February 26, 2026
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Chaos defined Sunday’s Daytona 500, and when the smoke cleared, Tyler Reddick stood alone in Victory Lane.
The 200-lap season opener quickly turned into a battle of survival at Daytona International Speedway, with multi-car crashes reshaping the field long before the closing laps. A nine-car incident on lap 86 foreshadowed the turbulence to come. On Lap 123, a larger wreck erupted on the front stretch, collecting nearly half the field and eliminating several front-runners in one sweeping moment.
By the time the race reached its final lap, attrition had narrowed the contenders, but the aggression only intensified. As a tightly packed lead group stormed toward the checkered flag, another crash unfolded behind the leaders. Reddick maneuvered through the turbulence and edged Ricky Stenhouse Jr. by 0.30 seconds to secure his first victory in NASCAR’s premier event.
“To be able to do it the way that we did and just be in the mix at the end is everything we could have asked for,” said Reddick. “I’m just really proud of how honest everyone at 23XI on my team and in the organization was with each other, having the tough conversations to kind of work this stuff out so that when we get into 2026, we’re not trying to fix 2025 into 2026.”
The win marked Reddick’s ninth career Cup Series victory; notably, each at a different track, and erased the sting of a winless 2025 campaign. Crew chief Billy Scott previously described last season as “less than desirable,” but Sunday’s performance reset the narrative for both driver and team.
The race featured 25 different leaders, setting a Daytona 500 record and underscoring the unpredictability of superspeedway racing. Among those who led or contended at various points were Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Chase Briscoe, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski. In total, 37 of the 41 cars were involved in at least one on-track incident.
“I mean, in the moment, it felt that way. But after watching the replay once or twice, it’s like, man, there’s a lot,” Reddick said. “It’s all very specific, but there was a lot of things that certain drivers did, whether it was Riley or whether it was Zane or even Chase that kind of set up the perfect scenario for me to do that.”
With the sport’s biggest race complete, the NASCAR Cup Series now shifts to the Autotrader 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway next Sunday. The 1.54-mile drafting-style oval has produced pack racing similar to Daytona in recent years, suggesting another unpredictable showdown may be ahead.
