Through the opening 20 races of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, the year had become Joey Logano’s tale of the horrible, no good, bad season. However, on a hot and humid Sunday evening at North Wilkesboro Speedway, Logano was able to shake off the funk that had followed him throughout the season, as he put in one of the most dominant performances of his illustrious Cup Series career.
Logano led a race-high 323 laps in the 450-lap event, which took place around the legendary 0.625-mile short track, which made its triumphant return as a points-paying race venue for the first time in 30 years. Denny Hamlin mounted a slight challenge to Logano in the closing laps, but once Logano got clear of Riley Herbst, a driver for the 23XI Racing who was a lapped car, Logano never looked back.
Try as he might, Hamlin could only get within 0.859 seconds of Logano as the pair of drivers crossed the finish line for the final time in the Window World 450. In capping off the dominant performance, Logano was able to capture his first victory of the season, and it marks the 38th win of the three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion’s career.
“What a great car. Paul Wolfe, what a great car he put together for us today,” Logano said in his victory interview on TNT. “Just was able to execute a smooth place. Everyone on pit road did a good job. Engine and Roush Yates was good. It’s good to get back into victory lane. It’s been a tough year. So getting the Shell-Pennzoil Mustang doing some big, smoky doughnuts around this place felt really good.”
Logano has now won at least one race in each of the last 15 seasons, and this victory was crucial to his hopes at making the NASCAR Cup Series Chase for the Championship, as Logano pocketed 73 points on the evening, which vaulted him from outside the cutline to 49 points above it.
Hamlin was proud to come home first in class, but credited Logano and his No. 22 Team Penske team for executing a flawless race.
“Yeah, you just got to compliment him on a great day, a great drive. They were really good,” Hamlin admitted. “There was a lot of time where it felt like my car was kind of close where it needed to be. Just a smidge off. It was a great battle. At least I could keep him honest there.”
Chase Briscoe rallied from a 30th-place starting position to finish third, while Ty Gibbs made it an all-Joe Gibbs Racing hold on 2nd through 4th.
Shane van Gisbergen impressed mightily by leading 49 laps on the evening, second only to Logano. SVG would narrowly miss out on winning Stage 1, as Gibbs made a last-lap pass on him. But the road course specialist remained near the front all evening long, and was rewarded with a fifth-place finish.
Bubba Wallace came home in the sixth position a week after being penalized for a move below the yellow line at EchoPark Speedway. Wallace was the final driver to finish on the lead lap, showcasing how dominant Logano was on Sunday evening.
Brad Keselowski, Todd Gilliland, Daniel Suarez, and Ryan Preece rounded out the top-10 finishers.
With his eighth-place run, Gilliland was able to push past Chase Elliott (finished 17th) to advance to the finals of the In-Season Challenge. Gilliland will face off against Ryan Blaney, who finished 11th and knocked off 19th-place finisher Christopher Bell, in next Sunday’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
