Joey Logano pre-race at the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway, where he would go on to finish in the fourth position on Saturday, August 16, 2025. (Photo: Daniel Rankin | The Podium Finish)
RICHMOND, Va. — Joey Logano scored a fourth-place finish in the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway, rebounding from a last-place starting spot after a right front tire failure in qualifying.
By the end of Stage 1, the Middletown, Connecticut native had worked his way up to 19th place in the running order. He soon found himself in the top 10 during Stage 2 before another right rear tire failure hindered his progress.
However, Logano did not waver and fought back to finish inside the top five when the checkered flag waved.
“Just not our day, not our weekend,” Logano said in his post-race interview. “Probably the most frustrating top five you can imagine. I felt like our car was good enough to win, and (we) got up there from the back. Flat right tire, go back again, and then you know, a steady grind back into the top five.”
Overall, Logano was pleased with the performance of both his No. 22 car and team during the weekend at Richmond but was left disappointed by the fourth-place finish when he thought he had the best car overall.
Joey Logano during the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway en route to a fourth-place finish. (Photo: Daniel Rankin | The Podium Finish)
“At the end, the car was really ripping, but just too little too late,” he said. “Needed maybe 500 laps instead of 400, but proud of the car and the effort to fix the car. Also, really frustrated because I felt like we had the car to beat.”
The fourth-place result was the third top five and seventh top 10 of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season thus far for Logano, moving him up a spot to 12th in the driver standings with just one race to go in the regular season.
Since his lone win at EchoPark Speedway, Logano had only scored one top 10 in the following six races heading into the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway and had not scored a top five in that span as well. Something the No. 22 team needed was momentum and with the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs rapidly approaching, the fourth place run at Richmond was a great start.
“We (his No. 22 team) did nothing wrong,” said Logano. “When you look at the weekend, we did a good job. The setup of the car was good, our pit stops were good, and we managed the race well today. Just two flat tires, one from practice and one in the race, were just punctures.”
Joey Logano battling for position at Richmond Raceway during the Cook Out 400. (Photo: Daniel Rankin | The Podium Finish)
Logano does not believe in luck and has been very vocal about that over his career, but even he could not help himself when looking for an explanation for the two punctured right rear tires during the weekend.
“They weren’t even us being aggressive (with tire pressures),” he said. “It’s just running something over. That part’s frustrating because I’m the first person to raise my hand and say, ‘I don’t believe in luck.’ But, golly, we had bad luck.”
The NASCAR Cup Series regular season concludes next weekend on Saturday, August 23, at Daytona International Speedway with the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at 7:30 p.m. EST on NBC, Peacock, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
