By John Keller, Guest Writer
BROOKLYN, Mich. – Following his victory burnouts at Michigan International Speedway, race winner Denny Hamlin appeared to try to rile the crowd with a salute to Ohio State fans, then he proclaimed, “I beat your favorite driver” to further embrace his villain role in the NASCAR Cup Series.
For Hamlin, though, the attempt didn’t work well as thousands of fans cheered his win in the Firekeeper’s Casino 400 rather than pan it. His victory was a major milestone as he notched 57 wins for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), breaking the tie he held with former teammate Kyle Busch.
“I love competing, I love that every seven days I have a chance to win,” Hamlin said. He looks ahead to this week with a possible trip to Mexico City to race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriquez but because he is on baby watch, he may skip the race, he said, if his fiancée, Jordan Fish, goes into labor with their third child and Hamlin’s first son.
It was also a big weekend for Toyota and the Gazoo Racing family, scoring a win only an hour and a half down the road from the home offices of Ford Performance and Team Chevrolet. For the second year in a row, Toyota is taking home the Michigan Heritage Trophy, proclaiming victory over the two American automakers. It’s a feat that has only occurred a total of three times.
Toyota’s strong weekend began with Chase Briscoe putting his Toyota Camry on the pole. On Saturday, Briscoe emphasized what a Michigan win would mean.
“There’s a lot of pride that comes in winning here in Michigan because of the manufacturer stuff that goes on up here in Detroit,” Briscoe said. “I feel like every time you come here, especially in my past, right? This is a huge emphasis weekend because you were in the backyard and there’s a lot of pride. This is the only track that I can even think of that you know has a manufacturer trophy, right? It’s a big deal to win here from a manufacturer’s standpoint. For us to come in here and be on the pole is obviously a big deal and we definitely want to get a Toyota in victory lane tomorrow.”
That is exactly what ended up happening, thanks to the JGR No. 11 team. After the race, Hamlin said he has “never felt better getting speed out of a car and managing a race.”
Out of the Top 5 finishers, three were in Toyotas. Hamlin, Ty Gibbs, and Bubba Wallace.
During the final laps of the race, it was Hamlin in his Camry and William Byron in a Camaro duking it out with Gibbs following closely behind and looking for an opportunity. Hamlin said Byron was defending very well, so he had to take him by surprise. He started to develop a bit of a predictable path going around the track to lure Byron into defending and making a mistake. He was also playing a fuel strategy game at the direction of his crew chief, Chris Gale, who wanted him to race as hard as he could so he would force Byron to use more fuel. It worked and in the end, Byron ran out of fuel with two laps to go, forcing him to pit road.
From there, Hamlin cruised to victory ahead of Chris Buescher in second. Gibbs and Wallace followed in third and fourth, respectively, securing three Toyotas in the top five.
The next NASCAR race will take place in Mexico City at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez circuit on June 14th, which is the first time a Cup Series race has taken place outside the US since 1958.