Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin has taken his first NASCAR Sprint Cup race victory of the season in the Heluva Good 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
The FedEx Camry held off Roush Fenway’s Matt Kenseth by just 0.28s after Hamlin emerged from a final round of pitstops in the lead with eight laps remaining.
The caution had been brought out by a wrecking Dale Earnhardt Jr, who cut a tyre after earlier contact with team-mate Mark Martin.
Kyle Busch, Paul Mernard and Carl Edwards rounded out the top five.
Edwards, who won the Nationwide race at the Michigan venue, passed Kenseth and Busch to take the lead following what would turn out to be the penultimate caution on Lap 158, but did not have the pace to contend in the closing laps.
The Lap 158 caution was flown after a slowing Juan Pablo Montoya was heavily collected by Andy Lally in the tri-oval.
Australian Marcos Ambrose finished the race on the lead lap in 23rd position.
Jimmie Johnson’s winless record at Michigan continued, with the five-time defending champion finishing in 27th position after bringing out the first caution of the day with a spin off of Turn 2 on Lap 7.
Cut tyres also saw Robby Gordon and Brad Keselowski bring out the yellow flags during the 200 lap encounter.
Carl Edwards continues to lead the points standings after 15 of 36 races.
See below for the full race result
| FIN | ST | DRIVER | MAKE | SPONSOR | PTS/BNS | LAPS | STATUS |
| 1 | 10 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | FedEx Office | 47/1 | 200 | Running |
| 2 | 3 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | Crown Royal | 43/1 | 200 | Running |
| 3 | 24 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | Snickers | 42/1 | 200 | Running |
| 4 | 9 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | Pittsburgh Paints / Menards | 41/1 | 200 | Running |
| 5 | 23 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Aflac “Now Hiring” | 40/1 | 200 | Running |
| 6 | 13 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | U.S. Army 236th Birthday | 39/1 | 200 | Running |
| 7 | 6 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | Office Depot / Mobil 1 | 37/0 | 200 | Running |
| 8 | 27 | Clint Bowyer | Chevrolet | Cheerios / Hamburger Helper | 36/0 | 200 | Running |
| 9 | 19 | Mark Martin | Chevrolet | GoDaddy.com | 35/0 | 200 | Running |
| 10 | 4 | Brian Vickers | Toyota | Red Bull | 34/0 | 200 | Running |
| 11 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Dodge | Shell / Pennzoil | 34/1 | 200 | Running |
| 12 | 12 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | Thank A Teacher Today | 0 | 200 | Running |
| 13 | 26 | A.J. Allmendinger | Ford | Best Buy | 31/0 | 200 | Running |
| 14 | 22 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Budweiser | 31/1 | 200 | Running |
| 15 | 7 | Greg Biffle | Ford | American Red Cross / 3M | 31/2 | 200 | Running |
| 16 | 17 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | Motorcraft / Quick Lane | 0 | 200 | Running |
| 17 | 31 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | Drive to End Hunger | 27/0 | 200 | Running |
| 18 | 30 | Joey Logano | Toyota | The Home Depot | 26/0 | 200 | Running |
| 19 | 14 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | McDonald’s | 25/0 | 200 | Running |
| 20 | 20 | David Ragan | Ford | UPS “We Love Logistics” | 24/0 | 200 | Running |
| 21 | 15 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | Amp Energy / National Guard | 23/0 | 200 | Running |
| 22 | 16 | Bobby Labonte | Toyota | RainEater / Advance Auto Parts | 23/1 | 200 | Running |
| 23 | 18 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | Dewalt | 21/0 | 200 | Running |
| 24 | 33 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | Caterpillar | 20/0 | 200 | Running |
| 25 | 41 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | Miller Lite | 19/0 | 200 | Running |
| 26 | 11 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | NAPA Auto Parts | 18/0 | 199 | Running |
| 27 | 21 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools | 17/0 | 199 | Running |
| 28 | 8 | Kasey Kahne | Toyota | Red Bull | 16/0 | 199 | Running |
| 29 | 40 | David Gilliland | Ford | Taco Bell | 15/0 | 199 | Running |
| 30 | 25 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | “Cars 2” | 14/0 | 199 | Running |
| 31 | 28 | Travis Kvapil | Ford | Fellowship of Christian Athletes | 0 | 199 | Running |
| 32 | 35 | Mike Bliss | Ford | blu Cigs | 0 | 199 | Running |
| 33 | 5 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | Furniture Row Companies | 11/0 | 199 | Running |
| 34 | 42 | Dave Blaney | Chevrolet | Tommy Baldwin Racing | 10/0 | 198 | Running |
| 35 | 2 | David Reutimann | Toyota | Aaron’s Dream Machine | 9/0 | 180 | Running |
| 36 | 36 | Andy Lally * | Ford | Interstate Moving Services | 8/0 | 155 | Accident |
| 37 | 37 | Robby Gordon | Dodge | Speed Energy / Walgreens | 7/0 | 80 | Vibration |
| 38 | 39 | Casey Mears | Toyota | GEICO | 7/1 | 51 | Electrical |
| 39 | 34 | J.J. Yeley | Chevrolet | Red Line Oil | 5/0 | 47 | Brakes |
| 40 | 29 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | NEMCO Motorsports | 0 | 44 | Vibration |
| 41 | 32 | David Stremme | Chevrolet | Inception Motorsports | 3/0 | 39 | Clutch |
| 42 | 43 | Scott Riggs | Chevrolet | WhitneysCollision.com | 0 | 30 | Brakes |
| 43 | 38 | Michael McDowell | Toyota | HP Racing LLC | 1/0 | 28 | Electrical |
See below for the championship points after 15 of 36 races
| RANK | DRIVER | POINTS |
| 1 | Carl Edwards | 532 |
| 2 | Kevin Harvick | 512 |
| 3 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 505 |
| 4 | Kyle Busch | 503 |
| 5 | Jimmie Johnson | 503 |
| 6 | Matt Kenseth | 491 |
| 7 | Kurt Busch | 491 |
| 8 | Ryan Newman | 456 |
| 9 | Denny Hamlin | 455 |
| 10 | Clint Bowyer | 455 |
| 11 | Tony Stewart | 454 |
| 12 | Jeff Gordon | 438 |
| 13 | Greg Biffle | 425 |
| 14 | Mark Martin | 418 |
| 15 | Juan Montoya | 409 |
| 16 | Paul Menard | 402 |
| 17 | A.J. Allmendinger | 402 |
| 18 | David Ragan | 395 |
| 19 | Kasey Kahne | 387 |
| 20 | Martin Truex Jr. | 376 |
| 21 | Marcos Ambrose | 369 |
| 22 | Brad Keselowski | 364 |
| 23 | Joey Logano | 359 |
| 24 | Brian Vickers | 348 |
| 25 | Jeff Burton | 345 |
| 26 | David Reutimann | 341 |
| 27 | Bobby Labonte | 326 |
| 28 | Jamie McMurray | 326 |
| 29 | Regan Smith | 322 |
| 30 | David Gilliland | 254 |
| 31 | Dave Blaney | 231 |
| 32 | Casey Mears | 219 |
| 33 | Andy Lally* | 160 |
| 34 | Robby Gordon | 157 |
| 35 | Tony Raines | 117 |
| 36 | Bill Elliott | 100 |
| 37 | Ken Schrader | 73 |
| 38 | J.J. Yeley | 51 |
| 39 | Michael McDowell | 45 |
| 40 | Terry Labonte | 40 |
| 41 | David Stremme | 27 |
| 42 | Michael Waltrip | 20 |
| 43 | T.J. Bell* | 5 |
| 44 | Brian Keselowski* | 3 |
| 45 | Steve Park | 2 |
| 46 | Trevor Bayne | 0 |
| 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 0 |
| 48 | Landon Cassill | 0 |
| 49 | Steve Wallace | 0 |
| 50 | Mike Skinner | 0 |
| 51 | Mike Bliss | 0 |
| 52 | Travis Kvapil | 0 |
| 53 | Hermie Sadler | 0 |
| 54 | Patrick Carpentier | 0 |
| 55 | Sam Hornish Jr. | 0 |
| 56 | Johnny Sauter | 0 |
| 57 | David Starr | 0 |
| 58 | Dennis Setzer | 0 |
| 59 | Robert Richardson Jr. | 0 |
| 60 | Scott Wimmer | 0 |
| 61 | Joe Nemechek | 0 |
| 62 | Todd Bodine | 0 |
| 63 | Scott Riggs | 0 |
| 64 | Kevin Conway | 0 |
| 65 | Derrike Cope | 0 |
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