CUP: Minor incidents loom large in Watkins Glen last-place battle claimed by Joey Logano
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
SCREENSHOT: FS1
Joey Logano picked up the 6th last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s Go Bowling at the Glen at Watkins Glen International when his #22 Shell / Pennzoil Ford finished under power, completing 85 of 100 laps.
The finish, which came in Logano’s 627th series start, was his first of the season and first in a Cup Series race since April 27, 2025 at Talladega, 38 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 30th for the #22, the 47th while still finishing under power, and the 770th for Ford. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 51st for the #22, the 64th while still running, and the 1,093rd for Ford.
In this first year without the Playoffs system under which he scored all three of his Cup Series Championships, Logano has endured a frustrating start to his season. A pair of 3rd-place finishes in the Daytona 500 and at Martinsville and a 7th in Bristol have been about the only highlights of these first 11 rounds. Even his pole at Phoenix saw him collected in a grinding multi-car wreck that left him 31st, his first of three DNFs on the year, all due to crashes. He arrived in Watkins Glen with three straight finishes of 30th or worse: a 30th in Kansas, 39th in Talladega, and a 37th in Texas.
For Watkins Glen, where Logano took the checkered flag in the 2015 running of this race, he was one of 38 drivers entered for 40 spots. He started the weekend just 27th in opening practice with a best lap of 73.014 seconds (120.799mph). He also had an early draw in qualifying, taking to the track 5th in line, but ended up securing the 6th starting spot with a lap of 71.522 seconds (123.319mph), joining both his Penske Racing teammates in the top seven positions.
Securing the 38th and final starting spot was Katherine Legge, making her season debut in a reunion with Live Fast Motorsports. Continuing her sponsorship from e.l.f. Cosmetics, Legge’s #78 Chevrolet ran a white scheme that faded to pink over the rear tires. “We do like the car,” said her spotter on race morning. “It’s very colorful and easy to see.” No teams incurred tail-end penalties, so she crossed the stripe last in line, 5.045 seconds back of the lead and about three-tenths back of Josh Bilicki in the #66 Southern Tier Security Ford fielded by Garage 66 (4.781 seconds back of the lead).
Through much of Stage 1, Legge remained in the 38th and final starting spot as she fought handling issues that caused her to lose touch with Bilicki. On Lap 2, she fell 0.948 second behind Bilicki (8.784 seconds back of the lead), then by Lap 3 ran her fastest lap of the weekend, shaving off two-tenths on her deficit. But on Lap 4, Bilicki pulled ahead again by 1.558 seconds (14.899). Legge’s onboard camera showed her running slow entering the chicane on the backstretch, and her car struggled to stay in the low lane through the Carousel at Turn 5. By Lap 5, her deficit had nearly doubled, then steadily grew from there:
On Lap 7, spotter Tommy Joe Martins reported Legge was “losing a bunch entering the bus stop,” and stood to lose more after Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. drove through the chicane’s grass on Lap 8, dropping him to 35th. Legge first radioed the team she was loose on Lap 9, then again on Lap 13 reported the rear of the car was breaking free. On Lap 14, the team told her she was giving up time at the bottom of The Esses, and Martins responded, “you can tell she's lost a lot of confidence in the car.”
By then, Legge’s deficit to the leaders was so large that on Lap 16, when Austin Dillon pitted his #3 Bass Pro Shops / Winchester AA White Flyer Chevrolet, Legge barely got by to drop Dillon to last on Lap 17, only for Dillon to drop Legge back to last and pull out by more than a second by the start of the following lap. The next official “Last Change” of the afternoon didn’t happen until Lap 18, when Noah Gragson’s #4 Long John Silver’s / Frank’s RedHot Ford encountered a delay during their first pit stop after two crew members ran into each other. Gragson crossed the line 72.043 seconds back of the lead to the now 37th-place Legge at a 76.828. But as with Dillon, fresh tires paid off handsomely, and Gragson dropped Legge back to last place on Lap 19, opening up a one-second advantage of his own. When the caution on Lap 21 ended Stage 1, Legge was still on the lead lap, 69.622 seconds back of the lead, and had yet to make her first pit stop of the race.
“Oversteer entry, push on exit,” said Legge, who mentioned she couldn’t keep up with the field due to her car’s poor handling. She made her first stop under yellow on Lap 23, where the crew lowered the rear of the car and made air pressure adjustments. The team noted her rear tires were completely worn out, though not down to the cords. Now running in 37th was Stenhouse, whose crew made repairs following his trip through the grass on the backstretch. For a moment, that spot then fell to Riley Herbst, who fell from a stage point battle to 37th on Lap 24 in his #35 Monster Energy Zero Sugar Toyota. Then both Herbst and Legge passed John Hunter Nemechek, whose #42 Pye-Barker Fire & Safety Toyota incurred the first pit penalty of the day for crew members over the wall too soon.
On the Lap 25 restart, Nemechek lined up behind Bilicki, and both pulled to Legge’s right in a three-wide formation entering Turn 1. Legge dropped in behind both, retaking the last spot. The team’s adjustments seemed to help, and this time Legge remained less than a second behind Bilicki on Lap 28, 16.553 seconds back of the lead. “Your last lap was your best of the day,” she was told on Lap 29. Then on Lap 31, she again lost a few tenths after getting loose in the gathering marbles caused by the day’s accelerated tire wear. Further ahead, Stenhouse was again losing ground, and Legge was told she was running three-tenths faster than him on Lap 32. Then on Lap 37, the team reported her rear tires were wearing out in The Esses, and she was nearly four seconds back of 37th-place Bilicki. But the team also pointed out other drivers were falling off more than her, saying on Lap 39 she was running a tenth faster than Chase Elliott, who was struggling mid-pack with his three Hendrick Motorsports teammates.
Then on Lap 40, a huge downdraft hit the track, whipping through the infield near Turn 4 and sending at least one tent into the air. That tent and its contents landed beside the racing groove at the exit of The Esses, forcing the second caution of the day. With all 38 cars still running on the lead lap, Legge was repeatedly warned by her team to slow her entry to pit road, then stop, allowing the cars ahead of her to exit and avoid a collision. She did, completing her stop without incident, and on Lap 42 dropped Stenhouse to last place. Stenhouse was again receiving repairs, this time the crew looking under his hood before sending him out to catch the tail end of the field. Also catching up was Brad Keselowski, whose #6 Modelo Ford sped into Turn 10 so quickly that he ran in the back of Ty Dillon’s #10 Campers Inn RV Chevrolet, nearly knocking both cars into the run-off area. Keselowski locked his brakes and slowed enough to avoid a crash and got back in line for the restart.
When the green flag fell, Bilicki was briefly in last place until trouble broke out in the Bus Stop. As cars scattered through the chicane, Chris Buescher’s #17 BuildSubmarines.com Ford got in the back of William Byron’s #24 Liberty University Chevrolet, sending Byron spinning into traffic. Ryan Blaney jammed on the brakes of his #12 Menards / Libman Ford, but couldn’t avoid striking Byron’s car, bending a toe link on the #24, and Todd Gilliland spun his #34 Farm Rich Ford. The caution didn’t fall, so Blaney and Gilliland rejoined the field while Byron limped through Turn 5 driving diagonally. Bilicki cleared him for last place by the time he reached pit road for repairs. He shut off the engine for what turned out to be the final laps of Stage 2. On Lap 50, he refired his engine and returned to the track a full five laps down, the only driver off the lead lap. Gilliland had taken 37th after his spin, 61.409 seconds back of the lead.
The caution that ended Stage 2 gave Byron one of his laps back, putting him four down to the field. During the yellow, the team discussed completing their fix in the Damaged Vehicle Policy Zone in the garage area. They also checked to make sure the gate to the garage area was still open. On Lap 54, Byron pulled behind the wall and into Stall 5, where crew members complete a quick repair. Barely 30 seconds later, Byron was rolling again, returning to the track without losing another lap. He returned just as the field was preparing to restart, meaning he was now stranded and perhaps about to lose his fifth lap once again. But Byron stayed ahead of the leaders, then closed on the trailing Keselowski, who after his Lap 44 incident had splintered off the field into 37th, 39.192 seconds back of the lead. On Lap 57, Byron cleared the “Crash Clock,” and on Lap 59 was told he was running comparable lap times to leader Shane Van Gisbergen.
Logano didn’t enter the last-place battle until Lap 60, when he cut down a left-front tire on the frontstretch and swung wide into Turn 1, driving between the tire stacks arranged in the run-off zone. Logano re-entered the track at s sluggish pace, then started pouring smoke from his right-front, causing the tire to come apart by the time he reached the chicane. This drew the fourth caution of the race, allowing Byron to get one of his laps back and, along with 37th-place Keselowski, catch the tail end of the field. Logano made at least two stops under this caution, each time looking under the hood. Despite a pair of penalties for pitting on a closed pit road and too many crew members over the wall, he stayed on the lead lap until Lap 63, when the team told him they needed to go to the DVP Zone to keep from cutting down another tire. Byron, now three down, made his own stop that time by, and joined the field for the Lap 64 restart, when Logano lost his first lap to the field. By Lap 66, Byron had dropped Logano to last place.
In the garage, Logano reported his car felt like it was “wandering” on the track, a strikingly similar issue to fellow Ford driver Chad Finchum last week in Texas. The flat tire had also ripped out the brake lines, so Logano was instructed to press the brake pedal to help clear the system. “When I hit the brakes,” said Logano, “the car wanders, left or right, like I don't know where it's going to go.” Finally, on Lap 78, Logano re-fired his engine and returned to the track. By the time he was back up to speed, he was 16 laps down with the remainder of the field still under power. This included Legge, who was spun by a closing Bilicki entering Turn 5 and had since lost a lap in 36th. Legge was lapped on Lap 77, just before Van Gisbergen made his fateful final pit stop – she remained a lap down at the time, now to Ty Gibbs in the #54 Monster Energy Toyota. And with 12 laps to go, Logano was told he could make it to the finish on fuel.
Meanwhile, Cody Ware, whose #51 Jacob Construction Chevrolet had been battling toward the mid-pack late in the race, saw his day start to come undone. With nine to go, he was racing to the outside of Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. in Turn 10 when the two appeared to make contact, sending Ware sliding straight into the tire barriers. Ware slammed the wall with the left-front of his car, breaking a section of the armco barrier behind, and stopped short of the racing line. The caution didn’t fall, and he traveled the short distance to his pit stall, but in so doing sped through Sections 1 through 4, incurring a pass-through penalty. Ware returned to the track, only to blow a left-front tire in The Esses, forcing him to limp around the track a second time with his hood starting to come loose. Now two laps down with just seven laps to go, Ware made another stop, then returned to the track, where FS1’s cameras finally showed him driving off the pace in The Esses. With just five laps remaining, he pulled behind the wall and parked behind the team’s hauler, unable to serve the pass-through penalty.
When the checkered flag fell, Logano had closed within five laps of Ware, but no further, leaving Logano in last and Ware the day’s only retiree in 37th. Byron, Legge, and Bilicki completed the Bottom Five.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked Logano’s second last-place finish in a Cup Series race at Watkins Glen, which also was the only other last-place run for the #22 in a Cup race at the track. That was on August 5, 2018, when his #22 Shell / Pennzoil Ford suffered crash damage in Turn 5, ran wide in Turn 10, and pulled behind the wall after only one completed lap.
NUMBER OF DNFS IN ALL CUP POINTS RACES WHERE THE LPF FINISHED UNDER POWER
THE BOTTOM FIVE
38) #22-Joey Logano / 85 laps / running
37) #51-Cody Ware / 90 laps / crash
36) #24-William Byron / 97 laps / running
35) #78-Katherine Legge / 99 laps / running
34) #66-Josh Bilicki / 99 laps / running
2026 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Joe Gibbs Racing (3)
2nd) Hendrick Motorsports (2)
3rd) Garage 66, Kaulig Racing, Live Fast Motorsports, Rick Ware Racing, Trackhouse Racing, Wood Brothers Racing (1)
2026 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (6)
2nd) Toyota (3)
3rd) Ford (2)
2026 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
