Could North Wilkesboro be an inflection point for Joey Logano—again?

 Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Window World 450 at North Wilkesboro Speedway on July 19, 2026 in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.
(Photo by David Jensen/Getty Images)

July 20, 2026

By Reid Spencer / NASCAR Wire Service

Roughly 70 years ago, entertainer Steve Allen wrote a popular song titled “This Could Be the Start of Something Big.”

After Sunday night’s NASCAR Cup Series race at North Wilkesboro Speedway, those lyrics could be an apt portent for Joey Logano.

Then again, “Déjà Vu” might be just as appropriate a mantra for the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

The first 20 races of the 2026 Cup Series season collectively proved to be a frustrating conundrum for Logano and his crew, who couldn’t seem to find speed in their Mustang.

“With our struggles we had, there’s a lot of DNF’s (did not finish) in there, as well, but when you get this far into the season, if you look at where the points standings, where guys are, it ends up where typically they’ve been running,” said crew chief Paul Wolfe.

“Unfortunately, we’ve been running around that position, that 16th, 17th, 18th, right where we are in the standings. Over time, it works itself out.”

In fact, Logano came to Sunday’s Window World 450—the first Cup Series points race at the 0.625-mile short track since 1996—17th in the standings, eight points below the cut line for the postseason Chase.

Despite his points position, Logano arrived at the Wilkes County speedway brimming with confidence in the speed of his car. That confidence was justified. Logano dominated the event, leading 323 laps and holding off stubborn pursuer Denny Hamlin to break a 45-race drought dating to May 2025 at Texas Motor Speedway.

The circumstances of Logano’s victory bear close similarity to a win during his most recent championship season. In 2024, the Middletown, Connecticut, driver tested at North Wilkesboro before winning the NASCAR All-Star Race there.

If you had to pick one breakout moment that propelled Logano to his third series title, that was it.

In both December and January, Logano tested for this year’s points race. On Sunday, his 323 laps led constituted a personal best for a single event.

“I guess I’m positive, but I think I’m also a very realistic person,” Logano said. “Maybe I can balance those two things pretty well, I guess. I’m pretty realistic about where things are at, where I was at.

“We’re not where we need to be at either, right? Our goal is to win the championship every year. Any time you’re at the point of the season where you’re happy with a ninth-place finish, that’s not a good place to be.”

There are distinct patterns to Logano’s career, ones that are too well-defined to ignore. His typical season gains momentum as the schedule moves toward its conclusion. That’s been the case in each of his three championship seasons—2018, 2022 and 2024.

And though Logano tends to laugh off his even-numbered-year history, it’s nevertheless true that, in the elimination Playoff years from 2014 through 2025, he qualified for the Championship 4 in each of the six even-number years—and claimed three titles—and failed to make the final four in each of the odd-number years.

With this season’s return to a 10-race Chase format, a victory no longer guarantees a place in the postseason, there are no more Playoff points to accumulate, and the reset at the start of the Chase strongly favors high finishers in the regular-season standings.

Admittedly, Logano has gotten a later start this year, but the goal remains the same.

“It’s nice to be able to, like I say, get up front here,” Logano said of the North Wilkesboro win. “The job’s not done. We still want to win the championship. We’ve got some great tracks coming up ahead of us, so there’s definitely a lot of confidence in that. That’s definitely real, that we feel like we can capitalize on it. We capitalized on it today.

“I think if we keep doing what we did tonight, we can get back into the top 10 in points. It’s a ways out, but we can get there if we keep having great runs where we can score stage points in both stages, finish in the top 10. If you could do that consistently enough, we’ll scratch and claw our way back to where we have a chance to win still.”

Upward mobility in the standings in not a far-fetched possibility for Logano. Current series leader Denny Hamlin and early leader Tyler Reddick already have proven just how volatile the points can be.

Yes, Logano is 15th in the standings, but he’s only 87 points behind seventh-place Carson Hocevar with five races left in the regular season.

Logano has multiple wins at two of the remaining tracks—Richmond and New Hampshire—a victory at Daytona, top 10s in both his starts at Iowa Speedway (sixth and ninth) and four top fives (including two second-place runs) at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Those who would discount Logano’s chances to contend for a fourth title do so at their own peril.

After all, it’s an even-numbered year.