Joey Logano wins NASCAR Cup Series race at North Wilkesboro

The No. 22 driver put on a clinic in the track’s first points paying Cup race since 1996 driving his Team Penske Ford to victory in the Window World 450. The victory was Logano's first of the 2026 season and 38th of his career.

Denny Hamlin finished second Chase Briscoe third, Ty Gibbs fourth Shane van Gisbergen fifth and Bubba Wallace sixth. Only six cars finished on the lead lap in the 450-lap race.

How Logano dominated NASCAR North Wilkesboro win

Ryan Blaney took the pole position for Sunday because qualifying on Saturday was postponed due to rain. But the driver of the No. 12 had to go to the back giving Ty Gibbs the lead of the field to the green flag.

One caution, with John Hunter Nemechek spinning out on the backstretch, later gave Shane van Gisbergen an opportunity to muscle his way to the front.

In a hard fought battle between SVG and Gibbs for the stage win it was Gibbs taking control and taking the win.

Gibbs incurred a pit road speeding penalty on the next round of pit stops and was sent to the back of the field.

The second phase was when Logano started to take control as he weaved his way to the stage win. There were two cautions in the stage — one on a two-car spin involving Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman, the other on a solo spin for Josh Berry.

The running order was shaken up during green flag pit stops when Bowman and Reddick clashed on lap 183. Big-time contenders Chase Elliott, William Byron and Christopher Bell all wound up one or more laps down and never recovered.

The last stage went green throughout and Logano continued to dominate. Logano and Hamlin dueled for the win after the final set of green flag pit stops. But the three-time Cup champion navigated the lap traffic expertly and fended off Hamlin’s charge for the victory.

Logano shakes up The Chase cut line, moves up

Logano’s win moves him above The Chase cutoff with only five races remaining. The 36 year old climbed two spots to 15th in the standings and has a 49-point cushion over the cut line.

With a strong top five performance SVG padded his lead over the cutoff now holding a 54-point advantage in 14th place. Erik Jones fell to 17th now 33 points below the cut line.

Austin Cindric is the final driver in The Chase in the 16th spot. Hamlin’s lead at the top of the standings increased to 68 points over second-place Tyler Reddick and 87 points over third-place Ryan Blaney.

Meanwhile Blaney joins Hamlin and Reddick as the only drivers locked into The Chase.

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400. The In-Season Challenge finals are scheduled to happen with Blaney and Todd Gilliland to fight for the $1 million prize.