Tyler Reddick, driver of the #45 Chumba Casino Toyota, poses for a photo during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 11, 2026 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
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NASCAR News: Tyler Reddick wins 2026 Daytona 500 wreckfest

Posted by AR1 staff

After going winless in 2025, Tyler Reddick (pictured) became the first Cup Series driver to win in 2026 as the No. 45 23XI Racing driver took the checkered flag in the 68th running of the Daytona 500, and it was your typical Daytona wreckfest. It marks the first “Great American Race” victory for co-owners Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Hell of a few months for Michael Jordan. After completely changing the sport’s economics by taking NASCAR to court (and forcing an antitrust settlement), his driver Tyler Reddick now wins the Daytona 500…right before his 63rd birthday on Tuesday.

There were several major wrecks throughout the annual February Wreckfest, and involved 20 cars-half the field. In typical Daytona fashion, chaos broke loose on the final lap as leader Carson Hocevar wrecked entering Turn 1 after contact with Erik Jones. The No. 43 Legacy Motor Club spun himself and took Hocevar’s Spire Motorsports teammate Michael McDowell with him.

The drivers left racing for the win were Reddick, three-time champion Joey Logano, 2020 Cup champion Chase Elliott, 2023 Daytona 500 winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Zane Smith.

Elliott held the lead off Turn 4 but Reddick and Riley Herbst passed Elliott and Smith on the outside, and Reddick was the last driver standing heading to the start/finish line. Elliott, Logano, Smith, Herbst and Brad Keselowski all crashed behind him, leaving Reddick unchallenged at the very end for the win.

Unofficially, Stenhouse, Logano, Elliott and Keselowski rounded out the top five. Smith, Chris Buescher, Herbst, Josh Berry and Bubba Wallace completed the top 10.

Chasing a third consecutive Daytona 500 victory, William Byron fell short with a 13th-place result, but found himself in the mix on a restart with four laps to go, but Daytona being a total crapshoot, it just did not work out..

More to follow…………………

The Cup Series heads to Atlanta’s EchoPark Speedway next Sunday for the Autotrader 400.

Tyler Reddick Quotes

2026 Daytina 500 winner Tyler Reddick

Tyler, last year, what a year for you. I know you were disappointed. I know you had things going on with your baby boy physically. The team and NASCAR, to get here right now in this moment, you’re a Daytona 500 champion.

TYLER REDDICK: I know. Last year was really hard for all of us, hard for me. 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.

Just speechless. 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.

Take us through that last lap. You were by yourself, no teammate help around you. Suddenly you were there when it counted most.

TYLER REDDICK: Yeah, I keep looking for my wife and my kids. They’ll be here at some point, I’m sure. Maybe they’re taking a nap.

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. 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.

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.

Michael Jordan Quotes

Sir, you are a Daytona 500 champion. How does that sound?

MICHAEL JORDAN: I can’t even believe it. 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 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.

What size ring do you wear?

MICHAEL JORDAN: Size 13.

2026 Daytona 500 Results

Pos No. Start Driver Laps Led Status Points
1 26 26 Tyler Reddick 200 1 Running 58
2 16 16 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 200 4 Running 35
3 3 3 Joey Logano 200 9 Wrecked 36
4 4 4 Chase Elliott 200 2 Wrecked 33
5 9 9 Brad Keselowski 200 0 Wrecked 32
6 30 30 Zane Smith 200 9 Wrecked 41
7 41 41 Chris Buescher 200 4 Running 39
8 28 28 Riley Herbst 200 0 Wrecked 35
9 14 14 Josh Berry 200 1 Running 28
10 27 27 Bubba Wallace 200 39 Running 37
11 25 25 Noah Gragson 200 0 Running 27
12 39 39 William Byron 200 0 Running 25
13 15 15 Daniel Suarez 200 0 Running 31
14 34 34 Ty Dillon 200 3 Running 23
15 1 1 Kyle Busch 200 19 Running 29
16 8 8 Kyle Larson 200 7 Damaged 21
17 33 33 Cody Ware 200 2 Running 20
18 6 6 Carson Hocevar 200 1 Running 27
19 35 35 A.J. Allmendinger 200 1 Running 18
20 37 37 Ross Chastain 200 12 Running 17
21 24 24 Erik Jones 200 0 Running 16
22 10 10 Michael McDowell 200 10 Wrecked 19
23 20 20 Ty Gibbs 200 0 Running 14
24 23 23 Cole Custer 200 0 Running 13
25 19 19 Ryan Preece 200 0 Running 15
26 11 11 John Hunter Nemechek 199 19 Wrecked 19
27 5 5 Ryan Blaney 199 2 Wrecked 27
28 29 29 Corey Heim 199 8 Running 0
29 31 31 Jimmie Johnson 199 0 Wrecked 8
30 13 13 Shane van Gisbergen 199 3 Wrecked 7
31 22 22 Denny Hamlin 198 4 Wrecked 6
32 17 17 Casey Mears 195 0 Wrecked 5
33 32 32 Connor Zilisch 195 0 Wrecked 4
34 36 36 Austin Cindric 193 5 Wrecked 12
35 12 12 Christopher Bell 191 9 Wrecked 2
36 2 2 Chase Briscoe 188 23 Wrecked 1
37 7 7 Austin Dillon 137 0 Wrecked 1
38 40 40 Justin Allgaier 123 3 Wrecked 0
39 18 18 Todd Gilliland 123 1 Wrecked 1
40 21 21 Alex Bowman 123 0 Wrecked 3
41 38 38 B.J. McLeod 4 0 Wrecked 0

**Race Notes**
– **Winner**: Tyler Reddick (23XI Racing)
– **Margin of Victory**: 0.308 seconds
– **Total Laps**: 200
– **Date**: February 15, 2026