Joey Logano has suddenly transformed his 2026 season from a playoff scramble into a genuine championship threat, ending a nine-year winless drought at Richmond Raceway with his win in Saturday night’s Cook Out 400.
The No. 22 Team Penske Ford held off Chase Briscoe by 0.392 seconds to secure Logano’s second win in the last four races and the 39th Cup Series victory of his career.
The result was a big turnaround for the three-time champion, who had fallen to 20th in the standings earlier this season. After Saturday’s win, Logano climbed four spots to take the ninth position with only two regular-season races remaining before the 16-driver championship field is finalized.
Here comes Joey! 📢@joeylogano beats @chasebriscoe to the line and wins for the third time at @RichmondRaceway! pic.twitter.com/y1fHN5MRNP
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 16, 2026
“Don’t let the boys get hot, we’re pretty strong right now,” Logano said with a grin after the race. “It’s awesome to see the speed in the 22 again. Gosh, it was a great car, and we’ve had a great car here in the last five races but weren’t able to capitalize on the win. So close, but sweet redemption today.”
That redemption came after Logano spent much of the evening battling for control of a race that featured 29 lead changes among 10 drivers. He led 95 laps across six separate stints and eventually moved into the lead during the late pit-stop cycle, setting up the closing battle with Briscoe.
Chase Briscoe’s brake trouble brings back Toyota’s Iowa nightmare giving an edge to Joey Logano
Briscoe had arguably the strongest car throughout the night. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver led a race-high 171 laps and appeared capable of securing his second win of the season, but his night got hampered by a brake issue during a late green-flag run that cost him valuable time.
This was the second week in a row that Briscoe had brake issues and carried an uncomfortable echo from Iowa, where four Toyota drivers, Denny Hamlin, Briscoe, Riley Herbst and Bubba Wallace, dealt with brake concerns during the race weekend.
Briscoe entered the final phase with an advantage that had stretched to roughly three seconds before the problem left his No. 19 Toyota looser and less competitive.
“Yeah, I thought my car was really, really good and just that second-to-last or before that final pit stop, I just started losing brakes and got really, really loose, and I gave up a three-second lead,” Briscoe said. “If I could have had any buffer at all, I felt like I would have probably won the race.”
The situation became even more important during the final round of pit stops. When Logano took the lead with 39 laps remaining, Briscoe’s crew reacted by bringing him down pit road.
Logano and crew chief Paul Wolfe anticipated the move and pitted on the same lap, with Briscoe locking his front brakes while entering pit road. Logano won the race off pit road and later passed Christopher Bell to reclaim the lead with 22 laps remaining.
Briscoe managed several attempts to close the gap, but Logano kept the No. 19 behind him to claim his third Richmond victory and his first at the Virginia short track since 2017.
“Typical late-summer Joey Logano just coming up out of nowhere on you,” Briscoe said, acknowledging the veteran’s familiar ability to produce a late-season surge.
Despite that, Chase Briscoe became the seventh driver to lock himself into the Chase 2026.
Logano’s teammate, Austin Cindric, completed the podium in third, earning a crucial result that lifted him from 16th to 15th in the standings. Denny Hamlin finished fourth, while Chase Elliott rounded out the top five and recorded his first top-five finish in three months.
The championship picture is pretty much clear with New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Daytona International Speedway remaining before the postseason field is locked.
Shane van Gisbergen occupies the 16th position, 50 points ahead of Ryan Preece, while Ross Chastain sits another 13 points behind Preece.