NASCAR sends Joey Logano, Todd Gilliland to the rear of Cook Out 400 at Richmond

Today is going to be a little more difficult for Joey Logano and Todd Gilliland at Richmond Raceway in the NASCAR Cup Series race. The Cook Out 400 tonight is going to help set the playoff picture ahead of the regular season finale at Daytona next week.

Joey Logano had a right front tire go down in practice and hit the Turn 4 wall on Friday. So, the move to the rear was expected. For Todd Gilliland, this will take him from P31 in practice to the rear. Not a big change, all things considered.

Logano and Gilliland to the rear. Tonight’s race at Richmond will be interesting to watch. Will these tires hold up on the track?

Logano and Gilliland to the rear for adjustments.

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) August 16, 2025

Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports reports that Todd Gilliland’s team is working on a throttle body issue. Perhaps the reason the team failed to qualify well on Friday.

Gilliland team working on the throttle body. Logano obviously had suspension repairs. https://t.co/wQCZC5T5nz

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) August 16, 2025

Last year at Richmond, Joey Logano had taken the lead on a late-race restart. Austin Dillon, who dominated the race for the night, wrecked Logano in a bump-and-run turned hit-and-run on his way to also hooking Denny Hamlin for the win. This year, Logano is starting from the back and will have a very long day if he hopes to try and steal another win.

Gilliland is hoping to earn another top-20 finish at Richmond. It is a track that he has had some success on in the last few years. This season has not gone great for Gilliland, who is 31st in points and has only three top-10 finishes. He has only one finish better than P22 since the Coca-Cola 600.

Joey Logano recalls last year’s Richmond finish

Last season, Austin Dillon went buck wild and wrecked not one but two other cars on his way to the win at Richmond Raceway. While NASCAR let the win stand, they took his playoff eligibility from that win, meaning Dillon and RCR lost out on millions in end-of-the-year payments.

Joey Logano was the first car that Dillon wrecked. The 22 had taken the lead on the late restart, had a good lead on the 3 car, and that’s when Dillon sent it in from four car lengths back to slam into Logano.

Ahead of this year’s Richmond race, Logano was asked if he had rewatched the race. He did.

“I did… it made me mad again. The result didn’t change, unfortunately,” Logano told Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports on Friday.