2026 Daytona 500 Recap: Reddick Wins From 26th as the Last Lap Sorts It Out

Tyler Reddick started 26th, led one lap, and won the Daytona 500 while the field sorted itself out around him.

The Short Version

Tyler Reddick took the lead with 200 feet to go and held on as a last-lap crash swept up most of the contenders behind him. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. crossed second, 0.308 seconds back — also caught by the same crash, just not in time to change the result. The race wasn’t decided by speed alone. It was decided by who was still standing when the smoke cleared.

What Happened

Kyle Busch led from the outside on the green flag and the field went to work sorting itself into lanes. The No. 8 held the front early, which felt like a statement. Plate racing has a way of making those statements complicated.

Lap 5 brought the first caution when McLeod’s No. 78 got loose in turn 4 and collected several cars, including Reddick’s No. 45. Reddick escaped without damage — the first of many close calls he’d navigate through a long afternoon.

Zane Smith won Stage 1 for his first career stage win. That’s a moment worth flagging. It got buried by everything that followed, but winning a stage at Daytona in the season opener is a real result for a driver building toward something.

Then lap 124 happened. Hamlin’s No. 11 and the No. 40 made contact in the tri-oval and triggered the race’s defining wreck — 20 cars collected in one shot. The No. 1, 2, 5, 8, 12, 22, 24, 35, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 48, 54, 71, 97 were all involved to varying degrees. Half the field, in one incident. Some of them had legitimate shots at winning before that caution. That’s plate racing — it doesn’t ask permission.

Bubba Wallace won Stage 2 on lap 130 after leading 40 laps on the day. He drove a strong race and put himself in contention. The finish didn’t reflect it, but he was there.

The final 70 laps ran green and turned into a positioning exercise. Reddick kept himself clean and in the top five. Lap 192 brought another caution — Bell and Hamlin made contact — setting up one final restart with everything on the line.

The last lap was chaos. Jones bumped Hocevar in the tri-oval, Hocevar spun, and a chain reaction swept up more than a dozen cars. Elliott’s No. 9 came through the smoke leading on the backstretch. He had a clear shot at the finish. Then Reddick got a run in turn 4, moved from third to alongside Elliott entering the tri-oval, and pulled ahead at the stripe as another crash — collecting Keselowski, Herbst, Logano, Elliott, and Stenhouse — ended the race for the cars behind him.

Reddick crossed first. Stenhouse second by 0.308 seconds.

The Defining Moment

Lap 200, turn 4. Elliott had the lead and clean air. Reddick went three-wide on the outside and pulled ahead before the checkered flag. That’s 199 laps of patience and positioning cashing in on one move when a lane opened. Everything else was setup.

The One That Got Away

Chase Elliott. He drove a clean race, survived the lap 124 wreck, and came out of the final-lap chaos leading on the backstretch with a clear path to win. Reddick’s run from turn 4 was just too fast to hold off, and then the crash behind him ended any chance at second. Fourth place, 0.477 seconds from the lead. Those are the breaks at Daytona — the sport just doesn’t always pay out what it owes.

Numbers That Matter

• Winner: Tyler Reddick (No. 45, 23XI Racing, Toyota)
• Margin of Victory: 0.308 seconds
• Starting Position: 26th
• Laps Led: 1 — the last one
• Cautions: 5 for 32 laps
• Lead Changes: 65 among 25 leaders
• Notable DNFs: Austin Dillon (lap 137), Justin Allgaier (lap 123), Alex Bowman (lap 123), Todd Gilliland (lap 123), BJ McLeod (lap 4)

Take

Reddick winning this race from 26th is the kind of result that reminds you why the Daytona 500 is different from every other race on the calendar. It’s not always the fastest car. It’s not always the driver who led the most laps. It’s the one who puts themselves in position to make one move at the end, and then makes it. That’s what Reddick did, and it’s genuinely fun to watch when it comes together like that.

The lap 124 caution changed the race completely. Twenty cars in one wreck — that’s the reality of running 40 cars at 200 mph in close quarters for 500 miles. Some of those drivers had been flawless all afternoon. It didn’t matter. That’s not a knock on any of them — it’s just how Daytona works sometimes, and it’s part of what makes this race unlike anything else.

Bubba Wallace led 40 laps and finished 10th. He was fast, he was aggressive, and he put himself in position to win. The result didn’t match the effort, but the performance was there. That’s a driver who can compete at this level.

Stenhouse finishing second is a tough one. He had the speed to win and was right there at the flag. Getting swept up in that final crash after running so strong all day is a hard way to close out a race he was very much in. He’ll be back.

And Jimmie Johnson finished 29th in the No. 84. Seven championships, back at Daytona. Whatever the result, watching him on track is something any NASCAR fan can appreciate.

Notes

• Corey Heim ran as an invitational driver in the No. 67 and finished 28th, one lap down. Clean race from a young driver on one of the hardest tracks to manage.
• Carson Hocevar turned the fastest lap of the day at 197.438 mph on lap 108, then got spun on lap 200 to trigger the final crash. Rough ending to a strong performance.
• Noah Gragson’s No. 4 ran low on fuel on the backstretch after Stage 1 and needed a push from Josh Berry to make it back to pit road. He finished 11th — a solid recovery.
• Reddick’s team made six pit stops in 200 laps with no mistakes. That kind of execution on a day this chaotic doesn’t happen by accident.
• After 65 lead changes among 25 different drivers, the winner led exactly one lap.