Denny Hamlin plays fuel mileage to perfection to win FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan

"I wanted to get the lead," Hamlin told Prime Video. "Obviously, he (Byron) was doing a great job defending. Chris Gayle (and) this whole team has done such a great job. We've been close this year, but just haven't been able to close it out one way or another. I'm sorry, but I beat your favorite driver folks." 

Chris Buescher, Ty Gibbs, Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson rounded out the top five, with Ross Chastain, Zane Smith, Kyle Busch, Ryan Preece and Brad Keselowski completing the top 10. 

Other notable finishers include Josh Berry in 12th, Tyler Reddick in 13th, Chase Elliott in 15th, Christopher Bell in 16th and Hocevar in 29th. 

Ryan Blaney finished 32nd after a spin on Lap 109, while Alex Bowman finished 36th after a hard crash on Lap 67. 

Despite his fuel mileage gamble not working out, Byron will leave Michigan as the Cup Series points leader by 41 points over Larson. 

The 16th race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season will take place at Autodromos Hermanos Rodriguez on June 15. The Viva Mexico 250 will go green shortly after 3 p.m. ET, with coverage on Prime Video, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.