Joey Logano prevails in dramatic Bristol Night Race

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Joey Logano prevails in a caution-filled dramatic end to the NASCAR Cup Series’ Bass Pro Shops Bristol Night Race.

This is his third win of the season and his 40th career win overall.

Wow. You only need that one word to describe the ending of the 2026 edition of the Bristol Night Race.

Beforehand, Joey Logano’s weekend started with a rainout. The NASCAR qualifying metric yielded him a front row start from second.

He settled into that position from the onset and went a different direction strategy-wise than Kyle Larson when the competition caution flew at lap 40.

From there, he led the remaining laps in the first stage to claim another stage win in the Chase.

The second stage was more challenging for the No. 22 group. Because of the tire offset they created, they had to pit during the stage break which put them towards the middle of the pack.

Logano cautiously made his way through the field and wound up placing third in the stage but never seemed to show the same dominance he displayed in the first stage from then onwards.

In the final stage, it looked as though he would have to settle for a solid top five run. However, with around 70 laps remaining the race turned into a caution-fest.

Even still, he did not gain any ground on the four drivers ahead of him. It took a little bumping, and then some, from Carson Hocevar and Ryan Blaney to crucially move him into striking distance.

Finally, his chance to win happened.

Hocevar had the outside leverage on Ty Gibbs with seven laps remaining when the two collided in the corner. Kyle Larson chose the wrong line on the high side and Logano skated around all three on the low side for the lead.

From there he ran uncontested to his third win of the season which launches him up to third in the Chase with a true chance at another title.

Even-year Logano strikes again.

The Top Ten

Kyle Larson managed to make just enough room on the outside of Carson Hocevar in the final two turns to bump and shove his way to a narrow second place.

With the runners-up results, Larson leaves Bristol as the new championship leader in the Chase over Denny Hamlin.

Carson Hocevar had a night to remember. For good and for bad, he was unable to capture his second career Cup Series victory and narrowly finished third. His dust-up on pit road post-race will show on promotional ads for years to come.

Christopher Bell had another solid Chase day and finished fourth. He lost another spot in the Chase to Logano but he is still well within the fight for the championship.

Ty Gibbs rounded out the top five. He led the second most laps, 120, and looked to sweep the Bristol Motor Speedway weekends before his contact with Hocevar relegated him to fifth.

Josh Berry had another fantastic race. He was the only non-Chase driver to finish inside the top ten. The top ten now serves as his seventh in the previous eight races for the outgoing Wood Brothers Racing driver.

Bubba Wallace was the final lead lap driver to pit and finished seventh. He bested his boss Denny Hamlin by one position as he crossed the line in eighth after losing the championship lead for the first time since July.

William Byron found the inside wall at one point in the final 50 laps. But, with the amount of cars not on the lead lap, he rebounded well enough to finish ninth.

Finally, Ryan Preece captured the free pass late in the race and a top ten finish from tenth.

Notable Results

This was a hectic night to be a Chase driver. Austin Cindric was the final one of them to finish on the lead lap from 11th.

The remaining six all had issues which led them to finish, or not, outside the top ten.

Chris Buescher and Daniel Suarez both fell off the lead lap during each of the long green flag runs the race displayed. They stayed mostly out of harms way and made the most of their nights to finish 13th and 14th.

Tyler Reddick finished 18th which sounds bad but they started the night on the back foot. They were the first Chase driver to go a lap down and even though he finished three laps down at the end, he picked off his competitors through attriction and adjusments.

Chase Elliott spun late and finished 23rd. His Bristol Night Race was rocky and even with the spin, he still finished around where he ran throughout the event.

For the second week in a row Chase Briscoe failed to finish. He placed 27th in the end after pulling his No. 19 Toyota behind the wall with 6 laps remaining due to a mechanical failure.

Finally, Ryan Blaney is the talk of the town after his 33rd-placed DNF. He won the second stage, led the most laps and looked as though the fight for the win ran through him. In the end, it was Carson Hocevar who literally ran through then fought him.

Get fully caught up to date on the Blaney versus Hocevar scuffle here.

Full Results and Chase Standings

Below is the archive of live updates on the third race of the NASCAR Cup Series Chase from the Bass Pro Shops Bristol Night Race

Final Stage Recap

White Flag: Joey Logano takes the white flag with Hocevar too far behind. Gibbs has fallen to fifth.

7 TO GO: Gibbs cleans out Hocevar! Logano to the lead

8 TO GO: Carson Hocevar beats Gibbs to the stripe this time around!

10 TO GO: Chris Buescher remains on an island as the only driver one lap down currently. The top five presumably will line up the same as before.

15 TO GO: CAUTION!! AJ Allmendinger spins off turn four.

Ty Gibbs narrowly holds the lead over Hocevar as he slid loose out of turn four. Ross Chastain has the free pass.

16 TO GO: Ty Gibbs maintains his lead over now Hocevar!

18 TO GO: Gibbs continues to choose the high lane on the restart. Hocevar and Larson both slot into where they restarted the previous two restarts as well.

20 TO GO: Bubba Wallace leads the lead lap cars down pit road. Hamlin, Byron and Preece follow.

“I tried to protect the bottom and [Hocevar] crossed and he never lifted” – Ryan Blaney

23 TO GO: CAUTION! Chase Elliott spins on the backstretch.

Ryan Preece will be the free pass car.

25 TO GO: Gibbs has stretched his lead to another few car lengths. Hocevar, Larson, Bell, and Logano round out the top five.

30 TO GO: Gibbs maintains his lead over Carson Hocevar by a slim quarter-second margin.

35 TO GO: Ty Gibbs holds off Carson Hocevar once again on the restart!

Blaney will fall to DNF in 33rd in the end.

38 TO GO: Chase Briscoe and William Byron come down pit road. Byron’s crew will continue to fix earlier damage.

With the wreck, Blaney potentially slides from fourth in the points to sixth.

40 TO GO: Denny Hamlin earns the free pass. Josh Berry is the lone lead lap driver to pit under this caution.

43 TO GO: CAUTION! Ryan Blaney is out! He passes Carson Hocevar for second and gets turned into turn one!

The Hurricane collects Blaney as the No. 12 team will DNF for the second consecutive week.

45 TO GO: Hocevar is around two car lengths behind the leader Ty Gibbs as Joey Logano and Christopher Bell make contact fighting for fifth.

50 TO GO: Gibbs holds off Hocevar for the lead on the restart as the field goes longer on this run than the previous one already.

51 TO GO: Gibbs restarts on the high side as Carson Hocevar agrees with him and will line up behind him. Kyle Larson takes the front row on the bottom once again.

53 TO GO: Gibbs retains the lead but the larger question is how much the impact the damage from the prior caution will be for him.

55 TO GO: Chase Briscoe earns the free pass and becomes the 11th driver on the lead lap.

57 TO GO: CAUTION ON THE RESTART! William Byron spun on the backstretch from ninth. He and Josh Berry collided off the exit of turn two and Byron suffers significant damage.

Ty Gibbs and Kyle Larson made way on the outside. Carson Hocevar flew into second on the restart on two tires.

59 TO GO: After a long caution period Ty Gibbs chooses the top for the restart.

63 TO GO: The top ten as they run under yellow: Gibbs, Blaney, Larson, Hocevar, Logano, Bell, Wallace, Berry, Byron, and Cindric.

This also serves as the list of drivers on the lead lap! Chase Briscoe is currently in the free pass position from 11th with four other drivers a single lap down to contend with.

66 TO GO: Ty Gibbs is reporting “all good” for his fenders and steering. He will restart from the lead as Hocevar pits.

Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson stay out. Coincidently, thats how the trio finished here in the spring.

69 TO GO: CATUION! Ty Gibbs passes Carson Hocevar for the lead and gets sandwiched by Alex Bowman and Cole Custer!

Cindric with the free pass as Bowman failed to yield to the leader.

70 TO GO: Carson Hocevar continues to lead as his crew chief Luke Lambert is feeling and looking like a genius for his call to leave his driver out late.

Gibbs is closing for the lead. He now sits one second behind as Shane van Gisbergen tags the wall.

80 TO GO: Lap traffic is holding up Gibbs’ march to Carson. He sits two seconds behind.

Austin Cindric is in the free pass spot from 10th.

88 TO GO: Only 8 cars are on the lead lap. Hocevar leads Gibbs by around two seconds.

95 TO GO: Hocevar holds off the lapped cars and secures the lead easily on the restart as Blaney’s chance to win might be over.

99 TO GO: Carson Hocevar beats Ryan Blaney off pit road as the remainder of the top 15 take the wavearound.

Ty Gibbs earns the free pass. Ryan Blaney was sent to the rear due to his commitment line violation before the Herbst caution.

LAP 400: Ryan Blaney and Carson Hocevar come down pit road as the only two on the lead lap.

There is now under 100 laps remaining in the Bass Pro Shops Bristol Night Race!

LAP 397: CAUTION! Riley Herbst spins. Huge damage for Herbst as he smacks the inside frontstretch wall after contact with Zane Smith on corner exit.

The gamble plays out perfectly for Blaney and Hocevar!

LAP 395: Only Ryan Blaney and Carson Hocevar has stayed out among the drivers on the lead lap.

LAP 390: Ryan Blaney stays out while Joey Logano pits from third.

LAP 387: The leader pits! Ty Gibbs comes in for his service while Ryan Blaney stay out.

LAP 379: Josh Berry and Kyle Larson begins the green flag pit cycle.

LAP 375: Gibbs and Blaney have broken free from Bell in third.

LAP 360: Only two drivers are one lap down with 16th-37th multiple laps down. The long green flag runs have made that interesting fact possible tonight as Gibbs leads Blaney by five car lengths.

LAP 350: Ryan Blaney has kept Gibbs in check with Christopher Bell nearby. Joey Logano and Carson Hocevar round out the top five.

LAP 340: Ty Gibbs has now lapped up to 14th as he puts Ross Chastain a lap down. Austin Cindric joins Daniel Suarez as a Chase driver who lost their lap.

LAP 326: New Leader! Ty Gibbs takes the lead on the outside of Blaney! The Rowdy towels are going nuts in the crowd.

LAP 325: Chase Briscoe and Kyle Larson find their way around Chris Buescher.

Tyler Reddick has passed Elliott on track. Chase Elliott’s car has been a rock!

LAP 320: Christopher Bell has now closed into the battle for the lead. He currently runs third as the fastest driver on track.

LAP 310: Ryan Blaney has led a race-high 176 laps to this point. He has found some space among the lap traffic to gap Gibbs to a comfortable margin.

Kyle Larson, Chase Briscoe and Chris Buescher battle for tenth deeper in the field.

LAP 300: The battle for the lead has tightened with 200 laps remaining. Ryan Blaney leads Ty Gibbs by a quarter of a second.

Chase Elliott joins Tyler Reddick as the lone Chase drivers who are two laps down.

LAP 290: Daniel Suarez and Chase Elliott remain one lap down. Tyler Reddick also remains two laps down as the only three Chase drivers who are not on the lead lap.

Ryan Blaney still leads Ty Gibbs. Those two should be the ones the field will have to go through in order to challenge for the win.

LAP 275: The front three has separated. Joey Logano and Carson Hocevar fight for fourth while Chase Briscoe and Kyle Larson fight for 11th.

LAP 262: Blaney fends off Ty Gibbs on the restart for the lead. Kyle Larson sustained nose damage entering pit road on the prior stops.

Austin Cindric also has problems on pit road.

LAP 255: Ryan Blaney leads the 15 lead-lap cars down pit road and wins the race off.

Ryan Blaney and Ty Gibbs will lead the field back to green. They are followed by Christopher Bell, Joey Logano, Josh Berry, Carson Hocevar, Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Chris Buescher, and Bubba Wallace in the top ten.

Stage Two Winner: Ryan Blaney

LAP 248: CAUTION! Cody Ware solo-spins off the nose of Denny Hamlin after battling Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Ryan Blaney wins the second stage! Ty Gibbs, Joey Logano, Josh Berry, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace, Carson Hocevar, William Byron, Kyle Larson, and Chris Buescher earn stage points.

LAP 240: The current longest green flag run of the night is finally establishing a tire difference between the 14 that stayed out compared to those who pit during the stage break.

Blaney still leads from Gibbs but the No. 54 is closing the gap.

LAP 230: Bubba Wallace, Josh Berry, and Ty Gibbs battle for second place. Gibbs prevails over both of them on the bottom.

Further down the field, Carson Hocevar is back inside the top ten in ninth as the fastest driver on track currently.

LAP 220: Joey Logano has finally reached the top five again. He passes Christopher Bell for the position. But, Ty Gibbs has made his way around both of them for fourth.

The defending 2026 Bristol winner looks primed to sweep the season.

LAP 210: The top ten has stayed stagnant. The highest battle for position is Ross Chastain and Ryan Preece for 17th.

LAP 200: Ryan Blaney has lapped up to 20th. Both Daniel Suarez and Chase Elliott have now gone a lap down.

LAP 190: Ty Dillon has rejoined the fun. He currently runs 37th and last, 87 laps down.

LAP 180: Josh Berry has turned heads again in the Chase. He has made his way up to third.

Ty Gibbs has been the fastest car on track. He just found a way past Chase Briscoe for eighth.

LAP 175: Leader Ryan Blaney has lapped up to Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in 28th. Tyler Reddick has now gone two laps down as his night continues to get worse.

LAP 170: 45 laps into the stage and the older tires of the leaders have stayed in a decent condition. Blaney still leads from Wallace, Buescher, Bell, and now Berry in fifth.

LAP 160: Bubba Wallace has stayed within touching distance of the leader Blaney. Logano has made his way up to ninth as Kyle Larson trails by three positions and 1.5 seconds.

LAP 150: Blaney leads. Joey Logano has made up the most positions from the drivers who pit during the stage break. He is up to 11th.

LAP 137: Ryan Blaney fends off Bubba Wallace and William Byron for the lead on the restart. The outside lane has been the preferred lane the entire night and comes up big again for Blaney.

LAP 135: 14 drivers stayed on the track. Ryan Blaney will lead from best friend Bubba Wallace on the restart.

LAP 132: Kyle Larson leads the race off of pit road ahead of Joey Logano and Ross Chastain.

LAP 130: Strategies have been wild tonight. Ryan Blaney stays out at the end of the stage from sixth as his teammates finally pit for the first time in the race.

Stage One Winner: Joey Logano

LAP 125: Joey Logano takes stage one! He is followed by Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Ross Chastain, Ty Gibbs, Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, Carson Hocevar, Brad Keselowski, and Bubba Wallace earn the stage points.

LAP 116: Ten to go in the stage. Joey Logano leads Kyle Larson by a half second. Then, Denny Hamlin, Ross Chastain, and Ty Gibbs cover the top five.

LAP 102: Green flag! Logano holds Larson off for the lead but the two are side-by-side for the lead thereafter.

LAP 100: Ten drivers stayed on the track and will restart as such: Logano, Cindric, Larson, Chastain, Hamlin, Hocevar, Gibbs, Keselowski, Preece, and Herbst.

Chris Buescher and AJ Allmendinger made contact on pit road. Buescher barely clipped Allmendinger’s left-rear quarter-panel as the damage for each driver is minimal.

LAP 97: Split decisions to pit yet again! Leader Joey Logano stays out as well as Austin Cindric and Kyle Larson.

Ryan Blaney was the first to pit from the third position and he brought down half the field.

LAP 95: CAUTION! Erik Jones spins in a single-car incident with a damaged right-rear toe link.

Austin Hill will receive the free pass as Reddick misses out by a single position once again. Chase Briscoe was within one position to falling a lap down. He and crew chief James Small stayed out and the gamble worked. They currently run seventh.

LAP 92: Leader Joey Logano has lapped Tyler Reddick again.

LAP 90: Logano still leads from his teammate Cindric by just under a second. The two-tire strategy for Austin Dillon has tampered out to 15th. Down from his seventh-placed restart.

Gibbs is fast. He has made it up to 14th in the previous ten laps.

LAP 80: The winner of the spring race, Ty Gibbs, has been slowly making progress from the restart. The No. 54 M&M’s Toyota has made his way to 16th from the low-20’s.

LAP 70: The leaders have spaced out each by around two to three car lengths. Logano still leads as Alex Bowman and Denny Hamlin battle for ninth.

Ty Dillon made contact with the outside wall on lap 65 and pitted for repairs. He currently sits on pit road.

LAP 63: Just over halfway in the first stage now, the field should be able to make it to the end of the stage on their current tire and fuel strategies.

LAP 60: Logano still leads. Kyle Larson has not made that much headway from where he restarted. He has only gained one position from sixth to fifth.

LAP 49: Green flag! Joey Logano maintains his lead from Buescher and Cindric.

Tyler Reddick took the wave-around to get his lap back prior to the restart.

LAP 45: Five drivers stayed out on the track. Joey Logano will lead the field back to green. Then, Austin Cindric, Chris Buescher, Ryan Blaney, and Chase Briscoe all stayed out and will start in the top five.

Kyle Larson, Austin Dillon who took two tires, William Byron, Alex Bowman, and Denny Hamlin conclude the top ten.

LAP 42: Larson leads the leaders onto pit road. Joey Logano stayed out on the track and will inherit the lead.

LAP 40: CAUTION! The anticipated competition caution has flown with Kyle Larson leading. Berry will earn the free pass.

Josh Berry narrowly bested Reddick for the position.

LAP 35: Tyler Reddick has been lapped! The Chase driver has work to do under the nearing competition caution.

LAP 30: 10 laps to go until the competition caution. Larson continues to lead and has lapped through Josh Berry in 34th. Tyler Reddick still runs 32nd and is within striking distance of losing a lap to the leader.

LAP 20: Larson’s lead has stretched to nearly a second ahead of teammate William Byron but the No. 24 has clawed back as the leader catches lap traffic for the first time tonight. Bubba Wallace has made the most ground in the top ten. He started tenth and currently runs sixth.

LAP 18: The entire Bristol Motor Speedway pays tribute to the legend Kyle Busch by waving their yellow No. 18 towels.

LAP 10: Kyle Larson still leads. Tyler Reddick has fallen from 20th to 32nd.

LAP 1: Kyle Larson led the field to green and holds off William Byron and Joey Logano to lead the frist lap.

The Engines have been fired at 7:33 p.m. ET – Pace laps and green flag to follow.

The threat of rain has moved through the Bristol, Tennessee area. The Cup Series race Bass Pro Shops Night Race will start as scheduled at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Race Info/Start

Kyle Larson heads back to “Thunder Valley” with his first victory of the 2026 season at Gateway.

His tremendous momentum has continued with the NASCAR qualifying metric setting the driver of the Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 on pole after rain cancelled both practice and qualifying.

If Larson wants to extend his winning ways at Bristol Motor Speedway, he will have a tough battle at the last great coliseum.

Then, Chase leader Denny Hamlin enters with a nine-point lead over Larson in the championship and will start third.

Christopher Bell enters Bristol as the defending Night Race winner and third in the Chase. He is among the favorites to win tonight and will start 12th.

Defending spring race winner Ty Gibbs will have some early work to do from his 13th starting position.

Gibbs will be a heavy favorite not only for his previous victory, but for the M&M’s Kyle Busch tribute paint scheme on his No. 54 Toyota tonight.

All 37 entries will start the event and no vehicles will be sent to the rear to start the race.

Below is the Bass Pro Shops Bristol Night Race information and starting lineups:

• Broadcast: USA Network, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
• Previous Winner: Christopher Bell
• 500 laps / 266.5 miles
  • Will have competition caution on lap 40
• Stages: 125 / 250 / 500
• Average time of race: 3:04:48
• Pit road speed: 30 mph
• Caution car speed: 35 mph
• Fuel Window: 190 laps