Michigan Matters: Tackling distracted driving issues
With April being Distracted Driving Awareness Month, Tricia Morrow, GM Engineering Group Manager, Crash Avoidance and Technology Strategy, and Dan Glaser, GM Driver Distraction Engineer, appear on CBS Detroit's Michigan Matters to discuss the latest in technology and safety features that can help ease the problem.
Distracted driving killed at least 3,000 people and caused more than 400,000 injuries in the U.S. in 2024, according to NHTSA, as the problem is worse in summer months when more people are on the road.
Morrow and Glaser talk about things that can distract drivers, such as using handheld phones while driving, fumbling with GPS and other things.
Glaser highlighted growing technologies General Motors is employing tied to audio commands as one thing that can help the cause.
Morrow also talked about how GM is working with organizations to help spread the word about keeping hands on the wheel and focusing on driving.
Then, Michael Pugh, CEO of Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), a national organization that has invested billions in Detroit and other cities across America, appears to discuss their imprint.
Pugh, born and raised in Detroit by a single mom, is an alum of Eastern Michigan University and also talked about his journey.
LISC Detroit has helped invest hundreds of millions in Metro Detroit, which Pugh discussed.
(Watch Michigan Matters at its new time: 5:30 a.m. Sundays on CBS Detroit, 9:30 a.m. Sundays on CW Detroit 50 WKBD).
(Carol Cain is the 13-time Emmy-winning senior producer and host of Michigan)
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New York Times
31 minutes ago
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NASCAR Michigan takeaways: Denny Hamlin's late-career strength, Ty Gibbs' frustration and more
BROOKLYN, Mich. — When 44-year-old Denny Hamlin recently went 11 months without winning a NASCAR Cup Series race, his most sought-after career goal seemed to be slipping away. No, we're not talking about a Cup championship — even though Hamlin is the best NASCAR driver never to win one. Hamlin would absolutely love a title, of course, but championships have a different meaning to some drivers these days with the playoff elimination system. Advertisement What Hamlin wants the most? To finish his career among the top 10 on NASCAR's all-time Cup Series wins list. And reeling off three more victories in less than two and a half months, including Sunday at Michigan International Speedway, suddenly makes that goal a bit more realistic. Hamlin now has 57 career wins, which is three away from tying Kevin Harvick for 10th on the all-time list. And the burst of momentum has left him speaking a bit differently about it. At first, Hamlin repeatedly said the goal was that 60-win mark. Then he said actually he'd like to win 61 so he could be in sole possession of 10th. But listen to him now after Sunday's win. 'At least while I'm alive, I want to be in the top 10 for the most wins,' he said. OK, but that's going to take even more than 61, Hamlin figures. 'I've got to count on possibly (Joey) Logano, more than likely (Kyle) Larson overtaking us in wins,' he said. 'You've got to budget for at least a couple of these guys who started so much younger than I did to beat us on the win total.' After Harvick, Kyle Busch is ninth with 63 career wins. Can Hamlin finish with more than Busch, who is still trying to add more himself? That seems like a big ask for someone who might only race for another couple seasons. After all, Hamlin recently passed 700 starts and said he won't be around for 800 (there are 36 races per year). 'I'm going to hate it when I'm not at the level I'm at now,' Hamlin said. 'I certainly will retire very, very quickly after that. I'm not going to hang around and do it just to do it. This is how I want to spend my last season — still winning.' We've seen other drivers suddenly stop winning in their mid-40s with virtually no warning, and Hamlin is already in rare territory: Only 10 of the 20 drivers who have made more than 700 career starts have won after their 700th race (a list which now includes Hamlin) and only six have even won multiple races. Advertisement Hamlin likes his chances of getting a few more, but he's also realistic: These races are hard to win, and Sunday could have been it. 'You have another birthday (and) you keep wondering how long are you going to be able to keep doing this at this level?' said Hamlin, who turns 45 in November. 'Listen, 57 (wins) might be it. None of us in this room know. I'm at least going to enjoy it as if it's my last, then I'll go to work on Monday, just like I always have.' Denny gets it done at @MISpeedway! — NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 8, 2025 As Hamlin celebrated in victory lane, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Ty Gibbs was parked just behind the winner's circle backdrop — and in a much less cheerful mode. In fact, Gibbs was outright pissed. He wasn't having any of the consolation talk from his team or family, was uninterested in the moral victory of finishing third and brushed off a rear-end smack from his grandfather, Hall of Fame football coach Joe Gibbs. Gibbs, expected to contend for a playoff spot this year and win his first career race, has had a frustrating season. Michigan was only his second top-five finish, and he felt he was close enough to compete for the victory — especially since his teammate Hamlin was on a similar fuel strategy. 'I would rather go win,' the driver said. 'I don't come here to run third and run half-throttle on the straightaway, but it's what they thought we needed to do.' Gibbs was continuously instructed to save more gas, even when he was tracking down race leaders Hamlin and William Byron with four laps to go; the team urged him to back off just when it looked like he could have made a pass. 'He doesn't know how much we saved or if we were going to run out,' crew chief Tyler Allen said. 'So he's frustrated because he could see it and he was fast enough to go take it. Unfortunately, we weren't going to make it on fuel, and that wouldn't have done any good to our team and our points situation.' Advertisement But Gibbs disagreed, saying he saved enough fuel to go harder and ended the race without having to flip his reserve fuel switch (indicating there was perhaps another lap or so remaining). 'I was told to save more, and it's just frustrating for me,' Gibbs said. 'I would have loved to be more aggressive there.' Carson Hocevar was again a hot topic at Michigan after he led a career-high 32 laps before getting a flat tire while leading the race. 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Before finishing fourth on Sunday to record back-to-back top-six finishes, Wallace had some fun on X when NASCAR released the list of its inaugural in-season tournament competitors last week — in alphabetical order, meaning his name was last. 'Bubbles last like he always is,' Wallace captioned the tournament list in a quote-tweet. 'Bubbles' is just one of the derogatory nicknames used by Wallace's detractors, but he hasn't let go of his trolling nature on social media. After all, he pointed out, even his X header image is a troll post: A cartoon depiction of NASCAR's Mount Rushmore — showing Petty, Earnhardt, Johnson and … Wallace. Wallace said he sticks his shoe in ant hills in real life, and this is no different. 'It's the boomers who are actually pissed off,' he said. 'They're probably just punching air because I beat them to their own comments. So yeah, that brings me joy.' Chase Briscoe became the first driver in more than two years to win three consecutive pole positions (Kyle Larson in spring 2024), starting first at the Coke 600, Nashville and now Michigan. But Briscoe, who is yet to win this season, is too close to the playoff bubble for comfort after another disappointing result on Sunday (23rd). He said he's taken note of the mentality carried by his beloved Indiana Pacers — who stunned the Oklahoma City Thunder with a Game 1 comeback in the NBA Finals before getting blown out on Sunday night in Game 2. Advertisement 'It's the 'never give up' part,' he said. 'We've seen that even throughout my career. There was a time we were four laps down in one race and got back on the lead lap. It's definitely been fun to see a basketball team have that same mentality of never giving up. 'A lot of teams (give up) if they're down nine points with two minutes left, but the Pacers have continued to come back from huge deficits even when the other team thinks the game is already over. There's definitely something to that.' (Top photo of Denny Hamlin celebrating Sunday's win: Chris Graythen / Getty Images)
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Fox News
2 hours ago
- Fox News
Denny Hamlin wins Michigan, taunts crowd while awaiting third child
BROOKLYN, Mich. — Denny Hamlin could feel nerves during the race Sunday at Michigan International Speedway. His fiancée, Jordan Fish, was six days past due with their third child and Hamlin and his team had decided if they got past Lap 50 of the 200-lap race, he wouldn't be told if she went into labor. Things worked out for Hamlin. He won at Michigan and 90 minutes after the race, was still at the track doing media. He talked about why he needs to be at the birth, baby names … and fierce taunts of the crowd in Michigan. That's Hamlin, living amid chaos and then creating even more for himself. "I don't want to be so ho-hum with winning that it's boring because then I lose my drive," Hamlin said. Hamlin, who has a group of friends who are Ohio State fans, gave the "O" sign to the Michigan crowd and resurrected his line that he told his father he wouldn't use anymore as he crowed to the crowd: "I beat your favorite driver." The boos reigned and Hamlin chuckled. "I do thrive on it just simply because you feel like you've got 60,000 people that are rooting against you," Hamlin said. "When you have that, it just feels really, really good and gratifying to prove them wrong. "I love that feeling." Hamlin had spent Saturday night in Michigan as Fish had not had any labor symptoms. Fish posted an Instagram story late in the race that she was at home. "I felt decent enough about it," Hamlin said. "We had to set some sort of cutoff of whether I was going to finish or not. "So I was very nervous last night and then this morning to getting the call because I knew I had a race-winning car after yesterday." Hamlin is known to run well, even with outside distractions. And he has the additional drama of the race team he owns (but doesn't drive for) 23XI Racing embroiled in a lawsuit against NASCAR. Earlier in the week, the team was dealt a blow in the U.S Court of Appeals and faces the prospect of the 23XI Racing cars not being chartered in a few weeks. It seems that he has been able to focus when he's at the track since that lawsuit was filed last October. The worries about missing the birth of his child, though, seemed to weigh on him more. With JGR simulator driver Ryan Truex at the track, in case he needed to leave, Hamlin knew the team was prepared for him to leave if Fish went into labor. He knew he had a strong car and had a good feeling about the race. Granted, Hamlin didn't have the fastest car. Chris Buescher probably did, but his car wiggled as he tried to run down the leaders late in the race. This cost him valuable momentum and he ended up coming across the line a second after Hamlin. William Byron had a strong car, but like many others, he had to save gas near the end, relinquishing the lead with less than four laps to go and then running out with a little over a lap remaining. Hamlin's team made sure he had enough fuel on the final stop to be on the attack at the end. And he executed flawlessly to the finish. And his wife was still at home, posting on Instagram near the end of the race. "I was a little nervous just because we put the Lap 50 cutoff," Hamlin said. "If it happens before Lap 50, I just go ahead and get out, just because of the time. "If it was after, I thought that by the time she gets her s--- together and gets to the hospital, all that stuff? You just never how it all turns out. But I think I can make it, as long as I had a three-hour window." It marked the third win of the year for Hamlin and his 57th career victory in his 701st start. Now it's on to Mexico City, and Hamlin indicated he would be willing to stay home if Fish has not given birth by the weekend. Obviously, it is a much longer flight from there than it would have been from Michigan to his North Carolina home. NASCAR would grant Hamlin a waiver to miss a race and consider it for medical reasons, meaning he would still make the playoffs and get to keep playoff points earned during the season. "It's the bigger picture. You never know when you'll ever have another one," Hamlin said about wanting to be home for the birth of the child. "You may not. I've been really supportive of her, the way that she wants to have this play out, which is as natural as possible. "Everyone asks, 'Why don't you just schedule, schedule, schedule?' I don't know. You've just got to let her decide in these situations. If it causes me to miss a race, it's one of 701 races that I missed and it's just not that big of a deal." His team owner, Heather Gibbs, when asked earlier about whether she was nervous for Hamlin, quipped: "It's funny, because I have four [children]. They [husbands] don't really do anything. When he gets home, he'll be home. It was good." Hamlin's response: "Well, that is true. I've been in the room before, and she needs something really hard to grab onto, and my hand is perfect for it. I'm definitely going to be there this week — hopefully — to hold her hand." The same could have been said for the way Hamlin grabbed the lead just when he needed to and held on for the victory. "He kind of thrives in chaos, right?" Heather Gibbs said. "It was true, we wanted to get him in the car. ... He's as cool as they come, that's for sure." Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily!
