Joey Logano has struggled throughout the 2026 season, but with six races remaining in the regular season, the three-time champion snapped a 45-race winless streak, dominating the first NASCAR Cup Series points event at North Wilkesboro Speedway in 30 years.
Logano led a career high 323 laps in the 450-lap Window World 450, leaving only six drivers on the lead lap at the finish. His 38th career victory was his 36th in a Ford, moving him into third on the all-time Ford win list. The victory also moved him into the top 16 in the driver standings for the first time since April. With five races remaining in the regular season, Logano now sits 15th in the standings. The top 16 advance into the post-season.
“Are we still a contender for a championship? I don’t know,” crew chief Paul Wolfe said. “We still have a lot of work to do to get the other style race tracks where they need to be, the ones we’ve obviously struggled on this year.
“We know the short tracks are our strength. I think the first thing we need to do is make sure we execute on these weekends here leading up to the end of the regular season and score those points to at least give ourselves a shot. I think the mile-and-a-halfs have obviously been our struggle.”
Logano edged standings leader Denny Hamlin by 0.859 second; however, it was the final 90 laps after they made their last pit stops that truly demonstrated Logano’s dominance.
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Denny Hamlin (left) and Joey Logano, neck and nect.
Hamlin was second when he pitted on lap 359. Logano pitted from the lead the next lap and returned to the 0.625-mile track in front of Hamlin. Once the rotation of green-flag stops was completed, Logano was once again in the lead and Hamlin was second. Hamlin dogged Logano throughout the waning laps, but the Team Penske driver navigated traffic with ease.
“Getting track position and being able to manage for the long hauls is really the reason why we were able to carve through the field,” Logano said. “The last run was definitely tougher. I ran harder than I wanted to early in the run when Denny was putting the pressure on us. Our weakness was the short run. He got to us. I had to run pretty hard there. Then it kind of got to where I was in a pretty good spot, tried to save my right rear some.
“You just have to compliment them on a great day and a great drive.”
“As we got the traffic, especially the 35 (Riley Herbst), I lost my whole lead there. Ran a little too hard getting the tires hot there at the end again.”
Immediately after Hamlin climbed from his car he walked over to the front stretch pit wall and shook hands with Logano.
“You just have to compliment them on a great day and a great drive,” Hamlin said about Logano and his team. “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.
“At least 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. He did everything we know Joey (Logano) to do.”
Even though Hamlin had to settle for second, he extended his lead in the standings over Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney. Reddick was relegated to a 30th-place finish, five laps down after Alex Bowman collided with him near the entrance to pit road.
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Bowman finished 26th, four laps down. Reddick’s third finish in the last four races of 30th or worse has left him 68 points behind Hamlin.
Ryan Blaney remained third in the standings but also lost points to Hamlin with his 11th-place finish. He’s now 87 points in arrears to Hamlin. Blaney appeared headed for a top-five finish until he was caught speeding on pit road during his final stop with 88 laps remaining.
“That hurt our night,” Blaney said about the speeding penalty. “I thought we could have run in that fourth to sixth range where we were at, but it’s still a decent day overall.”
WINDOW WORLD 450—RACE RESULTSNorth Wilkesboro Speedway—North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, July 19, 2026
Pos/Driver/Team/Status (Laps)/Pts
1. Joey Logano, Shell Pennzoil Ford, Running (450 laps), 73
2. Denny Hamlin, Progressive Insurance Toyota, Running (450 laps), 51
3. Chase Briscoe, Wix Filters Toyota, Running (450 laps), 45
4. Ty Gibbs, SiriusXM Toyota, Running (450 laps), 43
5. Shane Van Gisbergen, Wendy’s Chevrolet, Running (450 laps), 47
6. Bubba Wallace, Coca-Cola Toyota, Running (450 laps), 38
7. Brad Keselowski, Consumer Cellular Ford, Running (449 laps), 34
8. Todd Gilliland, 31 Ruedebusch Development & Construction Inc. Ford, Running (449 laps), 31
9. Daniel Suarez, Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation Chevrolet, Running (449 laps), 29
10. Ryan Preece, SimpleTire Ford, Running (449 laps), 27
11. Ryan Blaney, Menards/Duracell Ford, Running (448 laps), 29
12. William Byron, All-Pro Reconditioning Chevrolet, Running (448 laps), 26
13. Carson Hocevar, Spectrum Chevrolet, Running (448 laps), 35
14. Austin Cindric, Freightliner Ford, Running (448 laps), 25
15. Kyle Larson, HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, Running (448 laps), 22
16. Ty Dillon, Grizzly Nicotine Pouches Chevrolet, Running (448 laps), 21
17. Chase Elliott, Llumar Chevrolet, Running (447 laps), 24
18. Riley Herbst, FRE Nicotine Pouches Toyota, Running (447 laps), 19
19. Christopher Bell, Rheem Toyota, Running (447 laps), 23
20. Chris Buescher, Kroger/Coca-Cola Ford, Running (447 laps), 17
21. Erik Jones, Dollar Tree Toyota, Running (447 laps), 16
22. Zane Smith, Long John Silver’s Ford, Running (447 laps), 15
23. Austin Dillon, Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Supreme Chevrolet, Running (446 laps), 14
24. Michael McDowell, Delaware Life Chevrolet, Running (446 laps), 13
25. Noah Gragson, A&W Restaurants/National Root Beer Float Day Ford, Running (446 laps), 12
26. Alex Bowman, Ally Chevrolet, Running (446 laps), 11
27. Ross Chastain, Busch Light Chevrolet, Running (446 laps), 11
28. Cole Custer, Sysco/The Smoke Pit Chevrolet, Running (446 laps), 9
29. Cody Ware, Rocket Doctor Chevrolet, Running (446 laps), 8
30. Tyler Reddick, Comparion Insurance Toyota, Running (445 laps), 7
31. John Hunter Nemechek, Pye-Barker Fire & Safety Toyota, Running (445 laps), 6
32. Connor Zilisch, WeatherTech Chevrolet, Running (443 laps), 5
33. Austin Hill (i), Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet, Running (442 laps), 0
34. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Jack Link’s Non Vegan Nation Chevrolet, Running (442 laps), 3
35. Chad Finchum (i), Kingscrowd Ford, Rear Gear (303 laps), 0
36. Josh Berry, Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford, Accident (199 laps), 1
37. AJ Allmendinger, Grizzly Nicotine Pouches Chevrolet, Suspension (190 laps), 1
Fastest Lap: Ross Chastain (No. 1 Chevrolet) — Lap 5, 18.665 seconds.
Time of Race: 2 hours, 50 minutes, 54 seconds
Average Speed: 88.397 mph
Margin of Victory: 0.859 seconds
Stage 1 Top 10: Ty Gibbs, Shane Van Gisbergen, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Carson Hocevar, Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, Chase Briscoe, Austin Cindric, William Byron.
Stage 2 Top 10: Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, Bubba Wallace, Shane Van Gisbergen, Carson Hocevar, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, Todd Gilliland, Daniel Suarez.
Race Winner: Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford. Logano led a race-high 323 laps en route to his 38th NASCAR Cup Series victory.
Race Notes: Logano earned his 38th career Cup victory at North Wilkesboro. Ross Chastain recorded the fastest lap of the race. Before the green flag, the No. 1 of Ross Chastain dropped to the rear for multiple inspection failures and the No. 12 of Ryan Blaney dropped to the rear for an unapproved adjustment.
Caution Flags: 5 cautions for 43 laps.
Lead Changes: 17 among 9 drivers.
Next Race: July 26, 2026—Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
NASCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER STANDINGS
After the Window World 450 at North Wilkesboro Speedway
Pos/Driver/Points
1. Denny Hamlin, 842
2. Tyler Reddick, 774
3. Ryan Blaney, 755
4. Ty Gibbs, 708
5. Chase Elliott, 634
6. Kyle Larson, 616
7. Carson Hocevar, 598
8. Chase Briscoe, 587
9. Chris Buescher, 585
10. Christopher Bell, 574
11. Daniel Suarez, 558
12. William Byron, 546
13. Bubba Wallace, 531
14. Shane Van Gisbergen, 516
15. Joey Logano, 511
16. Austin Cindric, 495
17. Erik Jones, 462
18. Ryan Preece, 447
19. Brad Keselowski, 437
20. Michael McDowell, 412
21. Ross Chastain, 412
22. AJ Allmendinger, 397
23. Todd Gilliland, 384
24. Zane Smith, 371
25. Riley Herbst, 369
26. John Hunter Nemechek, 350
27. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 347
28. Austin Dillon, 341
29. Alex Bowman, 292
30. Ty Dillon, 259
31. Noah Gragson, 253
32. Cole Custer, 246
33. Josh Berry, 234
34. Connor Zilisch, 213
35. Cody Ware, 177
36. Kevin Magnussen, 11
37. Casey Mears, 10
38. Jimmie Johnson, 9
39. Katherine Legge, 8
40. BJ McLeod, 4
41. Corey Heim (i), 0
42. Austin Hill (i), 0
43. JJ Yeley (i), 0
44. Justin Allgaier (i), 0
45. Daniel Dye (i), 0
46. Jesse Love (i), 0
47. Chad Finchum (i), 0
48. Joey Gase (i), 0
49. Anthony Alfredo (i), 0
50. Josh Bilicki (i), 0
51. Timmy Hill (i), 0
52. Corey LaJoie (i), 0
53. Chandler Smith (i), 0
Points Leader: Denny Hamlin leads the NASCAR Cup Series standings with 842 points, 68 points ahead of Tyler Reddick.
A North Carolina native, Deb Williams is an award-winning motorsports journalist who is in her fourth decade covering auto racing. In addition to covering the sport for United Press International, she has written motorsports articles for several newspapers, magazines and websites including espnW.com, USA Today, and The Charlotte Observer. Her awards include the American Motorsports Media Award of Excellence, two-time National Motorsports Press Association writer of the year, and two-time recipient of the Russ Catlin award. She also has won an award in the North Carolina Press Association’s sports feature category. During her career, Deb has been managing editor of GT Motorsports magazine and was with Winston Cup Scene and NASCAR Winston Cup Scene for 18 years, serving as the publication’s editor for 10 years. In 2024 she was inducted into the NMPA Hall of Fame.