Cook Out 400: Logano continues short-track success with Richmond win

RICHMOND, Va. — Once again, Team Penske’s Joey Logano proved why he is currently one of the best short-track racers in the NASCAR Cup Series, as he led 95 of 400 laps to win the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway.

This marked Logano’s 39th career win in the Cup Series, his third at Richmond and second of the 2026 season. The driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford also picked up his second short-track win of the year after dominating last month at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

Continuing his recent surge, Logano has moved from 20th to ninth in points after six straight top-15 finishes.

“My team did a great job,” Logano said. “The pressure was on everybody to make the right calls, to execute the runs, to have a good pit stop there. We were door-to-door pretty much onto pit road. That tested everything we had. I thought we were gonna be in good shape because the run before that we were a lot faster than the 19 (Chase Briscoe) right at the end, but we weren’t able to be the same amount of good as we wanted to be. This is the first time I’ve had all of my kids here for a win, so this is a real special one for our family. I’m looking forward to enjoying it.”

The driver Logano held off in the closing laps was Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe, who had a career-best day at the 0.75-mile Virginia track. Heading into this race weekend, Briscoe had never led a lap at Richmond in his previous nine starts — and had never finished inside the top 10. In the 2026 Cook Out 400, Briscoe led a race-high 171 of 400 laps and finished second.

“I thought I was in a great position, really that whole final run,” Briscoe said. “I had built a lead. I had a three-second lead, but I lost brakes and got really, really loose and let him get all the way back to me and pass me right before we did our final pit stop. Just one bad run, and that was the difference maker. We had him where we needed him, we just didn’t have it that one run. I thought we were going to get a win there for our Bass Pro Shops, TRACKER Boats Toyota, but just close for sure.”

Austin Cindric and his No. 2 Team Penske Ford team had one of their best runs of the 2026 season. Although Cindric did not lead a lap, he finished fourth in both stages en route to a third-place finish. Cindric earned a much-needed 48 points as he hovers around The Chase cutline.

“Yeah, that’s kind of the name of the game here, especially since they introduced this right side here last year,” Cindric said about staying on top of his tires. “I thought that was one of our strengths. We could fire off good enough, but I thought I was one of the best cars, especially after about 30 laps. We were a little too good too late in the runs, but overall, like I said, it was a much-needed run for our Quaker State/Menards Ford Mustang.”

“I feel like car performance-wise, for sure,” Cindric added about this being the No. 2 team’s most complete race. “You saw that from all four of our cars. Obviously, with Joey getting the win, the 21 [Berry] was super strong all night and Ryan [Blaney] had pace, so I think it’s important for everyone in the company and we need to keep doing it.”

Results from the 2026 Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway are listed below:

Other Race Facts

After a stretch of multiple weeks with just one combined top-10 finish (William Byron, Iowa), Hendrick Motorsports had all four of its cars finish inside the top 10 at Richmond Raceway. Chase Elliott ended up fifth (breaking a career-long top-10 drought), Kyle Larson was sixth, Byron was ninth and Alex Bowman rounded out the top 10.

Following the Cook Out 400, Larson got on a plane and flew from Richmond to Knoxville Raceway to do an unexpected “Double” in the state of Iowa. Larson hopped into his Sprint Car and dominated the 65th Knoxville Nationals on the same night he finished sixth in the Cup Series race at Richmond.

Wood Brothers Racing driver Josh Berry finished eighth, which was his third straight top-10 finish, tying his career-best in the NASCAR Cup Series.

“It was a decent night,” Berry said. “I felt like we left a little bit out there. We just kind of that one restart I got tight and got jammed up behind the 48 (Bowman) and we were one of the last cars that stayed out there. That one didn’t work out, but all in all, the car was pretty good. For getting trapped under yellow twice and waving around and all that, it was still a solid day with stage points. We’ll just go to New Hampshire and try to do better.”

Berry, known as a short-track racer, heads into New Hampshire Motor Speedway, where he finished third in 2024 and second in 2025.

Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney had the car to beat early on, as the driver of the No. 12 BODYARMOR FLASH IV Ford led 88 of i400 laps, earning the Xfinity Fastest Lap and Stage 1 victory. However, Blaney started complaining about his brakes, which led to him fading to 13th.

GRID Ranking

The 2026 GRID Ranking is the 10th year of the world’s premier motorsports ranking system, which was initially released on Sunday, April 5.
The official ranking includes drivers participating in seven racing series (NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula 1, Formula E, WRC, Supercars, MotoGP). Each driver earns GRID Ratings, which help determine their seeding in the GRID Ranking.

DRIVER	OLD RATING	PREVIOUS RANKING	MOST RECENT FINISH	NEW RATING	NEW RANKING
Denny Hamlin	14.74	4th	4th	N/A	N/A
Tyler Reddick	13.26	6th	11th	N/A	N/A
Ty Gibbs	11.20	16th	15th	N/A	N/A
Christopher Bell	10.87	18th	7th	N/A	N/A
Chase Briscoe	9.85	24th	2nd	N/A	N/A

Week 20 of the GRID Ranking: Coming Soon

Week 20 of the NASCAR GRID Rating saw Denny Hamlin continue to pull away from Tyler Reddick, Ty Gibbs and Christopher Bell, while Chase Briscoe continued to make up ground on his fellow Toyota teammates.

The next race on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Dollar Tree 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, Aug. 23. Coverage begins at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.

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