By Andrew Clarke
Date posted: 16 August 2026
Joey Logano has transformed his NASCAR Cup Series season, climbing from a season low 20th in the championship to ninth after claiming his second victory in four races at Richmond Raceway.
The three time champion defeated Chase Briscoe by 0.392s in the Cook Out 400, leading 95 of the 400 laps and taking a maximum 55 points for the race victory.
More important than the result alone is the timing. Logano and Team Penske have found speed as the championship approaches its decisive 10 race Chase.
Logano changes his championship target
Logano is now only one point behind reigning champion Kyle Larson in eighth and 36 points behind Chase Elliott and Christopher Bell in sixth and seventh.
He is not mathematically locked into the Chase, but the conversation within the No. 22 team has changed.
“We’ve been able to ride some momentum here right now,” Logano said.
“It’s been a nice turnaround. We’ve been able to switch our goals from making the Chase to winning the championship. It’s quite the turnaround in a month and a half’s time.”
Under NASCAR’s 2026 Chase format, victories do not provide automatic qualification or create a bank of bonus points.
The top 16 after the regular season finale at Daytona will qualify. Their points will then be reset according to their championship positions.
If the regular season ended now, ninth placed Logano would begin the Chase with 2035 points, 65 behind the top seed.
Each position he gains before Daytona is therefore important. The second victory of his recent surge has pushed Logano four places up the championship order in a single weekend.
He believes a driver inside the top 10 can recover during the Chase, which has no elimination rounds and rewards consistency across all 10 races.
“We’re getting hot at the right time,” Logano said. “It will be a fun Chase until the end.”
Strategy decides Richmond contest
Briscoe appeared to have the strongest car for much of the race, leading a race high 171 laps in the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Logano won the second stage before running Briscoe down ahead of the final green flag pit cycle.
Crew chief Paul Wolfe had planned to bring Logano in earlier to gain time on fresh tyres. Logano passed Briscoe before stopping on the following lap, with a clean service allowing the Team Penske Ford to retain the advantage.
Briscoe closed during the final stint, but a braking problem had already cost him a three second advantage earlier in the run.
“One bad run was the difference,” Briscoe said.
“It’s frustrating to have one slip away like that at the end, but it was still a huge improvement from what I’ve been here.”
Second place secured Briscoe’s position in the Chase and was his first top 10 result at Richmond.
The win also moved Logano level with Rusty Wallace for the most Cup victories recorded for Team Penske. Logano became the 22nd driver to lead 10,000 laps in Cup competition.
3rd place Cindric creates breathing room
Austin Cindric delivered one of the most important drives of the night, recovering from 23rd on the grid to finish third.
Cindric averaged a top five running position across the race, with qualifying the only significant weakness in his weekend.
The result moved him from 16th to 15th in the championship and increased his margin over the Chase cut from 29 to 57 points.
“As far as the big picture goes for the season, it was a very important night for us to capitalise on a good car,” Cindric said.
“We were a little too good too late in the runs, but overall it was a much needed run.”
Richmond also underlined the strength of the wider Penske operation.
Logano won, Cindric finished third and Ryan Blaney started from pole, led 88 laps and won the opening stage before finishing 13th. Wood Brothers Racing driver Josh Berry, whose car is prepared through the Penske operation, finished eighth.
Shane van Gisbergen races with Kyle Larson, Michael McDowell, Zane Smith and Austin Hill during his recovery from 31st to 14th at Richmond Raceway. Image: GettyImages
SVG recovers to protect Chase position
Shane van Gisbergen’s 14th place finish did not carry the same impact as Logano or Cindric’s results, but it was a valuable recovery from 31st on the grid.
The New Zealander used the outside lane to move through the field during the opening stage, recording top five lap times as his tyres wore.
He climbed to 21st by the end of the first stage before an early stop during Stage 2 left him a lap down when the caution appeared on lap 126.
Van Gisbergen took the wave around and recovered to 21st by the end of the stage.
Crew chief Stephen Doran elected to keep the No. 97 Chevrolet on track during the final stage break. The strategy gave van Gisbergen track position and placed him 13th when the next caution arrived on lap 283.
He remained inside the top 15 for the final 117 laps and finished 14th.
“We were better than what we qualified,” van Gisbergen said.
“The strategy put us into the top 15 and gained us a lot. The line I used during the Truck race seemed to work for us, especially when the tyres wore out.”
SVG remains 16th in the championship, holding the final Chase position by 50 points over Ryan Preece.
His two victories do not automatically qualify him under the new format. He must remain inside the top 16 through New Hampshire and Daytona.
The margin is useful, but not decisive. A clean result at New Hampshire would reduce the pressure before the unpredictable regular season finale at Daytona.
Ross Chastain led Trackhouse Racing home in 12th after running as high as seventh. He remains 18th in the championship, 63 points behind van Gisbergen.
Connor Zilisch started 11th but received a speeding penalty during a green flag stop and finished 25th, three laps behind the leaders.
Hamlin maintains championship control
Denny Hamlin finished fourth and retained a 115 point championship lead over Blaney.
Chase Elliott finished fifth, his first top 10 in 10 races, and secured his place in the Chase.
Larson was sixth, followed by Bell, Berry, William Byron and Alex Bowman.
Hamlin, Blaney, Ty Gibbs, Tyler Reddick, Briscoe, Elliott and Bell have mathematically secured their Chase positions.
The Cup Series continues at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday 23 August before the regular season finale at Daytona.
For Logano, the task is no longer survival. It is about improving his seed and carrying his current form across the 10 races that will decide the championship.
Cook Out 400 results
Richmond Raceway, Saturday 15 August 2026
Pos
Car
Driver
Laps
1
22
Joey Logano
400
2
19
Chase Briscoe
400
3
2
Austin Cindric
400
4
11
Denny Hamlin
400
5
9
Chase Elliott
400
6
5
Kyle Larson
400
7
20
Christopher Bell
400
8
21
Josh Berry
400
9
24
William Byron
400
10
48
Alex Bowman
400
11
45
Tyler Reddick
400
12
1
Ross Chastain
399
13
12
Ryan Blaney
399
14
97
Shane van Gisbergen
399
15
54
Ty Gibbs
399
16
7
Daniel Suárez
399
17
60
Ryan Preece
398
18
4
Noah Gragson
398
19
3
Austin Dillon
398
20
23
Bubba Wallace
398
21
17
Chris Buescher
398
22
42
John H Nemechek
398
23
33
Austin Hill
397
24
35
Riley Herbst
397
25
88
Connor Zilisch
397
26
6
Brad Keselowski
397
27
43
Erik Jones
396
28
71
Michael McDowell
396
29
41
Cole Custer
396
30
34
Todd Gilliland
396
31
47
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
396
32
10
Ty Dillon
394
33
16
AJ Allmendinger
394
34
51
Cody Ware
392
35
66
Josh Bilicki
391
36
38
Zane Smith
366
37
77
Carson Hocevar
279
Source: NASCAR official race results.
NASCAR Cup Series championship
Top 16 after 24 races
Pos
Car
Driver
Manufacturer
Points
Behind
Wins
1
11
Denny Hamlin
Toyota
969
0
4
2
12
Ryan Blaney
Ford
854
115
2
3
54
Ty Gibbs
Toyota
842
127
2
4
45
Tyler Reddick
Toyota
831
138
5
5
19
Chase Briscoe
Toyota
715
254
1
6
9
Chase Elliott
Chevrolet
695
274
2
7
20
Christopher Bell
Toyota
695
274
0
8
5
Kyle Larson
Chevrolet
660
309
0
9
22
Joey Logano
Ford
659
310
2
10
17
Chris Buescher
Ford
653
316
0
11
77
Carson Hocevar
Chevrolet
645
324
1
12
24
William Byron
Chevrolet
630
339
0
13
7
Daniel Suárez
Chevrolet
618
351
1
14
23
Bubba Wallace
Toyota
587
382
0
15
2
Austin Cindric
Ford
574
395
0
16
97
Shane van Gisbergen
Chevrolet
567
402
2
