HLs: NASCAR Cup Series, North Wilkesboro Speedway
Watch highlights of the NASCAR Cup Series at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina, for the Window World 450, the firs points-paying Cup Series race at the track since 1996.
Video Transcript
Pace car is in.
Gibbs and Bell on the front row.
It's time to go racing at North Wilkesboro.
And there it is, ladies and gentlemen.
Hands in the air.
I tell you, it's so awesome to watch.
I don't want to even interrupt it.
But, pretty amazing to see these cars getting around this racetrack.
We're gonna have a great race tonight.
Ty Gibbs out to the race lead.
Hosar up to second.
Bell settles into third.
Chastain did make his trip down the pit lane, had the pass through.
He's now pulled off on the back straightaway.
There's Chastain down into turn three, and you see the rest of the field through one and two.
Running around the bottom of the racetrack right now, Steve.
Be interesting whether the 42 even gives him the room.
Here's his chance to try to jump to the outside.
He's gonna be able to do it off of turn four here.
Three wide.
Look at Blaney sideways.
Oh, my.
See that thing dancing across the start-finish line?
Yeah.
That's a lap of tire life taken out of that right rear in one corner.
Blaney's using up a lot of race car here trying to get around this 42 and just make any headway.
Here's that bump off of turn four right there.
Still there, he's still there, he's still there.
Can't really get into gas, and then he wrapped the corner down, and he ran over Let's see if he does it again.
Right there's a big bump.
Better on the tires this early in the race.
Look at the 11 trying to get around the 43.
Little contact right there.
Look out.
Toyota.
Going three wide.
Contact with another Toyota.
Oh, oh yeah.
And here comes Chase Elliott as we get our first caution of the night.
Oh.
John Hunter Nemechek around in the 42.
I wonder how that happened.
Whoa.
Yeah.
Chased the back of the car up the- Yeah correct.
Maybe the back end moving around and gets into the side of the 42, spins him out.
Nemechek was 31st, and it's Cody Ware who was the first car one lap down.
He gets the free pass.
There, there's a good look.
Chastain stays a lap down.
See what happened here.
Oh, well, they just kind of both came together it looks like.
34th the last two weeks at Chicago and Atlanta.
Let's go back and look at it again.
Well, watch this right here.
Bam.
That's really, really hard.
That is really hard damage to the right front of the five.
I know they measured the toe, but you know, you're measuring in quarter inches, maybe eighth inches with a tape measure in a hurry.
You know, these things are set to thousandths of an inch.
Another quick update, the 11 of Denny Hamlin has taken the lead over Stage out from seventh.
So old tires for Denny Hamlin.
SVG around the top there being able to take over second position.
How about it?
97 up to second.
Michael McDowell right in that mix as well in the 71.
Battle up front for the lead.
SVG to the inside.
Denny on the older tires.
I mean, we know what a, a, a, an ace this guy is when it comes to road course racing, but he has started to show real flashes on the ovals, and he's been very consistent when it comes to the short tracks.
Muscle up from New Zealand, 97 inside trying to take the race lead, and he's got it.
How about that?
Impressive.
You say muscle up, he's also proven that he's not afraid of a little beating and banging on a short track.
Clean pass there.
So I'm leading.
What the do I do now?
I don't know.
Good race.
He's two and a half laps away from winning the stage, but he's got plenty of company.
It's SVG, it's Ty Gibbs, it's Joey Logano.
Gonna be two remaining stage one.
Ty just can't roll the center of the corner well enough to get to the top of that 97 car.
He'll try it down here again in one and two.
Oh, this is getting good.
And, and hey, keep an eye on this- He's there because it could be a preview of what we'll see at the end of the night.
So reminiscent of what we saw last spring in the All-Star Race.
Gonna be one to go in the stage.
It continues to be SVG, Gibbs, Logano, one, two, three.
SVG being very defensive, throwing some blocks.
Ty Gibbs to the outside now.
SVG shuts him down, pushes him out.
Can Gibbs get there side by side for the lead in a stage victory here at North Wilkesboro?
54, power move.
Ty Gibbs takes it in stage one.
That's his fourth stage win of the year, and he's been Mister Short Track.
Got his first career victory at Bristol back in the springtime.
Yeah, just real smart, patient racing right there between both those drivers.
SVG doing everything he could to keep the position, throwing blocks.
As our stage one winner, Ty Gibbs, speeding on pit road.
He'll restart stage two at the tail end of the longest line.
And SVG's done a good job just to get back up underneath this 22 car, Logano.
Almost leading that lap right there.
Possibly leading it side by side down into turn one and two.
Hosar jumps up in front of Hamlin for third.
97 not quite clear for the lead.
Yeah, he might get it down here in turns three and four.
Logano's gonna have to fight hard on corner exit.
SVG's clear.
Slight bobble off the corner, but he's able to get up in front of Logano.
Little more contact back here on this replay on the right side of the screen, the 5, 54, the 42.
Couple of penalty cars having to come from the back on the restart.
How about Logano now?
Now instead of the diamond, he's just gonna roll the high exit and try to get to the right rear of the 97.
Got a pretty good run right here down the back straightaway.
Little defensive for SVG.
We've seen that before.
22 to the outside.
Can he stay there in throttle?
He can.
Now to the front straightaway, 22's got the position.
This'll be a pretty easy pass to make for the 22, Logano, off of turn two, down the back straightaway.
That last time around was 48 laps led for Shane van Gisbergen.
That's the most tonight.
This reminds me a little bit of Harvick, you know how good he was at Richmond over the years, and you would start a run and, and he would drift- Ooh and I realize tire fall-off here is not what it is there, but he would fade early in a run and then as the run continued, here he would come.
And Hamlin up another one now.
Ty Gibbs had the speeding penalty after winning stage one, gonna go a lap down.
Here comes Logano.
And we talked about, you know, Denny taking it kind of easy at the start and now his car is running forward.
The 54 on the radio is talking about how he ran too hard and burned the right rear tire off this car, and now he's struggling just to make lap time and going a lap down here.
Yeah, he was fighting really, really hard to keep- I'm in it.
Hold on.
He was fighting really, really hard to stay on the lead lap.
On the outside, the 22 here.
Let's watch him get down into turn one.
Oh, man.
Bam.
Wow.
And he had done a really good job to stay right there for several laps.
Joey was having a hard time getting by, but you're pushing hard, you're pushing harder than your car wants to go, asking it to do things it doesn't want to do.
Whoa.
Hey, this is the problem.
Big stackup.
Looks like cars are maybe trying to come to pit road.
The 45 of Reddick, 48 of Bowman involved.
Oh, you think about Byron and those cars, Chase Elliott, that were on pit road.
This is gonna be a huge problem for their night.
Well, you don't, you don't want to speculate, but we talked about sight lines.
We're gonna see the four exiting pit lane up on the racetrack, but everything's going five.
Oh, the 48.
48's trying to get to pit road.
Yes, sir.
48's coming from the top lane across traffic, gets caught by the 45.
Contact right there with the inside wall, but yeah, that was just What Reddick has to say about that.
Yeah.
Here you go.
Top of your screen.
Just the 48, just turns across.
It's simple as that.
Yeah.
I know the 48's trying to come, but it's your responsibility.
You just can't exit from the fast lane, and he's on the top of the racetrack turning left across the 45.
Reddick has no idea.
We haven't, had green flag pit stops at North Wilkesboro in 30 years.
And what about this duo out front?
I mean, lost in it all, we got a couple of guys that are best to do it.
Oh.
Logano and Hamlin.
This is a good toe-to-toe at a place like North Wilkesboro.
Well, we talk about the 23 Hall of Famers that have won at North Wilkesboro.
I don't think anyone in the crowd today would disagree that Joey Logano- Oh, we got a car around.
Josh Berry gets tagged.
Christopher Bell- Oh, man slid up the racetrack into the door of the 21.
Caution number four.
Just talking about a car that needed a good run.
It definitely slapped the left side, left front.
Slapped the left side.
Slapped the left front.
You heard the communication on the radio.
Watch it again.
So Josh, top of the racetrack, headed down the back straightaway.
A little contact here with the 5 and the 20.
Three wide, you got Briscoe on the outside.
That's the 25.
See Bell down in the middle of the corner, just gets loose right there- Oh and check, you know, corrects up into the side of the 21 and unfortunately that's a pretty hard hit for Josh into the outside wall.
28 car got hit.
The left front concerning, 'cause it spins around and kind of momentum's in.
Great break, break for Ty Gibbs, who will get the free pass.
Raced his tail off to get into that position.
So Denny's really, really smart about just driving the car smooth and straight, keeping the tips down in the tire, keeping the car working, and here he is working himself around the 97 car comfortably.
Hamlin looking outside of SVG here.
This is the race for third.
Yeah, Briscoe's showing some pretty good speed here over the course of the run.
And you mentioned fresher tires.
Only seven laps.
They are fresher, to your point, Adam, but you wouldn't think that would be as big of an advantage.
We'll just have to wait to see where the 19 stacks up when they all reset.
Bell going down that second lap.
Had that penalty on the final lap last week at Atlanta, so they didn't have a great starting position.
But Bubba has been able to drive through the field.
Final lap of the stage.
And we pick up Logano down the back straightaway, and the gaggle in front of him.
And then Byron's another one of those cars that's already one lap down, him and Chase Elliott.
A second lap is just such a tall task.
They're up, figure it out and stay just in front of Logano.
First stage victory of 2026 for Joey Logano.
See his eyes, a few glances down a little bit.
Hear him in the throttle.
Flatspot the car, spin.
There's the rear tires.
I heard the spin and the slip.
Oh, yeah.
And he is being frustrated about that.
It's gonna cook them rear tires and now he's gonna not only cook the rear tires, but probably give the spot back up unless he can put a, put a couple of good corners together.
Yeah, reached down, changed the brake bias that time.
There you go.
Got it there.
Hospar's gonna try to cross him over.
I don't think that's gonna be beneficial to the 77.
All clear finally.
Blaney gets the spot.
It's undrivable.
Like, I, I'm telling you, like, as soon as we can pit, I have to.
It's like, like something's broke or I'm having a flat.
And you can see just how much he's struggling with the handling of the race car.
He has fallen outside not only the top five, now he's 13th for Carson Hospar.
He told Luke Lambert a moment ago, "I don't know how we got this bad, but we are just junk right now."
You know, the most cars to ever finish on the lead lap here, 13 back in 1992.
The most.
That's the most.
In, in, in 93 races.
So what we're doing here tonight is on par with what we've always seen.
But I think that's why when the superstars won here, like your dad, Dale, or Darrell Waltrip, they got out with such admiration because this was a tough battle.
They knew it.
The right-hand, Denny Hamlin leaving under speed.
The left-hand, 22 of Joey Logano slowly has to continue his way down pit road.
Denny Hamlin now into three and four.
Joey Logano still about a third of pit road to go.
We will see who is most successful.
Hamlin will hammer down into turn one.
He will see Joey Logano on the left side of the screen.
It's gonna be a pretty close blend, but I think Joey Logano might keep it.
Or will it be momentum for Hamlin?
Oh, man.
Now that car is there with Chastain.
Logano gets back on the gas, pulls up in front of the 11.
Oh, and we, we got a penalty on Ryan Blaney, speeding on the pit lane.
And look at this, Hamlin going after Logano, and once it cycles, this could very well be the battle for the win.
Two things.
A, once it cycles is a very important note because Briscoe can go a long ways on fuel.
Maybe Briscoe says, "This is the gamble.
I'm gonna run very long."
Maybe Wallace, SVG, Brad Keselowski do something.
Briscoe, no, he comes to pit road.
He's not willing to gamble as the battle continues.
Over by Larson.
Five cars being scored on the lead lap.
Yeah.
Just remarkable.
Unreal.
I mean, I've, I've seen it.
I've been here and seen a lot of races, and this is a traditional Wilkesboro that you get.
Try to keep running short.
Not going to let you down.
A lot of green flag runs.
Denny Hamlin, though, is continuing to put the pressure on Logano.
Five seconds clear over Briscoe.
And, and it felt like it paid some dividends.
We've seen it here tonight with all the stage points- Oh, contact out there and a really good opportunity to finish up front as Gibbs gets by for fourth.
Little hip check, and SVG's gonna try to drive it down in there and give it back.
Couldn't get to him.
I gotta applaud SVG.
He stayed on the bottom of the racetrack all night long.
Everyone else has moved all over this track trying to find speed.
The 97, he's having to run the middle here for the clean air, but he's ran the bottom of one and two the entire night.
Found speed down there in the truck, found a line he liked.
Well, 45 starts since the last time.
You hope Joey has his family here, his growing family to celebrate this with.
One lap to go, presented by Credit One Bank.
Logano through turns one and two.
Down the back straightaway for the final time.
Legends built this place.
Pressurised by nine.
And a three-time champion is gonna win here tonight.
Joey Logano, first career victory of the season comes at North Wilkesboro.
Yeah.
Hell yeah.
