TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 RESULTS:

POS. DRIVER

5th – Kyle Larson

6th – Ross Chastain

8th – Kyle Busch

· In a race that came down to fuel mileage, it was Kyle Larson and the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team that led Chevrolet to the checkered-flag at Michigan International Speedway – earning a fifth-place finish in the FireKeepers 400. Struggling with the balance of his Chevrolet throughout much of the race, the combination of veteran leadership by crew chief, Cliff Daniels, and the experience of former Cup Series Champion, Kyle Larson, kept the team in the fight until the end to claim their series-leading ninth top-five finish of the 2025 season.

· A pair of Team Chevy teammates saw their race win contention end in heartbreak in the closing laps of the 400-mile race. Pacing the field at his home track, Michigan native, Carson Hocevar, saw the chances of his first career victory in NASCAR’s top division end when the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet team suffered a flat left-rear tire. Sharing a disappointing end to the day was William Byron and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team. Running close on fuel mileage with the race hitting a single-digit lap count, Byron lost the top position to race winner, Denny Hamlin, with just three laps to go – ultimately having to bring his Chevrolet to pit road on the final lap for fuel to finish in the 28th position.

· Despite the finish, William Byron posted yet another strong points day – collecting a race-high 51 points to maintain the point lead by 41 points over his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Kyle Larson.

Chevrolet’s all-time NASCAR Cup Series statistics at Michigan International Speedway:

Wins: 26

Poles: 27

Top-Fives: 187

Top-10s: 392

Chevrolet’s season statistics with 15 NASCAR Cup Series races complete:

Wins: 5

Poles: 7

Top-Fives: 30

Top 10s: 64

Stage Wins: 15
UP NEXT: The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season continues at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez with the Viva Mexico 250 on Sunday, June 15, at 3 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on Amazon Prime Video, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Post-Race Driver Quotes:

Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

Finished: 6th

“We saved fuel the whole second-half of the run, so we were fine there at the end and I was able to start pushing hard again. I couldn’t really make much more lap time. You’re off the gas for 20 laps and you think – oh, I’m giving up all this lap time, and you go and get a tenth back on a big track like this. I think we finished about where we should have. When the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) passed me on that last run, I was like, I don’t have that, so hats off to those guys. They’ve been impressive. We just haven’t been quite that good to drive up and pass those guys, but it was a solid sixth-place finish for the No. 1 Busch Light Apple Chevrolet team.”

Do you think you’re gaining on it?

“Oh yes, for sure. It’s good times at Trackhouse Racing right now.

Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Finished: 5th

The race came down to fuel saving. How difficult is it to maintain saving fuel, but you’ve got guys with a little bit more fuel running you down?

“Early in the run, I was actually surprised with how easy it was to save fuel and kind of stay attached to the No. 77 (Carson Hocevar) and the No. 24 (William Byron). I thought I was in good shape there and I was hopeful that I had a big enough gap from the group behind us that maybe we could maintain that gap; those guys would run out of fuel in front of me and we could win. But they were charging hard and my balance wasn’t very good. I really faded there with 12 laps or so to go, so because of the balance being bad, I could save more fuel naturally. I just kind of had to nurse it home from there.

We didn’t have a good No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet today, but we still got a top-five finish out of it. I’m happy about the effort and hopefully we can have some more speed these next coming weeks and just run in the top-five more often. Days like today aren’t the most fun, but they feel really good, too. Proud of the whole team. Wish we could have gotten a win for Chevrolet today, but we’ll have to try again next year.”

AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet

Finished: 17th

“Just a hard fought day for our No. 16 group. I needed to be a little bit better, definitely made some mistakes for our race team and tried to get them back on the final restart. I felt like we got pretty close to where we probably should have been running, just more disappointed in myself today. I need to be a little bit better, but we fought hard and got everything out of it at the end there. We had to save a little bit of fuel, probably lost two spots in doing that, but at the end of the day, I think about 14th to 17th was about all we had. We did a fairly good job of maximizing our day and we’ll go to Mexico City and try to win the race.”

Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident in Stage Two.

Finished: 36th

Bowman on the accident that ended the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet team’s day early at Michigan International Speedway:

“It just looked like the No. 2 (Austin Cindric) got into the No. 41 (Cole Custer) or he was in a bad aero spot, something like that. The No. 41 got loose and at that point, being on the outside, when they get into you, you’re just along for the ride. Really quickly turned the car into the outside wall and it was a massive crash. Hate it for our No. 48 Ally Chevrolet team and everyone at Hendrick Motorsports. We just have to keep digging. It’s been a really bad two months for us, but we just have to keep working hard.”

How do you find the positives when we have a new racetrack next weekend in Mexico City and another couple of road courses in the next five weeks, with this group and speed you guys have had?

“We’ve had a lot of speed and a lot of good race cars. Obviously today, we were off from where we needed to be. But just the support that we have from Rick (Hendrick), Jeff (Gordon) and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports, they’ll give us the tools we need to get turned back around. We just needed to get pointed back in the right direction. We’re a much better race team than this.”

Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

Finished: 30th

“It was a rough day across the board for the No. 71 Delaware Life Chevrolet team. We got some track position about midway through. We made some improvements, but we just didn’t have it for you. And then right there at the end with five laps to go, we ran out of fuel. We went from a top-15 day to a 30th-place finish. That’s no fun, but we’ve got Mexico City next weekend and we’re looking forward to that.”

Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

Finished: 14th

“It was an OK day for the No. 99 Jockey Infinite Cool Underwear Chevrolet team. We had speed on the long run, but on the short runs, we were getting destroyed. We were not super-fast on the straights… we struggled a lot on the straights, more than I was expecting. Overall, we rescued an OK day, but we need more.”

GM PR

In the second stage of the NASCAR Cup race at Michigan, drivers were scrambling on a restart as they battled three and four-wide for position on track. Alex Bowman was deep in the pack, running 29th when his race came to sudden and violent end.

Bowman was in the middle of a tense battle with a four-wide situation directly in front of him. Cole Custer got loose and shot up the track, spinning Daniel Suarez. At the same time, he hit Bowman as well. Bowman’s No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports shot to the right, slamming the outside wall head-on in an impact that managed to left the rear tires off the ground.

Bowman was going about 150mph when the car slammed the wall. Pole-sitter Chase Briscoe was also collected, spinning at the exit of Turn 2.

“That one was really f****** big,” radioed Bowman as he put the window net down and climbed the car. It was a relief to see, as Bowman has been sidelined due to both a back injury and concussion in recent year.

“Yeah, that hurt a lot,” said Bowman after being released from the infield care center. “That was probably top of the board on hits I’ve taken and unfortunately, I’ve taken a lot of hits. I hate that for the #48 team. Obviously, (sponsor) Ally is from here. Looks like the #41 [Custer] got loose or the #2 [Austin Cindric] got into him or something. At that point, just along for the ride. Couldn’t really do anything except think about oh shit this is about to hurt really bad. Hate that. Hate that for our team. It’s been a rough two months.

Suarez and Briscoe were able to continue, while both Custer and Bowman fell out of the race. This continues an unfortunate run of races for the No. 48 HMS Chevrolet, finishing 27th or worse in seven of the last nine races.

The race was red-flagged on Lap 68 of 200 as Bowman’s car came to rest in the middle of the track. The stoppage lasted about 13 minutes.

Joe Gibbs Racing star Denny Hamlin secured his third NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season on Sunday night after a thrilling late battle at Michigan International Speedway.

With fuel-saving heavily at play in the latter stages of the FireKeepers Casino 400, heading into the final 15 laps, Carson Hocevar was out in the lead in the No. 77 and looking like having a serious chance of picking up his first win in the series. However, a blown tire suddenly cast him out of contention, with Hamlin and William Byron in the No. 24 going on to have an exciting battle in the final laps.

NASCAR HEADLINES: Kyle Busch set for house move as Hendrick Motorsports announce new partnership

After multiple attempts to take the lead were met with blocks from Byron, Hamlin eventually passed him with five laps to go, although the No. 24 continued to fight hard on the outside until the No. 11 eventually cleared him a lap later.

Byron eventually ran out of fuel, forced to head down pit road just ahead of the white flag, with Hamlin having enough to get across the line (and do a few doughnuts post-race) to take his third victory at Michigan International Speedway.

In doing so, the 44-year-old became only the 10th driver to win a Cup Series race after hitting the 700-race milestone. It is also Hamlin’s 57th Cup Series win overall, making him Joe Gibbs Racing’s most-winningest driver ever, a record he previously held alongside Kyle Busch (56 wins).

With Byron’s fuel issue, he eventually finished 28th, with Chris Buescher coming home in second, having previously won in stage two. Ty Gibbs, Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson rounded out the top five.

Finally, it feels prudent to say that Alex Bowman has been evaluated and released from the infield care center, as confirmed by NASCAR, after his heavy wreck saw the race red-flagged for a period earlier during stage two.

With that said, let’s take a look at the race results in full!

READ MORE: NASCAR announce late demotion for Cup Series star at Michigan

NASCAR Cup Series: Who won the Michigan race today?

NOTE: The Xfinity Fastest Lap award went to William Byron in the No. 24 with a time of 37.30 seconds.

NASCAR Cup Series: Michigan Stage 2 results

NASCAR Cup Series: Michigan Stage 1 results

READ MORE: Michael Jordan-owned 23XI Racing face losing ‘tens of millions’ after major NASCAR court ruling

Related

BROOKLYN, MI – Dodge left NASCAR after the 2012 season, when Rochester Hills driver Brad Keselowski won the Cup Series championship driving a Dodge Charger.

Now 13 years later, Dodge’s parent company is returning to NASCAR. Ram – a sister company to Dodge – announced it will reenter the sport in time for the 2026 Craftsman Truck Series season.

The Ram 1500 concept race truck was unveiled Sunday at Michigan International Speedway before the FireKeepers Casino 400.

The concept resembles a production truck, with elements from the Ram Sport Truck lineup (Warlock, Rebel and RHO).

Eventually, Stellantis hopes to be back at the Cup Series level, too.

“Our full intention is to be back in Cup,” said Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis. “But right now, we’re on a path toward Daytona next year with truck, with our eye on when we could compete in Cup after that.”

Ram is a truck brand under Stellantis, which has its North American headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan.  

“If we go back to Cup, which is our intention, Ram doesn’t have a car,” Kuniskis said. “So obviously that would have to be Dodge coming back.”

When Stellantis was last in NASCAR, it raced under the Dodge name. The Dodge and Ram brands have drifted apart into their own entities.

“(This) has nothing to do with Dodge, despite the fact that everyone in the world calls it ‘Dodge Ram,’” Kuniskis said. “I get it. Sometime I screw up and I do it, as well.”

Kuniskis was with Stellantis when Dodge left NASCAR.

“And it’s bothered me ever since,” he said.

Ram is still working on figuring out which drivers and teams will race under the Ram brand.

Kuniskis said it’s like prom: They’ve got the tux and the car, they “just don’t know who the date’s going to be, yet.”

“There are 20 million rabid NASCAR fans,” Kuniskis said. “What we like about it is, half of them drive pickup trucks. So it’s a perfect venue for us. We want to be back in the sport.”

It’s another race on the Amazon Prime swing of the 2025 NASCAR schedule and we head to the Midwest for some high-speed action at Michigan International Speedway!

It’s actually been a big week in terms of NASCAR news. Ryan Blaney broke the seal and got the win last week at Nashville. But more importantly, the federal appeals court overturned the preliminary injunction that allowed 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports to race as chartered teams. If you need one of those “explain this to me like I’m five years old” sorts of things, basically in a few weeks those two teams will have to race as “open” cars which means they have to qualify their way into the race. And they also receive less funding for equipment from NASCAR. I…

Ram will return to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2026.

The new Ram 1500 concept was announced Sunday in Michigan, one of 25 product announcements the Stellantis-owned company will make over 18 months. It marks Ram’s (and Dodge’s) return to NASCAR competition after a 13-year break, having left the sport in 2012 after a 17-year presence.

“For more than a decade, customers and our dealer network asked about getting back into NASCAR,” said Tim Kuniskis, CEO of Ram. “The desire was always there, but we didn’t have a plan that delivered the last tenth [which] just didn’t fit our DNA. Now we have a solid plan that will set us apart from the field and will bring fresh new interest and engagement to America’s motorsport.”

Kuniskis acknowledged that Ram was out of NASCAR for so long because it is a tough return on investment. Now that the company is bringing the Hemi back, in addition to other production vehicle announcements, Kuniskis said it makes perfect sense to be back in the racing space.

“The reason we’re going to do it: 20 million people are NASCAR fans,” Kuniskis said. “I’m more concerned about the people who are in the parking lot of the NASCAR races. Twenty million people, 50 percent of them drive a pickup truck. Out of the 50 percent, 20 percent of them already buy a Ram, so the lift from 20 million to 10 million to 20 percent of that, there is no ROI unless you do it differently.

“Our objective is to take 20 million and turn it into 80 or 100 million, and we have a plan. We know how we’re going to do it. We think we have a path to get to that. We think people are going to like the way we’re doing it because it’s going to be fun.”

Kuniskis gives a personal touch to Ram’s TV spots set to debut Sunday. Stellantis photo

The truck, dubbed the Ram 1500 concept, was molded by the Ram design team and resembles the production truck and elements of the Ram Sport Truck line-up. A large Ram logo is centered on the grille.

In commercial spots debuting Sunday to coincide with the announcement, viewers will see Kuniskis driving the truck and saying, in part, “We own it, we got it wrong, and we’re fixing it. You hear that? That’s our Hemi, and it’s saying, ‘I’m back.’”

The commercial was filmed at Darlington Raceway with the race truck and two production trucks. As the spot continues, Kuniskis says, “We’re back in America’s motorsport, the Hemi is back, and we aren’t going anywhere.”

Ram will unveil more of its 2026 plans at a later date, including the team line-up and drivers. Kuniskis was also adamant the company has plenty more to come and show off, including continued activation at racetracks the remainder of this season, and would not go dark between now and the 2026 season opener at Daytona.

“Ram returning to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a major moment for the sport, and a sign that NASCAR remains a strong platform for blue-chip brand partners,” said John Probst, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer. “We are excited to welcome Ram back to the sport. Its identity includes high performance, durability, and innovation – characteristics that embody NASCAR and, specifically, the Craftsman Truck Series.”