Joey Logano Holds Off Chase Briscoe to Win at Richmond

Joey Logano held off Chase Briscoe by 0.392 seconds to win Saturday night’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway, earning the 39th NASCAR Cup Series victory of his career and his third at the Virginia short track.

The Team Penske driver’s win came at a crucial point in the season, with two races remaining before the title run featuring the top 16 drivers. Logano had fallen as low as 20th in the points standings at the season’s halfway mark, but he has now won two of the past four races and climbed to ninth.

Logano called the result a sign of his team’s current form after taking his first Richmond victory in nine years. His success also continued a notable pattern: since 2014, he has either won the Cup championship or reached the championship round in every even-numbered year.

Late strategy turns the Richmond race

Briscoe was the dominant driver for much of the 400-lap event, leading a race-high 171 laps. After qualifying second, he passed the pole-sitter on the first lap and led his first career lap at Richmond’s 0.75-mile oval.

But the final sequence swung toward Logano and the No. 22 team. Crew chief Paul Wolfe called Logano to pit shortly after he took the lead from Briscoe with 39 laps remaining. Briscoe attempted to make his tires last to the finish over the final 57 laps on Richmond’s abrasive surface.

Logano needed 15 laps after his stop to regain the lead, then managed the closing run as Briscoe mounted a late challenge. The margin at the checkered flag was 0.392 seconds.

It was a particularly frustrating near miss for Briscoe, whose previous best Richmond finish had been 11th in nine starts. Richmond had been one of only three active tracks where he had not recorded a top-10 finish. Even so, the runner-up result clinched Briscoe a place in the Chase and marked his sixth top-10 finish in the past seven races.

Austin Cindric finished third, crediting teammate Logano’s advice for helping him produce his best finish since his April 2025 victory at Talladega Superspeedway. Denny Hamlin finished fourth, while Chase Elliott completed the top five for his first top-five result since winning at Texas Motor Speedway three months earlier.

Logano builds momentum before the Chase

The Richmond win further changed the outlook for Logano’s season. Before this recent four-race stretch, he had one victory in his previous 56 starts. Now, with two wins in four races and a move into the top 10 in points, the three-time Cup Series champion has placed himself back among the drivers to watch entering the championship chase.

Logano’s Richmond record adds further weight to the result. Saturday was his third win at the track, and he said the No. 22 team had shown speed there over its previous five visits without converting it into a victory. This time, the late call from Wolfe and Logano’s run back to the front provided the breakthrough.

Richmond also hosted a homecoming weekend for Hamlin, who grew up roughly 20 minutes from the facility. The track dedicated the grandstand seats where Hamlin’s parents had watched races for years before his Cup Series career. Richmond Raceway also announced a second consecutive grandstand sellout, its 11th sellout in 24 Cup Series races this season.

Next, the Cup Series heads to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for a 301-lap race on Aug. 23. Ryan Blaney is the defending winner at the 1.058-mile oval.