Tyler Reddick Wins Daytona 500 In Wild, Crash-Filled Final Lap

Tyler Reddick and 23XI Racing are Daytona 500 champions after Reddick worked his way around Chase Elliott coming to the checkered flag, and was able to narrowly avoid a carnage-filled finish that ensued.

Tyler Reddick marches toward the finish line to win the 2026 Daytona 500, as a crash erupts behind him for the runner-up position. | Ricky Martinez | Racing America On SI

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida -- Chase Elliott came off Turn 4 on the final lap of Sunday's Daytona 500 with the race lead and the win in sight. In seconds, he would join his legendary father, Bill Elliott, as a winner of NASCAR's biggest race. But it wasn't meant to be.

Related: 2026 Daytona 500 Race Results

Tyler Reddick would swoop in and steal the lead as Elliott would take a shot in the right-rear quarterpanel from Riley Herbst, which would send Elliott hard into the outside wall.

Reddick took his first Daytona 500 victory in one of the most electrifying finishes in the storied race's history, and he did it by leading just one lap -- the most important lap, the final one.

TYLER REDDICK WINS THE DAYTONA 500! pic.twitter.com/nOAjUM4Buu

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 15, 2026

"I'm just speechless. I didn't know if I'd ever win this race. It's just surreal, honestly," Reddick said in disbelief. "And honestly, the best part of it is my son asked before the race, 'Are you going to finally win this race?' Something about today just felt right."

As Reddick enjoyed the spoils of a Daytona 500 win, Elliott was left with a fourth-place finish.

"It was just, pretty disappointing. Like, I don't know what else to tell you other than we were leading the Daytona 500 coming off of Turn 4, coming to the checkered flag, and didn't win. You tell me," Elliott said at the infield care center when asked what went through his mind.

That's superspeedway racing. That's Daytona International Speedway.

Reddick, the 30-year-old driver of the No. 45 Toyota Camry XSE for 23XI Racing, a team co-owned by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin and was embroiled in a public lawsuit against NASCAR in the offseason, have just months later scored the win in the most prestigious race in NASCAR.

Jordan, a six-time NBA champion, was elated in victory lane, and said his team winning the Daytona 500 felt like a championship win.

"Look, I'm ecstatic, I mean, 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," Jordan said.

And Reddick, who suffered through health issues with his youngest son, Rookie, and battled through a frustrating winless season last year, has etched his name in the books alongside some of the sport's all-time greats like Richard Petty, a seven-time Daytona 500 winner, and Dale Earnhardt, who took his only victory in this race after 20 years of trying in 1998.

"I know. Last year was really hard for all of us, hard for me," Reddick said in his victory interview on FOX. "When you're a Cup driver, and you get to this level, and you drive for Michael Jordan, you know, it's expected that you win every single year. And for us to go on that drought that we did made us look really hard in the mirror. Just really proud of everyone on our Chumba Casino Toyota Camry."

While it was crystal-clear that Reddick had scored the race win, the ninth of his NASCAR Cup Series career, the remainder of the top-five finishers were relegated to a trip to the infield care center. After the smoke cleared, and the scoring pylon became visible again, it was Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who claimed the runner-up finish, narrowly missing out on his second career Daytona 500 victory.

Joey Logano, who thought his shot to win was over down the backstretch, was able to finish third, with his eyes closed, as he crashed across the finish line.

Elliott finished a disappointing fourth, and Brad Keselowski was credited with a fifth-place finish. Both drivers took exception to moves made by Riley Herbst, the eighth-place finisher, in the final dash to the line, as they both felt Herbst crashed them.

Zane Smith, who was pushing Elliott on the final lap, before he seemingly chose to back up in a failed effort to pick up drafting help from Reddick to get a surge past Elliott for the win, would finish sixth ahead of Chris Buescher, Herbst, Josh Berry, and Bubba Wallace, who rounded out the top-10 finishers in the race.

William Byron came into the weekend seeking a record third consecutive Daytona 500 win, and came up shy in his bid with a 12th-place finish. However, considering Byron had to go to a backup car following a crash in the Duels, and suffered from a couple of incidents into the outside wall during the race, the day could have ended up much worse for the Hendrick Motorsports driver than a 12th-place result.

When the field took the white flag, Spire Motorsports teammates Carson Hocevar, looking for his first career win, and Michael McDowell, 2021 Daytona 500 champion, were leading the frenzied pack of cars. However, going into Turn 1, Hocevar attempted to block a run to the outside by Erik Jones, Jones didn't lift, and it sent Hocevar into the outside wall.

Hocevar would spin to the inside of the track, as would Jones, and would collect McDowell in the process. Hocevar would finish 18th, Jones 21st, and McDowell 22nd.

The 2026 Daytona 500, which was threatened late by impending inclement weather, was able to reach its full scheduled distance before the rain arrived in Daytona Beach. The race featured 65 lead changes among 25 different leaders, and the race was slowed for caution five times for a total of 32 laps.

The most notable crash of the day was a 17-car melee, which served as the end of the race's second Stage, which was brought on by an errant move made by Justin Allgaier, the leader of the race at the time, on the frontstretch.

Zane Smith scored his first-career Stage Win as he took the checkered flag in the first Stage of the afternoon, and Bubba Wallace scored the Stage 2 win.

With his race win, Tyler Reddick will begin his 2026 NASCAR Cup Series championship fight with the point lead, as he scored 58 points on the day. With 25 races remaining in the regular-season, Reddick holds a 17-point advantage over Zane Smith, the driver of the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford.

Next up for the NASCAR Cup Series is the Autotrader 400 at EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, GA. That race is scheduled for Sunday, February 22, and will be televised on FOX with the television coverage set to begin at 3:00 PM ET. The Performance Racing Network (PRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio broadcast of the event.

*This story will be updated with quotes and race results*