By David Morgan, Associate Editor
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Redemption.
After last season saw Tyler Reddick slog through the longest winless streak of his career since joining 23XI Racing, the driver of the No. 45 Toyota has started the 2026 in the biggest way possible with a win in Sunday’s 68th running of the Daytona 500.
“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,” said Reddick.
“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.”
In addition, it was a season of off-track turmoil as well with 23XI embroiled in a heated lawsuit with NASCAR as they fought over the charter agreement and what they believed were unfavorable terms for the teams.
23XI would ultimately win out in the courtroom as they, along with co-plaintiff Front Row Motorsports, were able to come to a settlement with the sanctioning body in the form of evergreen charters for all of the teams.
With that behind them, they rolled into Daytona with four horses to battle for the 500 and in the end, came home victorious.
“I can’t even believe it. It was so gratifying,” 23XI co-owner Michael Jordan said. “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.”
How It Happened
We HAVE to take another look at the final lap of the Daytona 500. pic.twitter.com/1sAaD5FZM4
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 15, 2026
After a caution flag with nine laps to go bunched the field up for a final dash to the checkered, it was anyone’s guess who was going to come out on top with Michael McDowell, Reddick, Carson Hocevar, two-time and defending 500 champion William Byron and Brad Keselowski all in the mix among the top-five.
As things shuffled out following the restart with four to go, it appeared that it would come down to a battle between the Spire Motorsports teammates in McDowell and Hocevar, but as has become commonplace at Daytona, a lot of things can happen between the white flag and the checkered.
Hocevar held the lead at the white, but a bump off the nose of Erik Jones’ Toyota would send him spinning in front of the pack, with Hocevar, Jones, and McDowell all taken out of contention in one fell swoop.
That would set up a three-wide scramble for the lead among Reddick, Stenhouse, and Elliott, with Elliott getting the advantage down the backstretch with a helping hand from Zane Smith.
However, Elliott’s shot at the 500 would be short-lived after Reddick and his 23XI teammate Riley Herbst got a run thorough Turn 4 to set up the final dash to the checkered flag.
Reddick would swing high around Smith to move into second-place behind Elliott, using all of the momentum he had built to pull the crossover and power past Elliott as they entered the tri-oval.
Herbst attempted to make it three wide around Elliott on the outside, but made contact with Brad Keselowski, sending him into the outside wall and back down across the track into Elliott, hooking him into the wall. Elliott would cross the line in a shower of sparks backwards.
As the other leaders bounced off each other like pinballs, Reddick was home free as he streaked across the finish line to score his first win in the Daytona 500.
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. would be credited with a runner-up finish on the day, followed by Joey Logano, Elliott, and Keselowski. The remainder of the top-10 went to Smith, Chris Buescher, Herbst, Josh Berry, and Bubba Wallace.
The race would see 65 lead changes among 25 different drivers, with Wallace leading the way with 40 laps at the front of the field.
Four cautions for cause would slow the race, most notably in the waning laps of Stage 2 after Justin Allgaier triggered a 20-car pile-up following a block gone wrong on Denny Hamlin.
The three other crashes included a mechanical issue for B.J. McLeod on Lap 6 that sent him spinning in Turn 4 collecting five other cars, along with a nine-car crash on the frontstretch on Lap 86, and the final caution that would set up the finish involving Hamlin and Christopher Bell.
