With 19 laps to go at Michigan, things were looking up for the 22-year-old hometown kid, Carson Hocevar. 

He had wheeled his #77 Ziegler Chevrolet into first with amazing precision against some of the best in the series, like William Byron. The entire day had been a race of chess on wheels, with pit strategy giving different cars different chances. Hocevar was pushing his car and looking to decisively choose when to save fuel. 

But in chess, your pieces can’t spontaneously lose their bottom half and fly off of the board.

The same couldn’t be said for the Portage, Mich. native Hocevar, who blew a left rear tire, immediately dashing his chances for his storybook first win in his home state. 

Pouncing on the opportunity were Byron and Denny Hamlin, two drivers who had navigated the strategy game and were saving their fuel like the rest of the field. 

Hamlin began to stop the fuel saving, passing Ty Gibbs and Kyle Larson to sneak into second and challenge Byron. 

Weaving and bobbing with three laps to go, Byron tried to take the air off of the #11’s nose to prevent the overtake, but to no avail, as the Yahoo(oooo) Toyota Camry cemented himself in first and rode it home as Byron ran out of fuel and fell back. 

“I’m sorry, Daddy; I beat your favorite driver,” said Hamlin, much to his father’s sure disappointment. 

Hamlins’ first win after 700 starts puts him in an exclusive club that includes names like Bill Elliott, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and others. 

Getting there was no simple task at the fastest track in NASCAR, as the day started with a third in qualifying for the 11, battling his teammate, Chase Briscoe, at the front of the field immediately 

Stage one remained cordial as the players in qualifying stayed up front, finding grooves and moving around. The ever-deadly Raptor #24 of Byron stayed steady, but Chris Buscher began to pressure hard and stole first place, taking it home and winning his first stage of 2025. 

Stage two immediately brought some new faces near the front, including last week’s winner Ryan Blaney and 2025 Clash winner Chase Elliott. Hamlin fell back to 6th, battling Larson, nudging him slightly and getting sideways ever so slightly, going on what could be described as a 200-mile-per-hour drift. The save would put him outside of the top 10. 

“Use your f**king windshield, Denny!” yelled a fiery Larson after the incident. 

Strategy continued after the first caution of the day came out when John Hunter Nemechek floated into the #4 of Noah Gragson, spinning both out and shaking things up. 

It wouldn’t take long for chaos to rear its head again, as a side-to-side stack up in the back of the field on the restart would bring out another caution. This time ping ponging Daniel Suarez into Cole Custer and Austin Cindric, bouncing Alex Bowman up the track, crumpling head on into the SAFER barrier, bringing out the red flag. 

“That hurt a lot, probably top of the board of hits I’ve taken,” said Bowman. 

Once the cars began to start up and re-rack, Tyler Reddick subsequently won the battle off pit road, starting first in the restart after being forced to start in the rear at the start of the race. 

Byron continued not to be denied as they reached halfway in the race, extending his lead over Bell and continuing a series of races where he continues leading laps. 

After a spin by Blaney, Cindric would choose to stay out in front of the pack with seven laps to go in the stage to try and steal a playoff point, looking ahead to fall. 

Despite the Discount Tire Mustang’s best efforts, Cindric had to give up his position to a faster Byron on fresher tires,  giving him his 6th stage win of the year, further cushioning his regular season points lead. 

The final 80-lap stage of the race would become a battle of attrition, with drivers needing to weigh out saving their tires and fuel as the laps ticked down further and further. Spire Motorsports’ controversial star Carson Hocevar was the next to challenge Byron for the win, willing his Spire Chevrolet against some of the series’ best. 

Back in 10th, an ever unruly Larson reported a voltage issue, slowing his car down. Reddick continued to pull his initially pitiful start of the day around, fighting in the top ten with teammate Bubba Wallace. Where was the third 23XI car of Riley Herbst, you may ask? In 35th.

Has anyone ever seen a more blatant pay driver before? I’m not sure. But I digress. 

In what would be a harbinger of things to come, Todd Gilliland blew a left rear and brought out the eventual final yellow of the race with 54 laps to go.

Hocevar immediately took the field by the reins and battled against Kyle Larson for the lead, swooping around the track’s grooves and taking it over.

The second-year driver would continue to lead the race for the next 30 or so odd laps, before suffering heartbreak just as he did at Charlotte, rupturing a tire and relinquishing the lead to William Byron. 

After 700 starts in the NASCAR Cup Series, Denny Hamlin used every bit of experience found at his last three Michigan wins to snatch the lead from Byron and coast home. 

“Feels good to come here to Michigan, where we’ve been so close over the years, and get a win for Toyota, Yahoo..”, said Hamlin, “Ma, such a gratifying day to restart 11th or 12th or something like that and drive to the front”. 

The win puts Hamlin at third in the regular season standings and second in the playoff standings, increasing his cushion heading into the fall. 

William Byron will once again have to stomach another race slipping away from him, utilizing his season opening Daytona 500 win as his playoff ticket currently. It’s only a matter of time before the iRacing prodigy finally begins to wheel his #24 Chevy into victory lane. 

Despite the massive heartbreak for the young Carson Hocevar, not enough can be said about his start to his Cup career. He consistently brings his car to the front and gives some of the proven racers in the series a run for their money. He may be an even bigger proponent of “not if, but when”.

The Cup Series will finally take their talents across the southern border, racing in Mexico City for the first time. 

For today’s winner Hamlin, it won’t be entirely new, as his first career win came in the Xfinity Series at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in 2006. The Wave Around looks to keep you tuned in to the historic event all week, so stick around! 

The green flag for the Viva México 250 waves at 12:00 PM PST on Prime Video.