'For the Haters, Baby’: Joey Logano Wins at Bristol and Silences the Noise
· Yahoo Sports
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Joey Logano just keeps finding ways to win.
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On a wild and chaotic Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway, Logano took the Bass Pro Shops Night Race for his 40th career Cup Series victory and his third win of the 2026 season.
He led 93 of the 500 laps, including the first 81, and dominated Stage 1. The final lead only came with seven laps to go after frontrunners Ty Gibbs and Carson Hocevar made contact on a late restart. From there, Logano checked out and beat Kyle Larson to the line by 1.248 seconds.
The race itself was a grind — 3 hours, 2 minutes, and 18 seconds, with 13 lead changes and 10 cautions for 78 laps. In the middle of all that chaos, Logano did what he’s always done: stay in position and capitalize when the opportunity showed up.
The win moved him up to third in The Chase standings, just 16 points behind new leader Kyle Larson. Three races into the postseason, Logano is right back in the middle of the championship fight.
As soon as he climbed out of the No. 22 Ford, he made sure everyone heard him.
“For the haters, baby,” Logano said on the live broadcast. A few minutes later on USA Network he added, “Merry Christmas to me. I got a gift there.”
That edge has always been part of his game.
Logano has three championships, all in even years — 2018, 2022, and 2024. This is another even year. He started 2026 quietly and still found himself in the thick of it by the time the lights came on at Bristol. Sixteen points out of the lead is nothing for a driver who knows how to peak at the right time.
For years people have dismissed those titles as products of the old playoff system. The narrative was that Logano benefited from the format more than he earned the trophies. Nights like this make that argument harder to keep making. He’s winning when it counts, in the current system, against the best the series has to offer.
Put some respect on his name.
A lot of the post-race talk will center on the late contact between Hocevar and Ryan Blaney and the chaos that opened the door. That’s fair — it was a messy ending. But you can’t ignore what Logano did with the opportunity.
Champions don’t always have the best car on the biggest nights. They put themselves in position to take advantage when the race breaks their way. That’s exactly what happened Saturday.
This wasn’t supposed to be his win when the final restart lined up. He made it his anyway.
Logano may not end up with a fourth title when the season is over. The field is deep and the next few weeks will be brutal. But he’s not going quietly.
Three wins, 40 for his career, and a playoff picture that suddenly has the No. 22 right in the mix again.
The haters got their answer under the lights at Bristol.
Joey Logano is still here, still winning, and still dangerous.