Joey Logano led 323 of 450 laps and won the Window World 450 on Sunday night at North Wilkesboro Speedway, the first NASCAR Cup Series points race at the 0.625-mile short track in 30 years.
Logano, in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford, beat series points leader Denny Hamlin by 0.859 seconds. The 323 laps led were a single-race career high for the three-time Cup champion, and the win was his first in a points race since Texas in May 2025, a span of 14 months. It was the 38th Cup victory of his career, which ranks 23rd on the sport's all-time list. Logano also won the 2024 All-Star Race at the track.
The result reordered the bottom of the playoff picture more than the top. Hamlin, in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, finished second and extended his lead in the standings to 68 points over Tyler Reddick with five races remaining before the postseason field is set. Logano moved from 17th to 15th and, by winning, secured a playoff berth he had not yet earned on points.
Chase Briscoe finished third in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, and Ty Gibbs was fourth in the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota after winning the first stage and then drawing a pit-road speeding penalty. Shane Van Gisbergen finished fifth in the No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet and led 49 laps, second only to Logano. Bubba Wallace, in the No. 23 for 23XI Racing, was sixth and the last car on the lead lap. Logano won the second stage. The race ran two hours and 51 minutes, with five cautions for 43 laps and 17 lead changes among nine drivers.
The race also decided the semifinals of the NASCAR Cup Series In-Season Challenge, the five-week bracket that pays its winner $1 million. Todd Gilliland, in the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford, finished eighth and eliminated Chase Elliott, whose No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was caught two laps down by a Lap 183 caution and finished 17th. Ryan Blaney, in the No. 12 Team Penske Ford, recovered from a speeding penalty to finish 11th and eliminate Christopher Bell, who finished 19th. Blaney and Gilliland will meet in the final next Sunday in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
For Kaulig Racing, the night split cleanly in two. Ty Dillon ran inside the top 15 for much of the race and finished 16th in the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet. His teammate, AJ Allmendinger, did not finish: suspension problems ended the run of the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet before the halfway point, and he was scored 37th.
Dillon framed the night as a matter of process over outcome.
"We haven't been doing much different than what we have been doing since the All-Star Race in Dover," Dillon said in the team's post-race report. "You can't really control the results. It will swing like a pendulum and tonight it swung our way. This is who we really are when things go right."
Allmendinger's night ended earlier and harder. His car had climbed into the top 20 in the opening stage.
"We were fighting tightness and needed grip," Allmendinger said in the same report. "I hate that our race ended early. It's been a tough few weeks, but we'll keep pushing. We'll regroup, rebound, and be ready for Indy."
Only six cars finished on the lead lap.
The Cup Series returns next Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where Blaney and Gilliland will settle the In-Season Challenge for $1 million.