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Motorsport

Nick DeGroot

Joey Logano earns dominant NASCAR Cup win at North Wilkesboro

Joey Logano Denny Hamlin NASCAR Ty Gibbs Van Gisbergen Christopher Bell Cup Chase Briscoe Chase Elliott North Wilkesboro

There was no stopping Joey Logano in NASCAR's first points-paying Cup race at North Wilkesboro in three decades. The Team Penske driver led 323 of 450 laps, taking a commanding victory and his first of the 2026 season. That beats Logano's own personal record for laps led in a single race (previously 309 at Martinsville in 2018).

Logano now has 38 career wins, and that win vaulted him above the Chase cut-line.

He had to hold off Denny Hamlin in the closing laps, with the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver trying everything he could to get to the No. 22 Penske Ford, but to no avail.

"A win anywhere at this point would have sounded great," said Logano, who took his son Hudson for a ride after the race.

"Coming here to North Wilkesboro is awesome. I picked up a passenger on the backstretch. What a great car. Paul Wolfe (crew chief), what a great car he put together for us today. 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, smokey doughnuts around this place felt really good."

Chase Briscoe finished third, Ty Gibbs fourth, and Shane van Gisbergen matched his career-best oval finish in fifth.

Bubba Wallace, Brad Keselowski, Todd Gilliland, Daniel Suarez, and Ryan Preece filled out the remainder of the top ten.

Of note, Gilliland continued his underdog run in the $1 million In-Season Challenge, defeating Chase Elliott and advancing into the finals. There he will face Ryan Blaney, who bested Christopher Bell on Sunday.

Stage 1

There was a slight delay to finish drying the track after earlier storms, but as cars got rolling, pole-sitter Blaney was not actually going to lead the field to the green flag. The team had to fix a power steering issue, which put him to the rear of the field for the start.

It was instead Bell and Gibbs on the front row, with Gibbs dominating the early portion of the 450-lap race.

Chastain had to serve an early pass-through after three inspection failures on Saturday, falling off the lead lap.

The first caution was for Nemechek, who spun with some help from Smith.

Most of the field pitted, with a handful of cars opting for two-tire calls. Hamlin was the lone driver who decided to stay out.

During pit stops, Larson collided with Zilisch while trying to exit his pit stall, and needed to pit again after bending the right-front wheel.

On the restart, it was Van Gisbergen who quickly took the lead, and promptly set a new personal record for laps led on an oval for SVG.

"What the f*** do I do now," radioed Van Gisbergen after taking the lead, joking with the team.

At the end of the stage, Van Gisbergen got passed for the lead on the final lap, with Gibbs winning Stage 1, just ahead of Van Gisbergen. They were followed by Logano, Hamlin, Hocevar, Bell, Elliott, Briscoe, Cindric, and Byron.

A side-by-side end the first stage at @NWBSpeedway 🤯

Ty Gibbs in the lead entering stage two 👀 pic.twitter.com/EgdIJfikvX
— TNT Sports U.S. (@TNTSportsUS) July 20, 2026

Stage 2

During the stage break, race leader Gibbs was hit with a big penalty after he was caught speeding on pit road.

Logano was now in control, only for Van Gisbergen to again take the lead on the restart. About 35 laps later, Logano moved back ahead of Van Gisbergen, driving away.

About halfway through the stage, Bell was the first to kick off a round of green-flag pit stops. While being lapped by Logano, Allmendinger pushed a bit too hard, sliding up into the outside wall and breaking the right-rear toe link. He became the first driver to fall out of the race.

In the middle of green-flag pit stops, Bowman tried to cut down to the pit lane, but Reddick was there. They collided and both cars spun into the pit road entrance, causing Suarez to swerve back out onto the track.

Major WRECK between Alex Bowman and Tyler Reddick in Stage 2 😬 pic.twitter.com/La0ZxMeI73
— TNT Sports U.S. (@TNTSportsUS) July 20, 2026

The timing of this caution completely derailed a top five run for Elliott, and adversely impacted other drivers as well, such as Bell, Buescher, Byron, and Cindric

There were only 15 cars left on the lead lap after the wave-arounds. During the next run, Berry went for a spin with some help from Bell, slamming the wall. Berry suffered too much damage and fell out of the race.

This caution helped Gibbs to get back onto the lead lap via the free pass.

The rest of the stage ran caution-free, with Logano putting several notable cars two laps down. At the very end of the stage, he caught three Hendrick drivers, who barely avoided falling two laps down as well.

Logano won Stage 2, far ahead of Hamlin, Briscoe, Wallace, Van Gisbergen, Hocevar, Keselowski, Blaney, Gilliland, and Suarez.

T. Dillon was granted the free pass, running 15th.

Stage 3

Logano continued to dominate into the final stage of the race, but started to complain about a sticking brake pedal with about 125 laps to go. Hamlin, who was running second, remained a bit closer in this run.

There was a group of cars two laps down that stayed out at the end of the second stage, hoping to catch a quick yellow after taking the wave-around. That didn't work out for them, and they became the first drivers to pit under green for their final stop.

Hamlin made his final green-flag pit stop with 90 laps to go, and Logano immediately responded.

After stops cycled through, Hamlin remained close to Logano as they cut through heavy traffic.

With 15 laps to go, Herbst was working hard to hold up Logano, which helped his boss -- Hamlin -- quickly close in.

However, he couldn't do anything with the leader, finishing second as Logano claimed victory for Team Penske.

The entire final stage ran caution-free, and only six cars were left on the lead lap. After the race, Hamlin shook hands with Logano, applauding him on the impressive win.