Joey Logano has reacted to finally snapping a 45-race winless streak in the NASCAR Cup Series with victory at North Wilkesboro on Sunday.
The three-time Cup Series champion, who hasn't had a single winless season in 14 years with Penske, led 323 of the race's 450 laps to send a clear message to his rivals and doubters that he's far from done yet.
Logano has been languishing below the Chase cut line for much of the season until Sunday's race, with questions about whether a mixture of Ford's poor season and his typical lack of regular season dominance meant that he could miss the postseason entirely.
Those questions have quietened – although not gone away entirely – after he picked up 73 points in the first points-paying Cup Series race at the historic short track in 30 years to go above the cut line and into 15th.
READ MORE: NASCAR Results Today: Denny Hamlin denied by dominant Joey Logano at North Wilkesboro
Logano tracking to make postseason
There are still fewer than 50 points between Logano and Erik Jones in 17th place on points, with five regular season races remaining and more than enough time for the driver of the No. 22 to slide back down the order if he fails to build on Sunday's success.
Speaking after the race, he said: “It was just a solid race car. I knew in practice that the car had speed and the balance was really loose. When you have that, its like, ‘OK, if we get the balance right, this thing is really fast, I think’.
"So, they did a good job dialing it in overnight and putting it in position at the end of the first stage. That’s when we finally got where we needed to be and was able to just set sail up front. It was just a really solid race car.
"I was lucky to get to drive this one today and really just being able to manage a lot of things inside the car, so I’m proud of Paul Wolfe. He does a good job. We tested twice over the offseason here when they were testing all of the other stuff with the rules packages and stuff, so just a really good tester.”
Logano: I don't want to be a one-track wonder
In addition to Logano's dominant win on Sunday, he also led the most laps at each of the last two All-Star races at North Wilkesboro (139/250 on his way to second place in 2025, and 199/200 on his way to victory in 2026), leading to him being asked after taking the chequered flag if he is the 'Wilkesboro Whisperer'.
“I hadn’t heard that one," he admitted. "I don’t want to be a one track wonder, but right now it’s a good one to be good at and last year you feel like you had one taken away there at the end.
"Even the old pavement I felt like we had a chance of winning that All-Star Race as well. We just have always had fast cars here and was able to manage the short track stuff. That’s definitely in our wheelhouse right now.”
NASCAR Standings: Joey Logano vaults back into Chase contention as Tyler Reddick falters again
