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Joey Logano: Joey Logano dominated the Window World 450 at North Wilkesboro Speedway on July 19, leading 323 of 450 laps to claim the win.
The victory marks a turning point for the Team Penske driver's push toward a NASCAR Cup Series Chase berth.
Denny Hamlin ran within a second of Logano over the final 80 laps following the last round of pit stops. He never seriously challenged for the lead.
The win pushed Logano up to 15th in the points standings. He now sits 49 points above the Chase cutline with five regular-season races remaining.
Here's a breakdown of the winners and losers from North Wilkesboro.
Winner: Joey Logano's Chase Outlook
Logano and the No. 22 team have battled inconsistency for the past two seasons, and 2026 was no exception through the first half of the year.
North Wilkesboro has proven to be an exception to that trend.
Logano now boasts a first-place finish in 2024's All-Star Race, a runner-up finish in 2025's All-Star Race, and a win in this year's points race at the 0.625-mile track.
His 323 laps led on July 19 dwarf the 116 laps he had led all season combined heading into the weekend.
The No. 22 team had shown modest improvement with 12th- and ninth-place finishes in the two prior races. North Wilkesboro was a different level entirely.
Whether that form holds remains uncertain. Still, this three-race stretch looks like the momentum boost Logano needed heading into the second half of the season.
Winner: Shane van Gisbergen's Chase Outlook
Shane van Gisbergen posted the third-highest points total of the night, leading 49 laps and running inside the top 10 for the entire race before finishing fifth.
The result was a significant boost for his Chase bid, extending his cushion to 54 points above the cutline.
Logano's recent surge stands in contrast to the struggles of Austin Cindric, who sits 16th in points, and Erik Jones, who sits 17th.
Cindric hasn't posted a top-10 finish since Watkins Glen in May. Jones has logged three finishes in the 20s over his last five starts.
It's premature to call van Gisbergen's Chase spot locked in. But he appears to be trending firmly in that direction.
Loser: Erik Jones's Chase Outlook
Erik Jones took a hit to his Chase hopes after finishing 21st at North Wilkesboro.
Jones benefited from a mid-race caution that fell during a green-flag cycle, but he lacked pace on longer runs.
His night worsened after he made contact with the wall with 60 laps remaining.
He capped the race with back-to-back 11th-place finishes in both stages, missing stage points by a single position each time.
Jones now sits 17th in the standings, 33 points behind the cutline.
He heads to Indianapolis next, a track where he suffered a crash-related DNF in 2025 after a wheel came loose.
Jones has failed to finish four of his last six races at the 2.5-mile speedway.
Losers: Hendrick Motorsports
Alex Bowman and the No. 48 team may face some tough conversations at the shop this week.
Bowman's mistimed move toward pit road triggered a two-car incident that brought out a caution on Lap 183.
The timing proved costly for teammates William Byron and Chase Elliott, who were caught cycling through pit stops at the wrong moment.
Both the No. 9 and No. 24 cars had already pitted and fell two laps down by the time the caution flew, while Logano and several others had not yet stopped.
Elliott had been running as a top-five car before the cycle; Byron had been inside the top 10.
Neither driver recovered the lost lap during a green-flag-heavy final 250 laps. Byron finished 12th, two laps down. Elliott finished 17th.
Bowman fared worse, nursing damage and a lack of pace to a 26th-place result.
Kyle Larson had already fallen a lap down after sustaining damage during an earlier pit stop following contact with Connor Zilisch.
The No. 5 car clawed back to 15th but never seriously contended for a top-10 finish.
By the checkered flag, all four Hendrick Motorsports cars were at least two laps down.
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