The 2026 Cook Out 400 was a NASCAR Cup Series race that was held on August 15, 2026, at Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Virginia. Contested over 400 laps on the D-shaped oval, it was the 24th race of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Joey Logano won the race. Chase Briscoe finished 2nd, and Austin Cindric finished 3rd. Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott rounded out the top five, and Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Josh Berry, William Byron, and Alex Bowman rounded out the top ten.
Report
Background
Richmond Raceway (RR) is a 0.75 miles (1.21 km), D-shaped, asphalt race track located just outside Richmond, Virginia in unincorporated Henrico County. It hosts the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Known as "America's premier short track", it has formerly hosted events such as the International Race of Champions, Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown, and the USAC sprint car series. Due to Richmond Raceway's unique "D" shape which allows drivers to reach high speeds, Richmond has long been known as a short track that races like a superspeedway. With its multiple racing grooves, and proclivity for contact Richmond is a favorite among NASCAR drivers and fans.
Entry list (R) denotes rookie driver. (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.
Driver Team Manufacturer 1 Ross Chastain Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 2 Austin Cindric Team Penske Ford 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 4 Noah Gragson Front Row Motorsports Ford 5 Kyle Larson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 6 Brad Keselowski RFK Racing Ford 7 Daniel Suárez Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 10 Ty Dillon Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 16 A. J. Allmendinger Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 17 Chris Buescher RFK Racing Ford 19 Chase Briscoe Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 20 Christopher Bell Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 21 Josh Berry Wood Brothers Racing Ford 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 23 Bubba Wallace 23XI Racing Toyota 24 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 33 Austin Hill (i) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 34 Todd Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 35 Riley Herbst 23XI Racing Toyota 38 Zane Smith Front Row Motorsports Ford 41 Cole Custer Haas Factory Team Ford 42 John Hunter Nemechek Legacy Motor Club Toyota 43 Erik Jones Legacy Motor Club Toyota 45 Tyler Reddick 23XI Racing Toyota 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet 48 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 51 Cody Ware Rick Ware Racing Ford 54 Ty Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 60 Ryan Preece RFK Racing Ford 66 Josh Bilicki (i) Garage 66 Ford 71 Michael McDowell Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 77 Carson Hocevar Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 88 Connor Zilisch (R) Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 97 Shane van Gisbergen Trackhouse Racing ChevroletOfficial entry list
Practice Daniel Suárez was the fastest in the practice session with a time of 22.889 seconds and a speed of .
Practice results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 7 Daniel Suárez Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 22.889 117.960 2 43 Erik Jones Legacy Motor Club Toyota 22.890 117.955 3 2 Austin Cindric Team Penske Ford 22.905 117.878 Official practice results
Qualifying Ryan Blaney scored the pole for the race with a time of 22.225 and a speed of .
Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 22.225 121.485 2 19 Chase Briscoe Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 22.275 121.212 3 21 Josh Berry Wood Brothers Racing Ford 22.281 121.179 4 54 Ty Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 22.295 121.103 5 24 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 22.347 120.822 6 60 Ryan Preece RFK Racing Ford 22.435 120.348 7 23 Bubba Wallace 23XI Racing Toyota 22.450 120.267 8 20 Christopher Bell Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 22.459 120.219 9 6 Brad Keselowski RFK Racing Ford 22.491 120.048 10 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 22.495 120.027 11 88 Connor Zilisch (R) Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 22.510 119.947 12 42 John Hunter Nemechek Legacy Motor Club Toyota 22.514 119.925 13 9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 22.524 119.872 14 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 22.532 119.830 15 16 A. J. Allmendinger Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 22.546 119.755 16 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 22.575 119.601 17 35 Riley Herbst 23XI Racing Toyota 22.577 119.591 18 1 Ross Chastain Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 22.579 119.580 19 17 Chris Buescher RFK Racing Ford 22.606 119.437 20 7 Daniel Suárez Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 22.622 119.353 21 43 Erik Jones Legacy Motor Club Toyota 22.631 119.305 22 77 Carson Hocevar Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 22.632 119.300 23 2 Austin Cindric Team Penske Ford 22.655 119.179 24 38 Zane Smith Front Row Motorsports Ford 22.665 119.126 25 48 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 22.684 119.027 26 71 Michael McDowell Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 22.690 118.995 27 34 Todd Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 22.712 118.880 28 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet 22.724 118.817 29 41 Cole Custer Haas Factory Team Chevrolet 22.726 118.807 30 5 Kyle Larson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 22.742 118.723 31 97 Shane van Gisbergen Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 22.773 118.561 32 45 Tyler Reddick 23XI Racing Toyota 22.776 118.546 33 33 Austin Hill (i) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 22.780 118.525 34 10 Ty Dillon Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 22.789 118.478 35 4 Noah Gragson Front Row Motorsports Ford 22.858 118.121 36 66 Josh Bilicki (i) Garage 66 Ford 23.302 115.870 37 51 Cody Ware Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 0.000 0.000 Official qualifying results
Race
Race results
Stage Results
Stage One Laps: 70
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Points1 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 102 19 Chase Briscoe Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 93 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 84 2 Austin Cindric Team Penske Ford 75 21 Josh Berry Wood Brothers Racing Ford 66 23 Bubba Wallace 23XI Racing Toyota 57 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 48 20 Christopher Bell Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 39 9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 210 24 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 1
Stage Two Laps: 160
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Points1 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 102 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 93 19 Chase Briscoe Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 84 2 Austin Cindric Team Penske Ford 75 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 66 21 Josh Berry Wood Brothers Racing Ford 57 9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 48 20 Christopher Bell Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 39 45 Tyler Reddick 23XI Racing Toyota 210 24 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 1
Final Stage Results
Stage Three Laps: 170
Pos Grid Driver Team Manufacturer Laps Points1 10 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 400 73 2 2 19 Chase Briscoe Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 400 52 3 23 2 Austin Cindric Team Penske Ford 400 48 4 14 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 400 46 5 13 9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 400 38 6 30 5 Kyle Larson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 400 31 7 8 20 Christopher Bell Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 400 36 8 3 21 Josh Berry Wood Brothers Racing Ford 400 40 9 5 24 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 400 30 10 25 48 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 400 27 11 32 45 Tyler Reddick 23XI Racing Toyota 400 28 12 18 1 Ross Chastain Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 399 25 13 1 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 399 41 14 31 97 Shane van Gisbergen Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 399 23 15 4 54 Ty Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 399 22 16 20 7 Daniel Suárez Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 399 21 17 6 60 Ryan Preece RFK Racing Ford 398 20 18 35 4 Noah Gragson Front Row Motorsports Ford 398 19 19 16 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 398 18 20 7 23 Bubba Wallace 23XI Racing Toyota 398 22 21 19 17 Chris Buescher RFK Racing Ford 398 16 22 12 42 John Hunter Nemechek Legacy Motor Club Toyota 398 15 23 33 33 Austin Hill (i) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 397 0 24 17 35 Riley Herbst 23XI Racing Toyota 397 13 25 11 88 Connor Zilisch (R) Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 397 12 26 9 6 Brad Keselowski RFK Racing Ford 397 11 27 21 43 Erik Jones Legacy Motor Club Toyota 396 10 28 26 71 Michael McDowell Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 396 9 29 29 41 Cole Custer Haas Factory Team Chevrolet 396 8 30 27 34 Todd Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 396 7 31 28 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet 396 6 32 34 10 Ty Dillon Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 394 5 33 15 16 A. J. Allmendinger Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 394 4 34 37 51 Cody Ware Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 392 3 35 36 66 Josh Bilicki (i) Garage 66 Ford 391 0 36 24 38 Zane Smith Front Row Motorsports Ford 366 1 37 22 77 Carson Hocevar Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 280 1Official race results
Race statistics Lead changes: 29 among 10 different drivers Cautions/Laps: 4 for 31 Red flags: 0 Time of race: 3 hours, 3 minutes and 2 seconds Average speed:
Media
Television USA covered the race on the television side. Leigh Diffey, Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte called the race from the broadcast booth. Dave Burns, Kim Coon, and Marty Snider handled pit road, while Trevor Bayne provided analysis from the pace car for the television side.
USABooth announcersPit reportersPace car Lap-by-lap: Leigh DiffeyColor-commentator: Jeff BurtonColor-commentator: Steve Letarte Dave BurnsKim CoonMarty Snider Trevor Bayne
Radio The Motor Racing Network had the radio call for the race, which was also simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Alex Hayden, Mike Bagley and Todd Gordon called the race from the broadcast booth for MRN when the field races through the front straightaway. Dave Moody called the race from a platform when the field races down the backstraightaway. MRN Lead Pit Reporter Steve Post, Jacklyn Drake and Jason Toy called the action for MRN from pit lane.
MRN RadioBooth announcersTurn announcerPit reporters Lead announcer: Alex HaydenAnnouncer: Mike BagleyAnnouncer: Todd Gordon Backstretch: Dave Moody Steve PostJacklyn DrakeJason Toy
Standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Denny Hamlin 969 1 2 Ryan Blaney 854 (–115) 1 3 Ty Gibbs 842 (–127) 4 Tyler Reddick 831 (–138) 5 Chase Briscoe 715 (–254) 1 6 Chase Elliott 695 (–274) 1 7 Christopher Bell 695 (–274) 2 8 Kyle Larson 660 (–309) 4 9 Joey Logano 659 (–310) 1 10 Chris Buescher 653 (–316) 3 11 Carson Hocevar 645 (–324) 1 12 William Byron 630 (–339) 1 13 Daniel Suárez 618 (–351) 14 Bubba Wallace 587 (–382) 1 15 Austin Cindric 574 (–395) 1 16 Shane van Gisbergen 567 (–402)Official driver's standings
Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Toyota 1,107 2 Chevrolet 928 (–179) 3 Ford 855 (–252)
Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings. . – Driver has clinched a position in the Cup Series Chase.
References