RICHMOND, Va. – Joey Logano prevailed on pit strategy to win the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway on Saturday night.

Team scrambled to try different strategies as the race went more than 100 green flag laps to the finish, and at the end of the night, it was Joey Logano and Chase Briscoe battling it out for the victory. Logano took the lead away from Christpher Bell, who was on a different strategy, with just 25 laps to go. Logano and Briscoe then raced each other through lapped traffic, and it was the driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford prevailing to win his 39^th career NASCAR Cup Series victory.

“My team did a great job,” Logano said. “The pressure was on everybody to make the right calls, to execute the runs, to have a good pit stop there. We were door-to-door pretty much onto pit road. That tested everything we had. I thought we were gonna be in good shape because the run before that we were a lot faster than the 19 right at the end, but we weren’t able to be the same amount of good as we wanted to be. This is the first time I’ve had all of my kids here for a win, so this is a real special one for our family. I’m looking forward to enjoying it.”

The win marks Logano’s second in four race weekends. He won the first points race at North Wilkesboro Speedway since 1996. The team hasn’t been the best this season. In fact, heading into the night, Logano only had four top-five finishes this season. With The Chase in sight, it appears Team Penske is beginning to flex its muscles.

“It’s a great recovery so far,” Logano said. “There’s a long way to go in the season, but we can see the front from here. We’ve still got a couple more to gain some more points to set ourselves up better.”

Briscoe led the most laps throughout the night and felt he was in a good position until the final run came, and he battled a loose No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota. Briscoe gave it all he had as he’d get close to Logano and then loose grip while pushing hard. The runner-up finish marked his third top-five over the last four races.

“I thought I was in a great position, really that whole final run,” Briscoe said. “I had built a lead. I had a three-second lead, but I lost brakes and got really, really loose and let him get all the way back to me and pass me right before we did our final pit stop. Just one bad run, and that was the difference maker. We had him where we needed him, we just didn’t have it that one run. I thought we were going to get a win there for our Bass Pro Shops, TRACKER Boats Toyota, but just close for sure.” 

Austin Cindric finished third, and Denny Hamlin had a disappointing fourth-place finish. The reason being, on the final pit stop of the night, Hamlin lost 10 seconds on pit road due to the jack not engaging quickly enough. Hamlin may have been in the mix for the lead otherwise.

“Really, really good Bob’s Discount Furniture Toyota that third stage, we just had 10 seconds of extra pit stop there,” Hamlin said. “Our left side jack stop was broke, so couldn’t quite get the jack up under it, so that cost us 10 seconds, and that’s right about where we ended up behind the front. Really good car that last stage, and great to overcome that to come back for a top-five.” 

Chase Elliott completed the top-five and rounding out the top-10 was Kyle Larson, Bell, Josh Berry, William Byron and Alex Bowman.

Team Penske swept all of the stages. Ryan Blaney won Stage 1, and Logano won Stage 2.

The race saw 29 lead changes among 10 drivers. Briscoe led a race high of 171 laps.

The caution flew on four occasions for 31 laps. Zane Smith brought out the only caution for an accident on Lap 126, and on Lap 285, the cation came out for Carson Hocevar, whose engine blew.

With just two races (New Hampshire & Daytona) remaining in the Regular Season, the following drivers are locked into The Chase: Hamlin, Blaney, Ty Gibbs, Tyler Reddick, Briscoe, Elliott and Bell.

Shane van Gisbergen currently sits on the bubble in 16^th as he is 50 points ahead of Ryan Preece who is 17^th. Ross Chastain is 63 points back in 18^th.

The NASCAR Cup Series will visit New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, Aug. 23, for the Dollar Tree 301. Live coverage will broadcast on USA at 3 p.m. ET.

Photo Credit: Mitchell Richtmyre/TheFourthTurn.com