Denny Hamlin Names Replacement, Jett Lawrence Dominates Hangtown Return & Mercedes-AMG Reshuffles Motorsport Leadership

Denny Hamlin delivered one of the most dominant performances of his career and then gave the most honest interview of his season. Jett Lawrence returned to form in emphatic fashion at the opening round of Pro Motocross. And Mercedes-AMG made a surprise change at the top of its motorsport department. Here is the weekend in motorsport.

Hamlin Wins Michigan by 11 Seconds and Talks About What Comes Next

There are very few drivers in NASCAR history who have performed at a higher level at 45 years old than Denny Hamlin is right now, and even he seems uncertain about how long it can last.

Hamlin won the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday, his second consecutive Cup victory and third of the season alongside wins at Nashville and Las Vegas. The margin of victory was 11.11 seconds, the largest of his 63-career career. The win pulls him to within 51 points of championship leader Tyler Reddick and ties him with the late Kyle Busch for ninth on the all-time wins list.

"This might be the most exceptional thing he's done," said team owner Joe Gibbs after the race.

But it was what Hamlin said afterward that will stick with people longer than the trophy. Speaking with Prime Sports in his post-race interview, Hamlin gave his most candid comments yet on his future. He has a contract with Joe Gibbs Racing through 2027 and suggested that the end of that deal remains the most likely endpoint, but acknowledged he is already planning for the inevitable decline. "I'm planning for the downfall that I know will come," Hamlin said. "I always say there's like three things that happen. In no particular order, it's your eyesight, your reaction, and then your body hurts. I've already got the body hurts part of it, right? It's just the other two things that have remained really sharp."

When asked directly about his plans, he told Gibbs to check back in six months and pointed to 18-year-old TRD driver Brent Crews as a likely heir to the No. 11 seat. Crews has five top-five finishes in 12 O'Reilly Auto Parts starts this season, four top-10s in 11 Truck Series races, and six ARCA wins to his name.

Hamlin has never won a Cup Series championship. He finished second last season to Kyle Larson.

Jett Lawrence Is Back and Hangtown Felt It

The 57th running of the Coker Pump Hangtown Motocross Classic was electric! Lawrence swept both motos on a challenging track outside Sacramento, outrunning his brother Hunter in both races and posting the fastest qualifying lap of the session, the only rider to break the 1:50 barrier at 1:49.886.

In Moto 1, Lawrence grabbed the holeshot and managed the race with patience before pushing the pace as Hunter Lawrence and Haiden Deegan traded momentum for second. He won by 7.7 seconds. Deegan earned the first moto podium of his career in third. Jorge Prado ran fourth for most of the moto before losing power on his KTM just before the final lap, falling to 36th. Moto 2 was interrupted by a red flag for a downed rider and restarted, with Cooper Webb taking the holeshot in the second gate drop. Jett Lawrence went around Webb quickly and put his brother in his mirrors, and the two Australians eventually opened a double-digit gap over Chase Sexton in third. Deegan worked from 11th to third by the midway point, adding to an impressive day for the young Yamaha rider. As Hunter Lawrence began applying pressure for the lead approaching halfway, Jett responded with a sudden sprint that extended the gap from under a second to nearly four in the span of a few laps. He finished 6.8 seconds clear of his brother. Deegan held third.

"I knew if I picked a fast pace early that Hunter would be right there with me and would make it a lot harder," Jett said. "I chose instead to get a better flow for about 15 minutes and then decided to push for a quick sprint to try and mess up his rhythm, and it worked. It's good to be back up here with a 1-1." Hunter was measured. "It's harder racing against Jett. He's my toughest competitor. It got to a point where I was going to take the time to reset and make a push, but he decided to do a sprint and gapped me. Still a solid result."

450MX Top5:

Pos	Rider	Team	Motos
1	Jett Lawrence	Honda HRC Progressive	1-1
2	Hunter Lawrence	Honda HRC Progressive	2-2
3	Haiden Deegan	Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing	3-3
4	Dylan Ferrandis	Troy Lee Designs Red Bull Ducati	4-6
5	Garrett Marchbanks	Monster Energy Kawasaki	6-5

Mercedes-AMG Confirms Surprise Leadership Change

Mercedes-AMG confirmed this week that Christoph Sagemuller, who has led the company's motorsport department since March 2021, will step down at the end of June. Simon Wilbers, who has been with Mercedes-AMG since 2018 and most recently headed the marketing and commercial side of the motorsport division, will take over as head of motorsport on July 1. The departure came as a surprise internally. Sagemuller had been with the company since 2011 and was widely expected to eventually move into a broader role within the Daimler Group. Instead he is departing entirely and is understood to have already secured a new position elsewhere.

Wilbers steps into the role at a significant moment. Mercedes-AMG's GT program has been performing well, with victories at this year's Nurburgring 24 Hours and the Bathurst 12 Hour, a lead in the overall DTM standings, and the high-profile addition of Max Verstappen's Verstappen Racing outfit to its customer program. At the same time, the team faces the development of a successor to the current GT3 car and the ongoing transition from HWA AG to the 100 percent subsidiary Affalterbach Racing GmbH, a process that has not been without complications.

Stefan Wendl will continue as head of the customer racing program and his responsibilities remain unchanged under the new structure. Wilbers' remit covers the full Mercedes-AMG motorsport department with the exception of the Formula 1 project, which remains under Toto Wolff.