Just before NASCAR’s first points-paying Cup Series race at North Wilkesboro Speedway in 30 years, Brad Keselowski made a bold assessment of the Ford camp. “Well, if you took Ryan Blaney outside of the Ford camp, I’d argue we’re the best Fords.” A few hours later, however, Team Penske’s other driver, Joey Logano, had his own answer. With a dominant performance under the lights, the former Cup champion reminded everyone why it’s not just Blaney who is the benchmark for Ford.
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“The pressure was there for sure. Denny really got there in the last run and obviously whoever was front was gonna win the race in the last run. We were pretty dominant most of the race but as the race went along Denny got better. Just did a decent job keeping up the track. They did a good job keeping up. Gosh it feels great,” Logano said in a post-race interview, as shared by TNT Sports.
Those final laps were far from comfortable, but Joey Logano never blinked. The No. 22 Team Penske Ford returned to Victory Lane for the first time in the 2026 Cup Series season, leading 323 of the race’s 450 laps. That’s a new personal best for laps led in a single Cup race, topping the 309 he led at Martinsville in 2018.
The result didn’t come easily. Logano rolled off 11th on the grid and quietly worked his way forward, ending Stage 1 in third. The race swung in his favor during the first stage break, when leader Ty Gibbs was penalized for speeding on pit road. Logano inherited control, although Shane van Gisbergen briefly wrestled the lead away on the ensuing restart.
That challenge did not last long. Around 35 laps later, Joey Logano powered back to the front and immediately began pulling away. Even cautions triggered by the Alex Bowman-Tyler Reddick collision and Josh Berry’s crash could not slow his momentum. By the end of Stage 2, he’d put several contenders two laps down and banked another solid haul of points.
The final stage gave Denny Hamlin one last shot. Logano started reporting a sticking brake pedal with roughly 125 laps left, letting the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran close in. Hamlin pitted first during the final cycle with 90 to go, and Logano and crew chief Paul Wolfe had to answer right away.
Once the stops cycled through, the gap remained razor-thin. Traffic became Hamlin’s best hope. With 15 laps left, Riley Herbst held Logano up just enough for the No. 11 Toyota to close the distance. But despite everything Denny Hamlin threw at him, Joey Logano never made the mistake his rival needed.
Brad Keselowski’s confidence in Ryan Blaney and RFK was understandable given the speed the two have shown this season. Yet on Sunday night, the answer inside the Ford camp was clear. When the pressure was highest, it was not Ryan Blaney or RFK drivers, but Joey Logano, who delivered the statement victory.