NASCAR Cup Series
Race Results: 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500
Feb 15, 2026
Tyler Reddick went winless during a challenging 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season. He wasted no time ending that winless drought to start 2026.
Reddick survived a chaotic last lap - the only lap he led in the race - to win the 68th Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, adding his name to the prestigious list of winners of "The Great American Race."
A lap 193 caution involving the Joe Gibbs Racing teammates of Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell set up a late-race restart. Carson Hocevar led the field to the white flag, but spun exiting the tri-oval after a push from Erik Jones.
That opened the door for Chase Elliott to take the lead, with a push from Zane Smith. However, Tyler Reddick and his 23XI Racing teammate Riley Herbstcarried momentum out of the final corner. Reddick maneuvered to Elliott's left while another train of cars led by Brad Keselowski took the high lane.
Herbst attempted to pull in front of Keselowski, with contact between those two triggering an accident approaching the finish line. Reddick avoided the fray, racing across the finish line ahead of the snarling, crashing pack behind him.
Race Results: 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500
Coming off a winless 2025 season, motivation was at a high for Reddick and the No. 45 23XI Racing team entering the new season. Now, he is a Daytona 500 winner, along with 23XI Racing co-owner Michael Jordan.
"Last year was really hard for all of us, hard for me," said Reddick. "When you’re a Cup driver and you get to this level and drive for Michael Jordan, it’s expected you win every single year.
"For us to go on that drought we did made us look hard in the mirror, and really proud of everyone on our Chumba Casino Toyota Camry. Worked really hard in the off-season, and there was many points in this race where we weren’t making decisions we wanted to, but we just reset, and every opportunity we got to reset we went back at it."
While Reddick only led one lap in the race, he had cycled in front of the field during the final green-flag pit cycle. Only Michael McDowell, who stretched the fuel mileage on his No. 71 Spire Motorsports entry and stayed out during the final caution, remained in front when the yellow flag waved with seven to go.
"Yeah, we had the lead there when that caution came out, lined up next to McDowell, and we just kind of kept getting hung a couple times in the closing laps there," said Reddick about the closing laps. "Yeah, just every time we’d kind of break up, there would be nowhere left to go but to push, and they pushed me, obviously.
"My teammate Riley Herbst gave me a lot of pushes there and then tried to win the race for himself, as he should at the end there. Just incredible how it all played out. Just true Daytona madness."
Reddick becomes the 44th different winner of the Daytona 500 with Sunday's victory.
"Just speechless," said Reddick. "I didn’t know if I’d ever win this race. It’s surreal, honestly. Honestly, the best part is my son asked before this race, Are you finally going to win this race? Something about today just felt right.
"It’s going to be a long night if I’ve already lost my voice from screaming. Never thought I’d be Daytona 500 champion."
An ecstatic Jordan also added the Daytona 500 triumph to his growing list of accomplishments as a NASCAR team owner, including last year's Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with Bubba Wallace.
"I can’t even believe it," said Jordan. "It was so gratifying. We had four guys that were really fighting, helping each other out. You never know how these races are going to end. You just try to survive.
"I thought Riley [Herbst] did an unbelievable job pushing at the end. That shows you what teamwork can really, really do. He doesn’t get enough credit. He won’t get enough credit. But we feel the love. We understand exactly what he did.
"We hung in there all day. Great strategy by the team, and we gave ourselves a chance at the end. Look, I’m ecstatic. I don’t even know what to say. It feels like I won a championship, but until I get my ring, I won’t even know."
Stenhouse, Jr. finished second, followed by Joey Logano, Elliott and Keselowski.
The start time of Sunday's Daytona 500 was moved up by one hour with the threat of inclement weather in the forecast for Sunday evening at Daytona. While the skies grew dark nearing the end of the race, that decision proved to be a fruitful one, with the race's 200 laps ran to completion before rain arrived.
Reddick's win marks the first for Toyota in the Daytona 500 since Denny Hamlin's back-to-back victories in the event in 2019 and 2020.
William Byron entered the day seeking history as the first driver to win three consecutive Daytona 500s. Despite being involved in an early incident, Byron was in the mix in the closing laps before finishing 12th.
The NASCAR Cup Series returns to action on Sunday, February 22 at EchoPark Speedway for the Autotrader 400. The green flag is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET, with coverage on FOX, the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
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