Joey Logano reached a career-high 323 laps led in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at North Wilkesboro.
The driver of the No. 22 put on a clinic in the track’s first points-paying Cup race since 1996, wheeling his Team Penske Ford to victory in the Window World 450. It was Logano’s first win of the 2026 season and his 38th career victory.
Denny Hamlin finished second, followed by Chase Briscoe in third, Ty Gibbs in fourth, Shane van Gisbergen in fifth, and Bubba Wallace in sixth. Only six cars finished the 450-lap race on the lead lap.
How Logano secured dominant NASCAR North Wilkesboro win
Because qualifying on Saturday was postponed due to rain, Ryan Blaney assumed the pole position for Sunday. However, the driver of the No. 12 had to go to the rear, allowing Ty Gibbs to lead the field to the green flag.
After one caution involving John Hunter Nemechek spinning out on the backstretch, Shane van Gisbergen muscled his way to the front.
In an intense battle between SVG and Gibbs for the stage win, it was Gibbs taking control and earning the victory.
On the subsequent round of pit stops, Gibbs committed a pit road speeding penalty, sending him to the tail end of the field.
The second stage is when Logano began to take control as he wheeled his way to the stage victory. During the stage, there were two cautions — one coming on a two-car spin involving Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman, the other on a solo car spin for Josh Berry.
The field was in the middle of green flag pit stops at the time of the Bowman/Reddick incident on lap 183, which shook up the running order. Big-time contenders such as Chase Elliott, William Byron, and Christopher Bell all were trapped one or more laps down, and ultimately never recovered.
The final stage ran caution-free and continued to see Logano dominate. After the final round of green flag pit stops, the battle for the win was between Logano and Hamlin. However, the three-time Cup champion navigated lap traffic to perfection and fended off Hamlin’s rally for the win.
Logano moves into The Chase as cut line shakes up
With Logano’s victory, he now moves above The Chase cutoff with just five races remaining. The 36-year-old moved up two positions to 15th in the standings and has a 49-point gap over the cut line.
With his strong top-five performance, SVG extended his gap to the cutoff, now with a 54-point edge in the 14th position. Erik Jones dropped below the cut line to 17th place, now facing a 33-point deficit.
Austin Cindric is the last driver in The Chase in the 16th spot. At the top of the standings, Hamlin extended his points lead by 68 points over second place Tyler Reddick and 87 points over third place Ryan Blaney.
Blaney, meanwhile, joined Hamlin and Reddick as the only drivers to have clinched a spot in The Chase.
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400. It will feature the finals of the In-Season Challenge, as Blaney will battle Todd Gilliland for the $1 million prize.
Joey Logano Dominates NASCAR Cup Series Race at North Wilkesboro