Joey Logano Steals a Win in NASCAR’s Bristol Night Race While His Teammate Throws Punches on Pit Road

Joey Logano's unlikely march to a fourth championship continues with a win under the lights at Bristol Motor Speedway. Logano won the race by taking the lead as Carson Hocevar and Ty Gibbs battled on multiple final-stage restarts. The veteran saw his opening and went from fourth to first on the final restart with nine to go, to win his third race of the season and rocket up to third in the Championship standings with seven races to go.

“I got a great team,” Logano said on the front stretch. “We got a team that knows how to win championships, and I thought there for a minute I was like, okay, we might just finish third or fourth here tonight. And they all kind of worked their way up. I was like, well, Merry Christmas to me. I got a gift there. So there's nothing like the Bristol Night Race, man. This is just the coolest experience as a race car driver being in front of all you fans down here, hearing everyone scream and cheer. Sometimes boo, that's all right. It's pretty awesome.”

As Logano celebrated his win with donuts on the frontstretch, fireworks went off in the pits as his teammate, Ryan Blaney, confronted Hocevar for spinning him in a battle for second shortly after a restart with 50 laps to go.

Blaney’s night was over twice: once when he was going to pit from the lead right when the first in a domino of final-stage cautions came out, pushing him back to ninth with a penalty, and second when, once he worked his way back to second through the help of the repeated cautions, a pass and double-block on Carson Hocevar saw his No. 12 Team Penske Ford Mustang in the wall.

“Oh, I don't fucking know,” Blaney told USA Sports’ Kim Coon when asked if he felt like one party was at fault. “I got crashed. So each person is going to say they did nothing wrong.”

This marks the second race in a row that Blaney DNF’d in the final stage but carries on with some hope, with points gained through the first two stages. That wasn't enough to temper his anger at a fellow Chase competitor who wouldn't back down or give space in a let-him-pass-or-crash situation.

Blaney went to talk to Hocevar post-race and grabbed Hocevar by the firesuit; Hocevar responded with a punch, sparking the first pit road confrontation since NASCAR fined Ricky Stenhouse Jr. $75,000 for starting a brawl with the late Kyle Busch and his crew during the 2024 All Star Race.

Ty Gibbs valiantly tried to back up his first career win this spring at Bristol, holding on to the lead through four restarts alongside Hocevar. Gibbs sustained damage when he first took the lead as he shot between Cole Custer and Alex Bowman, who were racing a lap down, and got squeezed.

Bowman pulled up from the bottom line and squeezed Gibbs; Bowman got turned and retired from the race. Bowman shared that he didn’t realize he was racing the leaders after he was released from the infield care center.

“I didn’t understand that we were racing the leaders; I would’ve gotten the fuck out of the way. It’s just embarrassing to do that; we were trying to make chicken salad out of chicken shit and were having a really crappy day.”

Gibbs continued to lead through the litany of cautions to follow; on the restart, with 17 laps remaining, Hocevar took the lead as AJ Allmendinger went around bringing out a quick caution. Gibbs was noted as leading at the last timing loop and was given back the lead.

Hocevar took the lead on the final restart with nine laps remaining but was constantly in battle with Gibbs until the two touched. Logano took the opportunity to take the bottom lane and easily take the lead in the final moments of the race. Larson followed on very old tires as Hocevar finished third with a new enemy of the week. Christopher Bell, the defending Bristol Night Race winner, finished fourth ahead of Gibbs, who held on to a top-five finish after losing momentum from the lead and possibly showing some signs of damage from his earlier incident with Bowman.

Josh Berry continues to prove why he has a ride at Legacy next year as the highest-finishing non-Chase driver, finishing sixth in the Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 Ford Mustang. Bubba Wallace finished seventh ahead of his 23XI Racing team owner Denny Hamlin, Hendrick’s William Byron, and RFK’s Ryan Preece.

With Hamlin’s eighth-place finish and Larson’s second-place finish, Larson is the first driver to take the championship lead from Hamlin since The Chase started two weekends ago. Hamlin entered with a massive points lead but hasn’t had an overall great race in the playoffs so far.

Victoria Beaver is a nomadic sports writer who spends her time hopping between race tracks and hippie farms. She’s covered every corner of motorsports that will let her in from 410 Sprints to NASCAR to Supercross. Her daily driver is a 2010 Subaru that she refused to do the smallest amount of preventative maintenance on. Instead, she spends her free time and money building a 42-foot Skoolie to one day travel the country full time.