Even-year Joey Logano is inevitable. He has captured his third Cup Series win at Richmond Raceway and his first since 2017 after a late battle with Chase Briscoe.
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Austin Cindric, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Josh Berry, William Byron, and Alex Bowman all scored top-10 finishes at the Virginia track.
Logano qualified 10th at the short track where he has enjoyed past success, and he took care of business. He finished the first stage in third to lock up eight points. He then won stage 2 to add another 10 points to his total.
MORE: Logano Wins, Full Richmond Results
After that, he just had to hold off Briscoe on the final run to the checkered flag. He did this by working his way through traffic and managing the lines. Briscoe had opportunities to get to Logano's bumper, but he could never get beside the No. 22 Team Penske Ford.
JOEY LOGANO HOLDS OFF CHASE BRISCOE TO WIN AT RICHMOND! pic.twitter.com/5wrH5WVCwu
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) August 16, 2026
Briscoe had led a race-high 171 laps, but Logano led the final 25 laps to take his total to 95 on the night. He celebrated the 39th win of his career and his second of the season.
"Don't let the boys get hot," Logano said after exiting the No. 22. "We're pretty strong right now (smiling). Awesome to see the speed in the 22 again.
"Gosh, it was a great car. We've had a great car here the last five races. We haven't been able to capitalize on the win. Been so close. Sweet redemption today."
Briscoe did not capture his second win of the season, but he secured a consolation prize. He clinched his spot in The Chase. Elliott and Bell also clinched their spots in The Chase, leaving nine more spots.
"Obviously that was the goal," Briscoe said. "You want to be able to race for a championship. A long way to go. We need to get fifth in points.
"We continued to do what we needed to do from that standpoint, had a great points night. It would have been great to have 15 more points at the end of it. Yeah, just frustrating to say the least to have one slip away like that at the end."
The summer stretch has marked a major turnaround for Logano and the No. 22 team. This group struggled mightily early in the season with only five top-10 finishes in the first 18 races of the season.
Logano remained below the cutline for The Chase for large stretches, even as the calendar turned to July. Yet, he and the team began to gain serious ground once short tracks took over the calendar.
The three-time champion scored his first win of the season on July 19 at North Wilkesboro Speedway. He dominated while leading 323 of the 400 laps. This win moved him to 15th in the standings.
He then moved to 13th with a third-place finish in the Brickyard 400. He remained in that spot after finishing 14th at Iowa Speedway.
Now that he has won for the second time this season, he has moved to ninth in the regular-season standings. He is now within striking distance of the drivers considered to be the "championship contenders" after 24 weeks.
