The 2026 Window World 450 at North Wilkesboro Speedway

     For the first time in years, North Wilkesboro has its own points race. Not only that, but it's the race that will decide which two drivers will go against each other in Indianapolis for the In-Season Challenge Finale. The bracket has Chase Elliott going up against Todd Gilliland, and Ryan Blaney up against Christopher Bell. Let's see who will be in the fight to earn $1,000,000.   

     Ty Gibbs, who had started on pole after Ryan Blaney went to the rear, led the first 40 laps until the yellow flag came out when the 42 of John Hunter Nemechek lost control in turn 2. Then the last person you would expect to be leading on an oval was at the front of the pack-yes, I'm talking about SVG. Actually, it looked as if he was going to win the stage until Ty Gibbs pulled an epic last lap pass to win the first stage.

     Logano and SVG had a good battle at the start of the stage, but the 22 eventually prevailed. Logano kept a strong lead over the second-place car, Chase Elliott. That was until the caution came out on lap 183 for Alex Bowman and Tyler Reddick spinning on the backstretch. The 48 came across the nose of Reddick when trying to get to pit road from the top lane, of all places. Which caused both cars to spin toward the entrance of pit road. Then, just a few laps later, Berry spun after contact from Bell. After that, Logano would go on to win the second stage.

     The 22 led the field to green for the third and final stage and maintained that lead all the way up until green flag pit stops. Logano had a good pit stop and by the end of the cycle, he was back up into the lead, but he had a hard charging Denny Hamlin behind him, while having to navigate through lap traffic. Lucky for Logano there were no yellow flags, but there was the 22 car in victory lane.

     So, you guys probably want to know who is advancing to the In-Season Challenge finale. Well, here it is:

Chase Elliott vs Todd Gilliand 

          17th                    8th

Ryan Blaney vs Christopher Bell

          11th                    19th

Blaney vs Gilliland. That was the exact opposite of what I thought was going to happen. We'll see next week which one of these drivers will go home with $1,000,000.