Joey Logano had a gleam in his eye and a lilt in his voice as he readied to climb into the No. 22 Team Penske Ford for the start of Sunday night’s Window World 450.
“I think we have a fast car,” Logano opined optimistically before taking the green flag in the first NASCAR Cup Series points race at North Wilkesboro Speedway in 30 years.
Logano was right, but his assessment turned out to be a massive understatement. After leading a single-race career-best 323 laps, Logano crossed the finished line 0.859 seconds ahead of series leader Denny Hamlin to win for the first time since May 2025 when he triumphed at Texas Motor Speedway.
The victory was Logano’s first in a points race at the 0.625 short track, though he also won the 2024 NASCAR All-Star Race at revitalized North Wilkesboro. In front of an enthusiastic sell-out crowd, Logano recorded the 38th Cup victory of his career, 23rd-most all-time.
“It’s good to get back into Victory Lane,” Logano said. “It’s been a tough year. So getting the Shell-Pennzoil Mustang doing some big, smoky doughnuts around this place felt really good.”
The victory was a distinct bright spot in a troublesome season for the three-time Cup Series champion, who vaulted from 17th to 15th in the series standings, 49 points clear of the current cut line for the postseason Chase.
“(Crew chief) Paul (Wolfe) put together a good car,” Logano said. “I think I know exactly what I need to go fast around this place. He’s able to give it to me.
“I knew coming into this weekend, we’ve got to capitalize on the points. A win was great, but we really need the points. Really capitalized on those tonight.”
Hamlin was able to stay close to Logano in the final stage, but the race winner worked traffic adroitly and never gave Hamlin a chance to close within striking distance.
The critical juncture came during a green-flag pit stop cycle in the final stage, with Hamlin steering his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to pit road on Lap 359 of 450. Logano followed a lap later and exited the pits roughly a half-second ahead of Hamlin.
That pit cycle proved decisive.
“Yeah, the pressure was there, for sure,” Logano said. “Denny got really good there the last run. Honestly, it was whoever was out front was going to win the race.
“We were pretty dominant. But as the race went along, Denny got better at the last run. Just did a decent job keeping up with the track. They did a good job keeping up.”
Though his extended pursuit of Logano proved fruitless, Hamlin expanded his series lead over second-place Tyler Reddick to 68 points, with five races left before the Chase field is set.
“You just have to compliment them on a great day and a great drive,” Hamlin said of Logano’s effort. “They were really good. There were a lot of times that I felt like my car was really close to where it needed to be; it was just a smidge off.
“Great battle. At least I was able to keep them honest there, but he had a lot of speed and never gave up on the short run or the long run, so great job to our whole Progressive Toyota team for keeping us in the ballgame, but we will have to go regroup.”
Chase Briscoe ran third and Ty Gibbs fourth, despite an early pit road speeding penalty. Shane van Gisbergen, who maintained a presence in the top 10 for the entire race and led 49 laps (second most to Logano), placed fifth and climbed one position to 14th in the standings, 54 points above the current Chase cutoff.
In the semifinal of the NASCAR Cup Series In-Season Challenge, Todd Gilliland continued his unlikely march to the winner-take-all $1-million payday with an eighth-place finish to Chase Elliott’s 17th.
Elliott was buried two laps down when caution for a collision between the Chevrolet of Alex Bowman and the Toyota of Reddick—as Bowman turned across traffic trying to enter pit road on Lap 183—interrupted a cycle of green-flag stops.
Elliott finished three laps down after a late pit stop.
Ryan Blaney, who finished 11th, two laps down, after a speeding penalty, ousted Christopher Bell from the In-Season Challenge. Like Elliott, Bell was a victim of the Lap 183 caution after pitting early in the cycle. He finished 19th, three laps down.
Blaney will face Gilliland for the In-Season title in next Sunday’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET on TNT, IMS Radio Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The race featured five cautions for 43 laps, with the final stage running caution-free for 175 green-flag laps. There were 17 lead changes among nine drivers, the majority coming during green-flag pit cycles.
Gibbs won the first stage before drawing his speeding penalty, with Logano exerting his dominance in winning Stage 2.
Sixth-place Bubba Wallace was the last driver to finish on the lead lap. Brad Keselowski, Gilliland, Daniel Suarez and Ryan Preece—all one lap down—completed the top 10.
— NASCAR News Wire —
See race details at: Race Results, Driver Points Standings, Owner Points Standings, Cumulative Report, Infraction Report.
For complete race information, check out the North Wilkesboro race page.