Who… should you be talking about after the checkered flag?
Entering this weekend at North Wilkesboro Speedway, Joey Logano had led 116 laps in 2026. It’s been a difficult year for the three-time champion and for Ford as a manufacturer beyond a pair of wins for Ryan Blaney.
Until Sunday night (July 19), that is.
Blaney had the pole after weather cancelled qualifying, but he had to start from the back after his team fixed a power steering issue. Thanks to a caution at lap 42, the field shuffled a little in the first stage on pit strategy, and that segment came down to Ty Gibbs getting by Shane van Gisbergen. After that, though?
All Logano, all the time.
Logano, who won the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro in 2024, took over the lead off pit road during the stage break on lap 86, won stage two and didn’t relinquish the top spot much after that. Denny Hamlin made a run in the closing laps as Logano had to work his way through lapped traffic. All told, Logano led 323 laps, more than double his season total, and it’s the most laps he’s ever led in one Cup race. Logano lapped all but five cars, and for the first time since Talladega Superspeedway in April, he’s in position for a Chase berth.
On the other hand…
The other two All-Star winners at North Wilkesboro both entered the night winless in 2026 and looking to change that … and both of them struggled.
Last year’s All-Star winner at the track, Christopher Bell, inherited a front-row start after Blaney had to drop to the rear of the field, but he never led a single lap. He did finish sixth in the opening stage, but wound up deep in the field on a split pit strategy. He made contact with Josh Berry on lap 199 and after that, he was never able to make up much track position. Bell did gain a few spots late, but he wound up three laps down in 19th.
Kyle Larson, the 2023 All-Star winner at North Wilkesboro, suffered damage on pit road after contact with Connor Zilisch resulted in a broken wheel. That led to another, longer stop to assess the damage.
He also had to restart from the rear of the pack twice after pit violations: one on lap 82 for pitting before the pits were open and again for speeding on lap 187. Starting at the back on a short track puts drivers in a vulnerable position as the leader can catch the back of the field quickly. Larson wasn’t able to make up much ground and wound up two laps down in 15th.
What… is the big question everyone should be asking after the race?
Sunday’s race proved that if the right people care at the right time, you can go home again. The race completed a comeback three decades in the making for North Wilkesboro.
It’s a small miracle that this race happened. When the track closed, owner Bruton Smith made it clear that he had no plans to ever bring racing back again. It was leased out once to a group that tried to bring grassroots racing back in 2010, but that’s terribly expensive and it never really came to anything.
Except, it did. Fans didn’t forget the little track nestled in North Carolina’s rugged foothills. While new tracks were built based on market size, North Wilkesboro sat empty alongside Highway 421, occupied only by the ghosts of the past.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was a vocal advocate for the track, but even he was resigned to getting it cleaned up enough to be scanned for virtual racing. He led an effort to do just that for iRacing … and then COVID-19 brought the racing world to a screeching halt. NASCAR filled the void with virtual races, including one at North Wilkesboro, and a generation of fans saw the closest thing the 0.625-mile short track has seen to a Cup Series race in decades.
And they ate it up. Owner Marcus Smith paid attention. Suddenly, there was hope. At first, the intent was for a venue for grassroots series, maybe a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race. Renovations began and with them, a growing sentiment of “why not the Cup Series?” The All-Star Race had been stagnant, and Smith and NASCAR decided to give the old track a chance. Fans bought into a lottery (with the proceeds going to charity) simply for the chance at getting tickets to that race.
Three years later, points racing returned to the little track in the hills. And it was a decent race considering the Next Gen package. Should the track once left for dead get a second points race?
NASCAR should consider it. It’s not far from Martinsville Speedway, which hasn’t sold as many seats recently. The better choice to give up a date to North Wilkesboro would be Richmond Raceway, which has been especially disappointing in recent years, even before the Next Gen car made it worse. It’s close to home for the teams, and with the same ownership as Charlotte Motor Speedway, there’s potential for some fun packages featuring bus trips from the bigger track for fans to enjoy a party atmosphere and avoid traffic and parking woes.
That it’s even a question is remarkable. Talk about a comeback.
Where… did he come from?
A year ago, van Gisbergen was terrorizing the field on road courses, and thanks to his five road course wins, he made the playoff field despite running in the mid-20s in points all year.
What a difference a year makes. In 2026, van Gisbergen has two wins but is in Chase contention thanks to his vastly improved consistency on ovals. Sunday was one of his best oval performances yet, matching his fifth-place finish at Nashville Superspeedway in May. His 49 laps led at North Wilkesboro is also a career-best on an oval and more than quadruple his previous best of 12. He might not quite be a title contender this year, but if he keeps improving, he might be in the 2027 conversation.
Also having one of his best races of 2026 was Front Row Motorsports driver Todd Gilliland, whose eighth-place finish is his second-best of the year, only behind a sixth-place-run at Bristol in April. Gilliland started 18th and worked his way into the top 10 in the second stage, finishing ninth in that segment before picking up one more spot before the checkers. His finish also sent him to the final round of the million-dollar In-Season Challenge, where he’ll face Blaney for the prize.
When… are we going to talk about the points?
On top, Hamlin extended his lead over Tyler Reddick to 68 after Reddick suffered damage in a lap 183 incident and finished 30th. Third-place Blaney moved within 19 points of Reddick but lost ground on Hamlin. Gibbs and Chase Elliott remained fourth and fifth.
Larson held on to sixth, while Carson Hocevar moved up a spot to seventh and Chase Briscoe jumped from 10th to eighth. Chris Buescher lost two spots to ninth, and Bell dropped one to 10th.
Closer to the Chase bubble, things are heating up with just five races to go. Van Gisbergen padded his Chase security, moving around Austin Cindric to 14th, 54 points ahead of 17th. Logano is back in the picture, sitting 15th, five points behind van Gisbergen and 16 ahead of Cindric in 16th.
Erik Jones fell out of the top 16 and is 33 points behind Cindric in 17th. Ryan Preece, who finished 10th, is 18th and another 15 points behind Jones.
Five weeks is enough for a good run (or a bad one) to change things at the back of the Chase field, but most of the picture is in focus.
Why… should you be paying attention this week?
If you like sleep on Sunday nights, then this week is one for you. The Cup Series heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400.
While stock cars haven’t generally put on a great show at Indy, the history and prestige of the race make it one to watch.
Bubba Wallace is the defending race winner. Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson are the only other active drivers with wins on the Indy oval.
Wallace also leads all drivers with five or more starts in Indy average finish at 11.2, with four top 10s in five starts. Larson (12.4) and Keselowski (12.9) are next on that list as well. The best average among non-winners with five or more starts is Hamlin’s 13.9.
How… did this race stack up?
Let’s get it out of the way — the Next Gen short-track package hurt the racing, as it has at the other tracks of a mile or less. It was hard to make moves up front.
The fact is that Logano had the field covered and then some, and even heavy lapped traffic didn’t make a real dent in his dominance. Runner-up Hamlin conceded after the race that Logano was in another league. That in itself is a part of racing. Dominant performances have always been a thing, as have races with only a few drivers on the lead lap.
Television didn’t help the situation much; there was good racing to be had through the field, but a lot of it didn’t get shown. That has been a consistent issue with race coverage in recent years, and it’s not good for the sport.
On the other hand, that mid-pack racing did exist. Strategy mattered. Pit stops mattered. It was one of the better short-track races of the year.
Despite the package and pre-race rain, the stands at north Wilkesboro were packed. It wasn’t an on-paper sellout where empty seats speckled the grandstands. Fans showed up. That’s a great look to outsiders tuning in and seeing a huge, engaged crowd.
Certainly not bad for a track that stood empty and silent for nearly three decades, left for dead until a glimmer of hope became a full-fledged inferno.
Amy is an 20-year veteran NASCAR writer and a six-time National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) writing award winner, including first place awards for both columns and race coverage. As well as serving as Photo Editor, Amy writes The Big 6 (Mondays) after every NASCAR Cup Series race. She can also be found working on her bi-weekly columns Holding A Pretty Wheel (Tuesdays) and Only Yesterday (Wednesdays). A New Hampshire native whose heart is in North Carolina, Amy’s work credits have extended everywhere from driver Kenny Wallace’s website to Athlon Sports. She can also be heard weekly as a panelist on the Hard Left Turn podcast that can be found on AccessWDUN.com's Around the Track page.
My $.02.
-Classic North Wilkesboro race. Shame on nascar / bruton for turning scalawag and abandoning their fans & heritage. Thankfully Marcus atoned for the sins of his father.
-Sunday night races suck for those of us east of the Mississippi who have to get up at 0-dark-thirty on Monday.
-North Wilkesboro should be on the schedule but not at the expense of any legacy track. If anything, the turds at Chicago, Kansas, Texas, and Vegas should yield dates to legacy tracks including NW and Rockingham.
Back in the day – N. Wilkesboro was not a track I liked to watch, but that was 30 years ago – man I am getting old.
Last night’s race was very enjoyable. During pre-race, Dale Jr. mentioned how low everything is say compared to Bristol. Maybe that had an effect on the coverage, but as you said, networks tend always focus too much on the front. Be cool to see the greater use of drones to get more above track coverage on to show the whole field.
Now lets bring back “The Rock”, one of my favorites b/c it always produced good races.
Side note: I have been a supporter of Richmond Speedway b/c it is kind of my home track. However, for many years now, since maybe the COT, it’s races have not been like they use too. Normally I would have defended Richmond, I agree it could be removed or changed. But being in the city itself, what they can do there is restrained. Other than Indy, I can’t think of another oval inside city limits. Last time I went to a race there, there were empty seats. Getting harder to justify a race there is what I am pointing out.
This author lost me as soon as she suggested North Wilkesboro replace Richmond. You can’t be serious. Are we not oversaturated enough with cookie cutter tracks? They are both currently on the schedule already, so how would that work exactly? Ironically enough, if we dropped next weekends venue off the schedule, I wouldn’t lose a bit of sleep over it. Of course, Nascar loves the spectacle, no matter how gawd awful the racing is so that won’t happen anytime soon. We need more short tracks and not less.
I thought the race was entertaining and was just like I remembered the track being. Its date should have been supplied by taking Texas’s last date as per Karma. Would love to see the Rock return also. Maybe a new hampshire date sacrificed?