Reddick came out of nowhere to win his first Daytona 500
The 2026 Daytona 500 lived up to the hype, as Tyler Reddick of 23Xl Racing took home the win after one of the most wild final laps you’ll ever see. The No. 45 Toyota Camry avoided a Carson Hocevar spin just seconds after the white flag dropped, then went from third to first coming out of turn four — passing Chase Elliott down the back straightaway for his first Daytona 500 victory. Sunday marked just the fourth time in Daytona 500 history that the winner didn’t lead until the final lap.
Reddick finished runner-up to William Byron in the Daytona 500 last year, but ran the gauntlet to emerge as the top dog in 2026. He gets team owner Michael Jordan to victory lane for the first time at the “Great American Race” just two days before his 63rd birthday.
It looked like this was Elliott’s race to win, as he entered the final turn as the leader with Zane Smith behind him. However, a push from teammate Riley Herbst helped propel Reddick to the biggest win of his career.
“I can’t even believe it. I mean it was so gratifying,” Michael Jordan said in victory lane. “I mean we had four guys that were really fighting, that were helping each other out. You never know how this race is going to end. It’s like we just try to survive. I thought Riley did an unbelievable job by pushing him at the end. That shows you what team work 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 just 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.”
Not everyone appreciated Herbst’s aggression at the end. Brad Keselowski of the No. 6 Ford, who raced Sunday despite breaking his femur eight weeks ago, was upset the No. 35 wrecked him right before the start/finish line
“He tore up the 9, tore up the 22, bunch of cars that didn’t deserve to be wrecked,” Keselowski told Fox after the race. “So that was a big bummer and really stupid, but still a decent day for us to come home with a top five and to be competitive and have a shot to win.”
Here are the unofficial results from the Daytona 500:
Final results
- Tyler Reddick, 45
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 47
- Joey Logano, 22
- Chase Elliott, 9
- Brad Keselowski, 6
- Zane Smith, 38
- Chris Buescher, 17
- Riley Herbst, 35
- Josh Berry, 21
- Bubba Wallace, 23
- Noah Gragson, 4
- William Byron, 24
- Daniel Suarez, 7
- Ty Dillon, 10
- Kyle Busch, 8
- Kyle Larson, 5
- Cody Ware, 51
- Carson Hocevar, 77
- AJ Allmendinger, 16
- Ross Chastain, 1
- Erik Jones, 43
- Michael McDowell, 71
- Ty Gibbs, 54
- Cole Custer, 41
- Ryan Preece, 60
- John H Nemechek, 42
- Ryan Blaney, 12
- Corey Heim, 67
- Jimmie Johnson, 84
- Shane van Gisbergen, 97
- Denny Hamlin, 11
- Casey Mears, 66
- Connor Zilisch, 88
- Austin Cindric, 2
- Christopher Bell, 20
- Chase Briscoe, 19
- Austin Dillon, 3
- Justin Allgaier, 40
- Todd Gilliland, 34
- Alex Bowman, 48
- BJ McLeod, 78