Joey Logano seized a late surge at North Wilkesboro to edge Denny Hamlin by just under a second and claim victory in the NASCAR Cup Series Window World 450.
Driving the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Team Penske Ford, Logano led a career-high 323 laps, crossing the finish line 0.859 seconds ahead of a relentless Hamlin whose No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota had shadowed him through lapped traffic for the final 90 laps.
This marked Logano’s 38th career Cup Series win, moving him into sole possession of 23rd on the sport’s all-time wins list and perhaps more critically, vaulted him back above the Chase cut line with just five races remaining in the regular-season.
“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.
“[Crew chief] Paul [Wolfe] put together a good car. 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.”
2026 NASCAR Cup North Wilkesboro Window World 450 Race Results
New 2026 NASCAR Cup points standings after North Wilkesboro
At the drop of the green flag, Ty Gibbs surged to the front in the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and led the field through the opening laps.
The first caution flag came on lap 40 when John Hunter Nemechek spun Turn 2 and brought the field together for the first time.
Denny Hamlin chose to stay out on the restart while several rivals dove down pit road, but Shane van Gisbergen — who had taken only two tires — emerged ahead of Hamlin on the ensuing restart and seized the race lead.
It was Ty Gibbs, however, who claimed the Stage 1 win at the end of 80 laps by executing a last-lap pass on van Gisbergen. Logano, Hamlin and Hocevar followed in third through fifth.
Stage 2 produced its share of incident, particularly during the green-flag pit cycle that began when Christopher Bell peeled off pit road on lap 173.
A lap later, AJ Allmendinger who was lapped by Logano made contact with the outside wall entering Turn 1, breaking his right-rear toe link and effectively retired from the race.
The second caution flew on lap 183 following a more dramatic incident involving Alex Bowman, who was attempting to cut down toward pit road when he made contact with Tyler Reddick.
Both cars spun at the pit road entrance forcing Daniel Suarez to swerve back out onto the track to avoid the wreckage. The caution caught out several high-profile drivers including Chase Elliott, William Byron and the already-penalized Ty Gibbs who found themselvesa lap down.
Just laps later, on lap 199, Josh Berry found himself in trouble when Christopher Bell slid up the track into him entering Turn 3, sending Berry hard into the outside wall.
Joey Logano ultimately won Stage 2, and the final extended run of the race (185 laps) became the stage on which his legacy at North Wilkesboro would be cemented for a generation.
Denny Hamlin opened the final green-flag pit cycle on lap 359 and found himself immediately behind Logano. What followed was 90 laps of extraordinary tension with Hamlin refusing to yield more than a second’s gap to the No. 22 Ford ahead.
The two navigated a field of lapped cars, each driver trying to read the traffic, find the clean line through the lapped slower machinery and gain a decisive advantage.
Logano carved through the backmarkers smoothly and without losing momentum gave him just enough margin to deny Hamlin the opportunity to close in for a final-lap challenge, taking NASCAR Cup win at North Wilkesboro.
