William Byron’s Gamble Blows Up in His Face as NASCAR’s Michigan Race Disappoints

It was fast. It was chaotic. The FireKeepers Casino 400 was nothing short of exciting. But beneath the speed and smoke, there was heartbreak. There almost always is. This week, the heartbreak fixated on two drivers: William Byron and Carson Hocevar. The Chevrolet duo combined to lead 130 out of the 200 laps, but their finishes? 28th for Byron and 29th for Hocevar!

Hocevar blew a tire while leading with 19 laps to go, but Byron’s heartbreak was way worse. The #24, who took the lead after Hocevar’s misfortune, was looking untouchable towards the end of the race and came so close to Victory Lane until it all came undone. It was a cruel twist that left him coasting helplessly as the race slipped away from him. Here’s what he had to say after yet another dominant day ended in pain.

William Byron’s heartbreak

For the third weekend in a row, William Byron brought the heat—and for the third weekend in a row, Lady Luck just wasn’t having it. Fresh off a runner-up at the Coca-Cola 600 and a solid top five at Nashville, the two-time Daytona 500 champ rolled into Michigan with all the momentum in the world. He didn’t just look fast; he looked unbeatable.

Byron finished 2nd in stage 1 and took the win in stage 2, racking up 19 stage points along the way. He led a race-high 98 laps and had that No. 24 Chevy dialed in. It felt like this one was his to lose. However, Michigan was a daring fuel-strategy race that eventually went in favor of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, who surged into the lead with 4 laps to go. William Byron was left chasing after staying out during the Lap 148 caution in hopes of getting another one late in the race. However, he saw his fuel tank running dry after a long green flag cycle that saw no cautions in the last 52 laps.

In a post-race interview with Prime, William Byron said, “No, we didn’t have enough [fuel]. We were going to run out with a lap and a half, or we did run out with a lap and a half left. And it was just trying to manage both, right? Try to keep the lead and manage the gap and save fuel down the straights and on exit, and everything. So yeah, we just didn’t ultimately, I guess, maybe not as good mileage as the guys that were further back to start that run.” Byron battled with Hamlin until Lap 199, but that’s when his fuel was gone, and with that, his hopes for a win and a good finish as well.

Running out of gas was the detriment for @WilliamByron today. #NASCARonPrime pic.twitter.com/HqgComs2tM

— Sports on Prime (@SportsonPrime) June 8, 2025

The Hendrick Motorsports #24, however, seems to be very happy with his pace and the car; maybe they were just lacking in the pit strategy. “And that’s just the way the cautions go and the nature of being closer to the front and burning more fuel. So I don’t know. That one’s like, you can’t really do a lot about. I mean, it sucks. Like, it really stings. But we had a really good car. I thought we executed well. It seemed like we waited a little bit on fuel at the last stop and just burned more, and not able to do much about that. So it is what it is.” 

You could hear the frustration in his voice. Running out front sounds great on paper, but it burns more fuel. Byron tried to thread the needle by keeping the lead and stretching the mileage. But that’s a tough task, especially when the caution flags keep shifting the math on the fly. The execution? Sharp. The car? Incredibly fast. The strategy? Just a little off. Byron admitted the team may have waited a tick too long to top off, and in a race where margins are razor-thin, that’s all it took.

And when Frontstretch asked him if he considered playing it safe for the regular season title, Byron, without a blink, answered, “Just try to go for the win. Felt like we had one of the dominant cars all day and, unfortunately, you know, when you’re so close to a window like that and you uh run out front, you burn a lot more fuel so yeah, it was trying to manage both but yeah sucks.” 

Another week, another missed trophy and yet another painful reminder that in NASCAR, being the fastest car doesn’t always mean you’re the first one to the checkered flag. However, with William Byron still leading the championship, it is safe to assume that he is not one to give up so easily. With Mexico City coming up, the Hendrick Motorsports driver is looking for redemption.

While Byron has to lick his wounds, he still can be proud of a dominant run that keeps him atop the standings. However, not all of his HMS teammates could say the same.

Victory wasn’t in the cards for HMS

This was not the weekend that HMS hoped for. Hendrick Motorsports rolled into Michigan looking like the team to beat, but by the end of the race, it felt more like a weekend of “what ifs.” William Byron did everything right for most of the day. Even though he ran out of gas with just over a lap to go, he is still sitting pretty at the top of the standings with 576 points. It’s the kind of weekend that hurts but doesn’t knock you down entirely.

Kyle Larson, meanwhile, kept his head down, avoided the chaos, and walked away with a solid fifth-place finish. And now he’s just 41 points back from Byron. Larson seems to be making moves to prove that he’s not going anywhere. The #9 of Chase Elliott didn’t light up the stat sheet, but he stayed clean, led laps, and brought it home in 15th place, keeping his streak of top-20 finishes without a DNF alive. Then there’s Alex Bowman, who just couldn’t catch a break. The #48 got swept up in a nasty wreck that tore up his car and marked his third DNF this season.

On lap 67, chaos broke loose when #41 of Cole Custer got loose in traffic, clipped the front right of Austin Cindric before nudging Daniel Suarez, and then turned Alex Bowman. The No. 48 slammed head-on into the wall with a sickening thud before ricocheting back onto the track. A red flag flew as the crew rushed in, and for a brief moment, everyone held their breath until Bowman climbed out under his power, a bit banged up but still walking.

“Yeah, that hurt a lot. Probably top of the board on hits I’ve taken,” Bowman said. “Looks like the 41 [Cole Custer] got loose, or the 2 [Austin Cindric] got into him or something. At that point, I was just along for the ride; I couldn’t do anything. Just, ‘Oh s—, this is about to hurt really bad.’ Hate that. Hate that for our team. It’s been a really rough two months.”

The speed was there for Hendrick. The results? Not so much. Still, with all four drivers in the top 13, they’ve got time to bounce back, and you better believe they will. What were your thoughts on the race at Michigan this week? Let us know in the comments!

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