Joey Logano Maintains Summer Surge with Richmond Masterclass

EDDIE KALEGI - STAFF WRITER

Joey Logano celebrates Cookout 400 victory (Photo Credit: Motorsports Today)

RICHMOND, VA - Death. Taxes. Even year Joey.

Joey Logano continued he and Team Penske’s stellar summer, collecting his third career victory at Richmond Raceway, and second win of the 2026 season, in the Cookout 400 at Richmond Raceway in front of a sellout crowd.

With the victory, the three-time Cup Series champion vaulted to ninth in the standings, after spending most of the season below the Chase cutline.

“It’s been a nice turnaround,” Logano said. “We’ve been able to switch our goals from making the Chase to winning a championship.”

HOW IT HAPPENED

Given Penske’s recent prowess, particularly at short tracks, Saturday’s qualifying session was no surprise, as Ryan Blaney claimed his second consecutive pole, narrowly edging out Chase Briscoe’s Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Blaney rocketshipped out to an early advantage as the green flag flew in front of a sellout crowd on a gorgeous Virginia night. Blaney’s Penske affiliate teammate Josh Berry overtook Briscoe for second prior to the first cycle of green flag pit stops.

Multiple teams and drivers made mistakes during said sequence, most notably last weekend’s winner Ty Gibbs, who was thrown off by Richmond’s newly configured pit road entrance, getting caught speeding on his first stop of the night.

Blaney cycled back out ahead of Briscoe and the other three Penske affiliates, including Austin Cindric, who climbed from 29th to 5th in the first 50 laps. As Blaney was mired in lapped traffic, Briscoe closed the gap and got all the way to the bumper of the No. 12 Ford, but it wasn’t enough to win the opening stage.

Blaney and Briscoe restarted alongside each other once again to begin stage two, but this time, the tables turned, as Briscoe powered around the outside to take the lead. 20 laps later though, Blaney took the top spot back.

Just as another set of green flag pit stops had just commenced for drivers like Gibbs and Berry, the caution flew as Zane Smith spun on lap 125, continuing his bummer summer. Briscoe and Joey Logano beat Blaney off pit road under yellow, and Denny Hamlin made his way around the 2023 Cup Series champion during the ensuing green flag run.

With 60 laps remaining in stage 2, the hottest driver as of late made his move. Aided by the lapped car of Cole Custer, Joey Logano caught and surpassed Chase Briscoe for the race lead. Nothing changed for those two during the next pit cycle, but Logano’s teammate Austin Cindric lost several spots after nearly colliding with Daniel Suarez while entering his pit box.

Logano would go on to claim his second stage win of the season, stretching the gap to more than nine seconds over Briscoe and Denny Hamlin, who got by his teammate shortly before the caution.

On the subsequent restart, Chase Briscoe brought the battle back to Joey Logano as the lead once again changed hands, while Austin Cindric rebounded to third place.

Briscoe held serve under the next green flag pit cycle, but a new player entered the conversation: Tyler Reddick. Reddick’s crew chief Billy Scott opted to run the No. 45 Toyota long, a strategy that paid off.

Carson Hocevar double downshifted down the backstraightaway, blowing his transmission and ending what was already a disappointing Saturday night for he and Spire Motorsports.

This caution caused strategies to split, as Reddick was joined by Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney on pit road under caution. On the next restart, Reddick powered through a jumbled mess and climbed to third behind Briscoe and Logano in the blink of an eye with less than 100 laps to go, but stalled out there and was later overtaken by Christopher Bell.

Briscoe and Logano got their service with 75 laps to go, while Reddick, Bell, and Blaney plotted an overcut, staying out approximately 20 laps longer each and hitting pit road in that order.

As Logano passed by Briscoe for the lead with 39 laps left, both drivers immediately hit the pits for fresh tires once more, with the No. 22 Ford narrowly winning the race off pit road.

The pair ultimately ran down and passed Bell and Reddick on their alternate strategy with relative ease, leaving the battle in the hands of the two drivers who had dominated the majority of Saturday’s proceedings. Briscoe was resilient, but it wasn’t enough, as Logano held on for the victory.

“Typical late summer Joey Logano,” Briscoe quipped postrace. “Just coming up out of nowhere on you.”

UP NEXT

The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season will continue next Sunday with the penultimate race of the regular season at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Tim Moore will have coverage from New England all weekend long on our socials!