

time21 minutes ago

  • Fox Sports

Mexican driver Daniel Suarez has all the pressure heading to home race

NASCAR Cup Series Mexican driver Daniel Suarez has all the pressure heading to home race Published Jun. 10, 2025 11:20 a.m. ET share facebook x reddit link Racing in his home country alone would put pressure on Daniel Suarez. Daniel Suárez waves to the crowd during introductions prior to the running of the NASCAR Cup Series Cracker Barrel 400 Entering the NASCAR Cup Series debut in Mexico City sitting 28th in the standings and without a contract for next season just adds to the pressure the Trackhouse driver will face Sunday at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. "It's not the first time that I've been in this position. Definitely the first time with the Mexico race, but it's not the first time that I've been in the position that we have to win or in the position that we have a contract negotiation in the middle [of the season]," Suarez said. "It's definitely a distraction. I won't sit here and tell you that it doesn't really matter. I'm trying to be as smart as possible and to put all this stuff on the side and just do my thing on the track." ADVERTISEMENT The 33-year-old Suarez, who grew up in Monterrey, is the only Mexican-born driver to win a NASCAR national series race. He has won two Cup races, three Xfinity races and one truck race. He is the only foreign-born driver to win a NASCAR national series title, which was the Xfinity Series in 2016. Daniel Suarez walks onstage wearing a Lucha Libre mask during driver intros prior to the NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway The Xfinity Series raced at the Mexico City track but with a different layout from 2005 through 2008. But this will mark the first Cup race in Mexico City and the first Cup points race outside the United States since 1958 when the Cup Series raced in Toronto. Cup held exhibition races in Japan from 1996 through 1998. The Mexican fans obviously have someone to root for in Suarez, who has been to Mexico six times in the last year to promote the race. He went to a premiere of the NASCAR series on Netflix there, and fans who had been following him since he drove in the NASCAR Mexico Series from 2010 through 2014 showed up. Suarez believes those who followed him 15 years ago and those who just will see there is a Mexican driver competing will cheer for him. "There are going to be the new fans, the fans that don't really know me and they just love racing and they know that there is a Mexican driver. They're going to be there with me and there is going to be these fans that they've been supporting me in all my journey," Suarez said. For those who have followed Suarez's career, they have seen him go through the ups and downs of driving for four different Cup teams. He has been at Trackhouse Racing since 2021 and signed a one-year extension last year. 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In his ninth full-time Cup season, Suarez has 302 career Cup starts, and if he doesn't ink a new deal with Trackhouse, there could be few opportunities for a comparable organization. A win can change everything, and road course races typically are ones where Suarez has shown strength. His first Cup victory came at the road course in Sonoma, and the next five Cup races include road-course races at Mexico City, Sonoma and the Chicago street course. "We just have to execute," Suarez said. "We have to do the little things right, and I believe that we're capable of doing that. ... We win next week, and all these conversations are going to be out of the window." Suarez said he plans to arrive in Mexico on Tuesday, June 10. Then, he'll do many of his public appearances over the next three days. Once cars hit the track on Friday, he needs to focus on trying to do all the little things right. "There is going to be more on my plate [in Mexico] and I have to accept that," Suarez said. 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Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass. share

One year from World Cup opener, FIFA leaves questions unanswered on tickets and security
One year from World Cup opener, FIFA leaves questions unanswered on tickets and security

Hamilton Spectator

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One year from World Cup opener, FIFA leaves questions unanswered on tickets and security

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Denny Hamlin pulls out third win of year at Michigan
Denny Hamlin pulls out third win of year at Michigan

Miami Herald

timean hour ago

  • Miami Herald

Denny Hamlin pulls out third win of year at Michigan

Denny Hamlin is still on baby watch, but he had one more workday to take care of Sunday. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver made his way past William Byron with four laps to go and had enough gas to hang on and win the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich. Racing a snappy purple No. 11 Toyota, Hamlin passed Byron's No. 24 Chevrolet with four circuits left on the two-mile track, and Byron ran out of gas coming to the white flag. The Hendrick Motorsports driver landed in 28th place. In delivering Toyota its second straight MIS win, Hamlin beat Ford's Chris Buescher by 1.09 seconds for his third Cup Series win this season and third at the Michigan track. His last victory there came in June 2011. 'I wanted to get the lead, (Byron) was doing a great job defending,' Hamlin said before taunting the crowd's mixture of cheers and boos. 'Daddy, I'm sorry, but I beat your favorite driver, folks.' When asked who that driver was, Hamlin, who led just five laps, said, 'All of them.' Hamlin and fiancee Jordan Fish are expecting their third child. Hamlin said he was prepared to leave the race if she went into labor during the first 50 laps. Hamlin won for the 57th time in his 701st career race, becoming just the 10th driver to win after making 700 starts. 'We've been so fast the entire year but haven't been finishing for one reason or another,' said Hamlin, 44. 'It feels good to come here to Michigan, where we've been so close over the years, and get a victory ... Such a gratifying day to restart 11th, 12th, something like that, and then drive to the front.' Ty Gibbs and Bubba Wallace were third and fourth, respectively. Gibbs is Hamlin's JGR teammate and Wallace drives for 23XI Racing, which Hamlin co-owns. Kyle Larson finished fifth. Byron grabbed the lead away from polesitter Chase Briscoe on Lap 12 of Stage 1, but Buescher passed Byron on Lap 36 of the 45-lap segment and earned his first stage win of 2025. Byron finished second while Hamlin, Briscoe and Josh Berry completed the top five in the incident-free stage. The first caution for cause waved on Lap 60 when Noah Gragson and John Hunter Nemechek, running just inside the top 20, spun on the backstretch to bunch up the field again, but seven laps later a hard wreck occurred in Turn 2. Riding in the bottom lane, last week's winner Ryan Blaney tapped Cole Custer's No. 41, triggering a mess that ended up with Alex Bowman's No. 48 Chevrolet crashing violently nose-first into the wall and Briscoe spinning after being clipped by Custer's Ford. That prompted a red-flag condition for cleanup. 'Yeah, that hurt a lot,' Bowman said. 'It was probably top of the board on hits I've taken, and, unfortunately, I've taken a lot of hits.' As Stage 2 neared its end, Blaney slapped the wall on his own in the No. 12 Ford and spun down the speedway, an unfortunate fifth caution for Christopher Bell, who pitted shortly before Blaney's mishap. The closing laps of the stage featured a spirited battle between Byron, Tyler Reddick, Austin Cindric and Carson Hocevar. Byron made the winning pass on the final lap for the stage win while Cindric was able to hold off Michigan native Hocevar for second. Hocevar took the point on Lap 152, but the Spire Motorsports driver suffered a flat left rear tire with 19 circuits left, turning over the lead to Byron. Hocevar finished 29th. Field Level Media 2025 - All Rights Reserved

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