Denny Hamlin wins at Michigan after red flag for a nasty wreck between Christopher Bell and Chase Elliott that bent the wall

Denny Hamlin has gone from last to first in back-to-back weeks.

A week after he had to work his way through the field at Nashville after starting on the pole, Hamlin essentially did the same thing at Michigan on Sunday. Hamlin won the pole on Saturday but had to start at the rear of the field to fix damage to his car. He took the lead for the second time after a lap 162 restart and easily beat the rest of the field by 10 seconds or more for the victory.

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The victory is Hamlin's third of the season after he won the fifth race of the year at Las Vegas. He celebrated the win with a flag honoring his former teammate Kyle Busch, who died on May 21 after he contracted sepsis while he had bacterial pneumonia.

Busch won 63 Cup Series races in his career. Sunday was Hamlin's 63rd Cup Series win.

At Nashville, Hamlin actually started the rain-delayed race in first. But he jumped the start of the race and was forced to serve a drive-through penalty under green. That put him last in the field just laps into the race. But he worked his way back to the front and passed Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe for the win in the waning laps.

Erik Jones finished second to Hamlin on Sunday while Bubba Wallace was third and Kyle Larson finished fourth.

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Points leader Tyler Reddick — who won five of the first nine races of 2026, was wrecked on a mid-race restart when fifth-place finisher Carson Hocevar gave John Hunter Nemechek an unnecessarily aggressive bump. Reddick was forced to retire from the race after a hard hit with the inside wall. It is his first finish outside the top 15 all season.

Hamlin continued to stay second behind Reddick in the standings with his win.

Bell and Elliott crash red flags the race

A wreck involving Christopher Bell and Chase Elliott was so violent that it forced NASCAR to red flag Sunday's race at Michigan with 50 laps to go.

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Elliott and Bell were racing for second place after a restart and Elliott got loose underneath Bell. The contact sent Bell into the wall at a near 45-degree angle. It's one of the hardest hits you'll see. Thankfully, both drivers immediately climbed from their cars after the crash.

"Totally my fault, I feel really bad for Bell," Elliott said.

Bell's hit was so hard that the wall was dented where he hit. NASCAR tracks are equipped with SAFER barriers — a dual wall that has foam on the inside to help absorb force. The outer wall bent inwards because of the impact of Bell's car.

"I don't think you'll see a car hit the wall at a harder, faster impact than there," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said on the Amazon Prime broadcast.

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The caution flag was the 10th of the race and tied a Michigan track record. William Byron was ahead of Bell and Elliott when the wreck happened.

Race results

1. Denny Hamlin

2. Erik Jones

3. Bubba Wallace

4. Kyle Larson

5. Carson Hocevar

6. Daniel Suarez

7. Joey Logano

8. Ryan Blaney

9. Chris Buescher

10. Chase Briscoe

11. Austin Cindric

12. Cole Custer

13. Riley Herbst

14. John Hunter Nemechek

15. Josh Berry

16. Ross Chastain

17. AJ Allmendinger

18. William Byron

19. Alex Bowman

20. Austin Hill

21. JJ Yeley

22. Todd Gilliland

23. Cody Ware

24. Ty Dillon

25. Ty Gibbs

26. Michael McDowell

27. Noah Gragson

28. Ryan Preece

29. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

30. Shane van Gisbergen

31. Christopher Bell

32. Chase Elliott

33. Zane Smth

34. Brad Keselowski

35. Tyler Reddick

36. Austin Dillon

37. Connor Zilisch