NASCAR
Joey Logano Ends 45-Race Winless Streak with Lights-Out Run at North Wilkesboro
NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. – A sleeping giant may have been awoken after 450 laps around North Wilkesboro Speedway. 2024’s All-Star Race winner here Joey Logano picked up right where he left off that night. The No. 22 Ford put together a Sunday night stunner in the foothills. 323 laps led was the 22’s stat line in North Wilkesboro’s full-fledged points racing return, taking a maiden win of 2026. This erases a 45-race winless drought for the three-time champion, and pads his buffer above The Chase cut line.
Logano did not lead until Stage 2, with the opening stint going to Ty Gibbs in a photo finish over Shane van Gisbergen. Both of these drivers would be players later in the evening, with the No. 97 taking the lead a few different times on restarts.
.@joeylogano led to start stage 2 but @shanevg97 takes command again from @NWBSpeedway #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/IDhW1Qx6RV
— Peter Stratta (@peterstratta) July 20, 2026
Logano took the lead back from SVG just past lap 100, and hardly ever looked back for the next 300+ circuits. Green flag pit stops were Logano’s only time the rest of the night not out front, holding back the entire field and flexing vintage 22 team dominance. Thanks to an entire final stage going green, Logano lapped up to sixth-place and beat Denny Hamlin to the checkers by a second.
“It was just a solid racecar,” Logano said. “I knew in practice that the car had speed and the balance was really loose. When you have that, its like, ‘OK, if we get the balance right, this thing is really fast, I think.’ So they did a good job dialing it in overnight and putting it in position at the end of the first stage. That’s when we finally got where we needed to be and was able to just set sail up front. It was just a really solid racecar. I was lucky to get to drive this one today and really just being able to manage a lot of things inside the car, so I’m proud of Paul Wolfe [crew chief]. He does a good job. We tested twice over the offseason here when they were testing all of the other stuff with the rules packages and stuff, so just a really good tester.”
“I don’t want to be a one track wonder, but right now it’s a good one to be good at. Last year we feel like we had one taken away there at the end. Even on the old pavement, I felt like we had a chance of winning that All-Star Race as well. We just have always had fast cars here and was able to manage the short track stuff. That’s definitely in our wheelhouse right now.”
Logano vaults himself up from 17th to 15th on the Chase grid, now above the cut line by 49 points. Five races remain until the 16-man dance is set. Logano hopes to stay above water with this recent shot of momentum and confidence.
Toyotas of Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, and Ty Gibbs pursued Logano at the finish, ahead of Shane van Gisbergen’s Chevrolet. The rest of North Wilkesboro’s top-10 were: Bubba Wallace, Brad Keselowski, Todd Gilliland, Daniel Suarez, and Ryan Preece. Eighth-place is enough for Gilliland to advance onto the In-Season Challenge finale, beating Chase Elliott. Hear from a few of these drivers below.
Tonight’s runner-up @dennyhamlin says they put a lot of effort into this track and it definitely paid off, but Logano was just too strong after a few laps. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/rbTpEBxmU3
— Peter Stratta (@peterstratta) July 20, 2026
.@shanevg97 leaves tonight with another top-five on an oval, calling it a very hot race but fun to be one of the few finishing on the lead lap. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/CWQ4ZQbHNX
— Peter Stratta (@peterstratta) July 20, 2026
.@ToddGilliland_ finishes 8th to advance onto the In Season Challenge championship next week from @IMS, which he calls probably his best intermediate oval.
“We have to be better than our best though to win,” the @Team_FRM driver admits. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/ycRXd3pBFw
— Peter Stratta (@peterstratta) July 20, 2026
The push to The Chase will go through one of racing’s most hallowed grounds next week. Indianapolis Motor Speedway is on deck for the Brickyard 400, where one driver will race their way into history. The 2.5-mile oval steeped in history like nowhere else will roar to life again Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on TNT, the IMS Radio Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Written by Peter Stratta
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