Tyler Reddick is a Daytona 500 champion.
Reddick passed Chase Elliott exiting Turn 4 on the final lap at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday to win his first Daytona 500. Reddick drives for 23XI Racing, the team co-owned by Michael Jordan. It’s the first Daytona win for both Reddick and 23XI Racing.
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Reddick passed Elliott, who then crashed into the outside wall before the finish line after Riley Herbst got turned into the wall.
Carson Hocevar was leading when the final lap began, but he too ended up crashed and into the outside wall.
Take a look at how all the chaos unfolded.
“I didn’t know if I’d ever win this race, it’s surreal, honestly,” Reddick said.
Reddick was fourth when the final lap began but somehow avoided the wreck that took out Hocevar. He then ended up behind Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Chase Elliott on the backstretch as Zane Smith pushed Elliott to the lead.
But Elliott was hung out to dry in the final two corners. Reddick got a push from his teammate Herbst after zooming around Zane Smith and went around Elliott before the crash happened behind him as he took the checkered flag.
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The final lap was the only lap Reddick led all day.
William Byron entered the race looking to become the first driver to win three Daytona 500s in a row. He was caught up in an early wreck when BJ McLeod had a parts failure on his right rear wheel, but was in position to steal another victory late in the race.
However, Byron was slowed by the wreck that included Hocevar and ended up out of contention for the win.
Though Byron’s streak is over, Reddick’s win continues a streak of Daytona 500 winners who haven’t led many laps in their wins.
Over the last six 500s, Austin Cindric’s 21 laps led in 2022 are the most of any winner. Byron led just 14 total laps in his two wins, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. led 10 laps in 2023 and Michael McDowell only led the final lap in 2021.
DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 15: Michael Jordan, NBA Hall of Famer and co-owner of 23XI Racing reacts in victory lane after Tyler Reddick, driver of the #45 Chumba Casino Toyota, wins the NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2026 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
(Chris Graythen via Getty Images)
Another NASCAR victory for Michael Jordan
Reddick’s win comes two days before Jordan’s 63rd birthday.
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“I’m ecstatic, I don’t even know what to say. It feels like I won a championship but until I get a ring I won’t even know,” Jordan told Fox after the race.
Jordan became a NASCAR team owner in 2021 when he went in with Denny Hamlin to form 23XI Racing. The team hired Bubba Wallace to drive the No. 23 car and has expanded to three cars with Reddick and Herbst while also fielding a fourth entry on Sunday for Corey Heim.
Just two months earlier, Jordan and Hamlin scored a massive legal victory over NASCAR. The team, along with Front Row Motorsports, sued NASCAR over the sanctioning body’s franchising system. The lawsuit made it all the way to trial, where the two parties finally settled after the trial began.
The settlement was a clear win for the plaintiffs — 23XI and Front Row wanted permanent charters, which are essentially NASCAR’s version of franchises. NASCAR was relenting. But NASCAR gave permanent charters as part of the settlement and the parties also agreed to financial compensation before a jury was needed to reach a verdict.
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After the settlement was announced, NASCAR chairman Jim France and Jordan presented a united front about how the settlement would push NASCAR forward. On Sunday, France was there in victory lane with a hearty handshake to congratulate Jordan and the team after the win.
The green-flag run to the finish was 4 laps
The third stage was caution-free until a late crash with less than 10 laps to go after nearly the entire field had made a pit stop.
Christopher Bell hit the wall after contact from Corey Heim to bring out the yellow flag. Before that crash, only one driver — Michael McDowell — hadn’t pitted.
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McDowell was trying to get to the end of the 200-lap race after last pitting on lap 134 on the 2.5-mile track. It was a Herculean task. But he inherited the lead after the caution and was in position to fight for the win until he was collected in Hocevar’s crash.
It was clear that NASCAR wanted a green-flag finish to the race when it didn’t throw a caution for the first wreck on the final lap. Per NASCAR rules, the field is frozen at the time of caution on the final lap; whoever would have been in first when the caution was triggered would have been the winner.
Would that have led to an unsatisfying ending for a lot of fans? Probably. But was the racing that ensued after the crash any more satisfying? Since 2018, the Daytona 500 has either ended with a caution or a crash on the final lap or a two-lap green-white-checkered finish because of another late caution every season.
Two big crashes in the second stage
Before the final lap, most of the crashing took place in the second stage, when a 20-car pileup at the front of the field thanks to a bad block by Justin Allgaier triggered mayhem in the tri-oval.
Laps before that, another crash was triggered in the tri-oval after contact among Allgaier, Connor Zilisch and Cody Ware led to a wreck.
Unofficial results
1. Tyler Reddick
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2. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
3. Joey Logano
4. Chase Elliott
5. Brad Keselowski
6. Zane Smith
7. Chris Buescher
8. Riley Herbst
9. Josh Berry
10. Bubba Wallace
11. Noah Gragson
12. William Byron
13. Daniel Suarez
14. Ty Dillon
15. Kyle Busch
16. Kyle Larson
17. Cody Ware
18. Carson Hocevar
19. AJ Allmendinger
20. Ross Chastain
21. Erik Jones
22. Michael McDowell
23. Ty Gibbs
24. Cole Custer
25. Ryan Preece
26. John Hunter Nemechek
27. Ryan Blaney
28. Corey Heim
29. Jimmie Johnson
30. Shane van Gisbergen
31. Denny Hamlin
32. Casey Mears
33. Connor Zilisch
34. Austin Cindric
35. Christopher Bell
36. Chase Briscoe
37. Austin Dillon
38. Justin Allgaier
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39. Todd Gilliland
40. Alex Bowman
41. BJ McLeod
