Shane van Gisbergen during the NASCAR Cup Series at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Image: Chris Owens
The result equals van Gisbergen’s efforts earlier this year at Nashville Superspeedway in almost identical circumstances when qualifying was rained out and gave SVG a good starting spot.
The driver of the #97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Camaro shone in the opening leg, coming up just short of the Stage 1 win behind the #54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry of Ty Gibbs.
SVG backed that effort up with fifth in Stage 2 before closing out Stage 3 with a top-five run.
The race was won by Joey Logano, who controlled Stage 3 to take victory in the #22 Team Penske Ford Mustang ahead of a resurgent Denny Hamlin in the #11 Joe Gibbs Racing Camry.
“Hell yeah, what a night,” van Gisbergen radioed to his crew.
“Good job guys.”
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JOEY LOGANO TAKES THE VICTORY AT @NWBSpeedway 🔥🏆 pic.twitter.com/FUOrjjcc17
— TNT Sports U.S. (@TNTSportsUS) July 20, 2026
After his hair-raising Stage 1 finish, van Gisbergen lined up second for the start of Stage 2 alongside Logano. Van Gisbergen tried to mount an attack for the lead but found himself fading as the stage wore on.
Just as van Gisbergen was about to head to the lane in the midst of green flag pit stops, the caution came out on Lap 183.
That was triggered by Alex Bowman in the #48 Hendrick Motorsports Camaro coming across the nose of 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick in the #45 Camry. They spun, and Bowman collected the inside wall approaching pit entry.
Once the field was cleansed, Logano led Hamlin to the Lap 194 restart ahead of Blaney and van Gisbergen.
Major WRECK between Alex Bowman and Tyler Reddick in Stage 2 😬 pic.twitter.com/La0ZxMeI73
— TNT Sports U.S. (@TNTSportsUS) July 20, 2026
The caution came out again on Lap 199 when Christopher Bell in the #20 Joe Gibbs Racing Camry got loose entering Turn 3 and slid up into the side of Josh Berry’s #21 Wood Brothers Racing Mustang, who did a 180-degree spin and slapped the outside wall.
Racing resumed on Lap 207. Van Gisbergen ran the high line and cleared Hamlin for second but soon had the #77 Spire Motorsports Camaro of Carson Hocevar on his outside.
Van Gisbergen looked like he might threaten Hocevar for third but wound up battling to keep Hamlin behind. He overtook van Gisbergen on Lap 234 and then a hard-charging Briscoe got by the Kiwi.
Van Gisbergen gained a place with four laps to go in Stage 2 with a pass on Hocevar but lost out to Bubba Wallace on the last lap of the stage.
Logano won Stage 2 ahead of Hamlin, Briscoe, Wallace, van Gisbergen, Hocevar, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, Todd Gilliland and Daniel Suarez.
“The balance was really good, just starting to fade,” said van Gisbergen under the yellow.
“I feel like I’m really strong early.”
Stage 3 started on Lap 276. Van Gisbergen spent the lion’s share of Stage 3 jockeying for positions in the top five.
Before the final round of pit stops, Logano led Hamlin, Briscoe, Wallace, Blaney and van Gisbergen.
Green flag pit stops began in earnest on Lap 360 when Hamlin pitted from second. Logano reacted and pitted a lap later.
Van Gisbergen pitted on Lap 365, ending a 90-lap green flag run.
Once the pit stops shook out, Logano led Hamlin by just a few car lengths. On corrected order, van Gisbergen was fourth behind Briscoe.
Blaney, meanwhile, was effectively taken out of contention for speeding entering pit road.
Van Gisbergen held fourth for the bulk of the final green flag run until 25 laps to go when Gibbs got to the inside to take the place away.
At the head of the field, Logano navigated traffic and a late charge from Hamlin to win by eight tenths of a second. Briscoe was third, Gibbs fourth and van Gisbergen fifth.
Results: NASCAR Cup Series Window World 250, North Wilkesboro
Pos
Num
Driver
Team
Car
Laps/Diff
Gap
1
22
Joey Logano
Team Penske
Ford Mustang
450
2
11
Denny Hamlin
Joe Gibbs Racing
Toyota Camry
0.859
0.859
3
19
Chase Briscoe
Joe Gibbs Racing
Toyota Camry
7.936
7.077
4
54
Ty Gibbs
Joe Gibbs Racing
Toyota Camry
15.436
7.5
5
97
Shane Van Gisbergen
Trackhouse Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
17.448
2.012
6
23
Bubba Wallace
23XI Racing
Toyota Camry
19.765
2.317
7
6
Brad Keselowski
RFK Racing
Ford Mustang
1 lap
8
34
Todd Gilliland
Front Row Motorsports
Ford Mustang
1 lap
9
7
Daniel Suarez
Spire Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
1 lap
10
60
Ryan Preece
RFK Racing
Ford Mustang
1 lap
11
12
Ryan Blaney
Team Penske
Ford Mustang
2 laps
1 lap
12
24
William Byron
Hendrick Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
2 laps
13
77
Carson Hocevar
Spire Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
2 laps
14
2
Austin Cindric
Team Penske
Ford Mustang
2 laps
15
5
Kyle Larson
Hendrick Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
2 laps
16
10
Ty Dillon
Kaulig Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
2 laps
17
9
Chase Elliott
Hendrick Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
3 laps
1 lap
18
35
Riley Herbst
23XI Racing
Toyota Camry
3 laps
19
20
Christopher Bell
Joe Gibbs Racing
Toyota Camry
3 laps
20
17
Chris Buescher
RFK Racing
Ford Mustang
3 laps
21
43
Erik Jones
Legacy Motor Club
Toyota Camry
3 laps
22
38
Zane Smith
Front Row Motorsports
Ford Mustang
3 laps
23
3
Austin Dillon
Richard Childress Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
4 laps
1 lap
24
71
Michael McDowell
Spire Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
4 laps
25
4
Noah Gragson
Front Row Motorsports
Ford Mustang
4 laps
26
48
Alex Bowman
Hendrick Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
4 laps
27
1
Ross Chastain
Trackhouse Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
4 laps
28
41
Cole Custer
Haas Factory Team
Chevrolet Camaro
4 laps
29
51
Cody Ware
Rick Ware Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
4 laps
30
45
Tyler Reddick
23XI Racing
Toyota Camry
5 laps
1 lap
31
42
John Hunter Nemechek
Legacy Motor Club
Toyota Camry
5 laps
32
88
Connor Zilisch
Trackhouse Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
7 laps
2 laps
33
33
Austin Hill
Richard Childress Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
8 laps
1 lap
34
47
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Hyak Motorsports
Chevrolet Camaro
8 laps
35
66
Chad Finchum
Garage 66
Ford Mustang
147 laps
139 laps
36
21
Josh Berry
Wood Brothers Racing
Ford Mustang
251 laps
104 laps
37
16
AJ Allmendinger
Kaulig Racing
Chevrolet Camaro
260 laps
9 laps