Joey Logano just snatched his second win of the season at Richmond Raceway on Saturday night, completing an absolute lightning-fast comeback that has the entire NASCAR Cup Series doing a double-take. Just eight races ago, this guy was languishing way down in 20th in the standings. Now? He’s sitting pretty in ninth, and he’s got two checkered flags to his name. He led the final 25 laps and 95 of the 400 total laps at Richmond, making it clear he meant business. While he isn’t fully locked into the postseason Chase just yet, with two races left in the regular season, he’s absolutely charging his way there.
Logano’s Surge is No Joke
This isn’t some fluke, folks. Logano’s two victories came on short tracks at North Wilkesboro and Richmond, but he’s also been tearing it up at Atlanta and Indianapolis in recent weeks. Think about this: he has three top-three finishes in his last four races. Before this surge, he only had two third-place finishes in the first 20 races all year! This has been an incredible turnaround, plain and simple, orchestrated by Logano himself and his crew chief Paul Wolfe. After the race, he told USA Sports, “This is important. We need to get ourselves back in the top 10.” Mission accomplished, right? And it sets the stage for a wild finish to the regular season.
The Chase Scramble is Heating Up
Meanwhile, other drivers are sweating it out for those coveted Chase spots. Austin Cindric finished third and Shane van Gisbergen finished 14th, giving themselves a bit of breathing room. Their biggest challenger, Ryan Preece, hit some bad luck when a caution came out during a pit cycle, catching him a couple of laps down. Preece ended up 17th, which is a tough break when every point matters. Cindric now holds a 63-point lead over Preece, and van Gisbergen has a 50-point cushion. Cindric knew how big this was, telling Ford news, “As far as the big picture goes for the season, it was a very important night for us to capitalize on a good car.” Chase Briscoe, Chase Elliott, and Christopher Bell don’t have to worry anymore, they all clinched spots Saturday night! But with nine spots still up for grabs, it’s a mad dash. Briscoe himself had a heartbreaker, finishing just 0.392 seconds behind Logano. He led a race-high 171 laps but one bad run cost him a second win of the season. “Just frustrating, to say the least, to have one slip away like that at the end,” Briscoe admitted to USA Sports.
Larson’s Wild Double
And in other wild news from the weekend, Kyle Larson finished sixth in Richmond and then absolutely sprinted out of his car to try and make it to the rain-delayed Knoxville Nationals. This is the biggest sprint-car race of the season, a couple of hours away by plane in Iowa. Larson had qualified earlier in the week, knowing he probably couldn’t make it unless the weather helped. Lately, trying to run a double like the Memorial Day races at Indianapolis and Charlotte, weather hasn’t been his friend. But this weekend? It fell right into his favor! Hendrick Motorsports arranged his flight, and Larson made it there in time and actually won the race. What a weekend for that guy!
The series heads to the flat 1.058-mile oval New Hampshire Motor Speedway next weekend for its lone stop. Logano’s got to keep this momentum rolling, while Cindric and SVG need to protect those buffers. It’s all going down as everyone scrambles for those last Chase spots, and you know it’s gonna be wild!
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Fox Sports.
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