Tyler Reddick: Daytona 500 Champion

Tyler Reddick celebrates his Daytona 500 win with car owner Michael Jordan. (Photo: Chris Graythen/Getty)

Daytona 500: Tyler Reddick charged to the lead out of turn four on the last lap of the 2026 Daytona 500 to capture the checkered flag and his first win in The Great American Race. The win is Reddick's first win at Daytona, too, and his first win since Homestead in 2024. It was also 23XI's first win in the Daytona 500, and a more nuanced fun fact: Michael Jordan became the second UNC Tar Heel basketball player to win the Daytona 500 as a car owner, joining Brad Daughtery. The win, while the best way to start the year, no longer automatically locks the 45 car into the Chase, but it is no doubt a shot in the arm for a team that wanted to put their winless year behind them.

Before I get too far into my brain dump on the race: yes, the fuel strategy/half throttle racing we see at most drafting tracks these days does suck, and I am not a huge fan of it. However, it appears to be here to stay, as Elton Sawyer from NASCAR basically said they hear the complaints, but what they see is side-by-side racing, and it looks good. (Translation: we're not sure what to change, and TV likes it). Aside from the half throttle for a chunk of the race, I believe this Daytona 500 delivered exceptional racing. When the strategy got mixed up, and when the drivers were at full throttle, the racing was fantastic. I am also immensely grateful there wasn't some atrocious call or controversy (or whether) that put a dark cloud over the start of the season. It feels like, too often, too recently, we have had some lingering stupidity hanging over the heads of the NASCAR industry, leaving Daytona. We were fortunate to have what I felt was mostly a good old-fashioned drafting track race. There were some accidents from dumb bump drafts and blocks (i.e., Justin Allgaier). There was aggression towards the end of the race with drivers vying to win the sport's biggest race, and there was no quick caution trigger on the last lap, allowing the race to play out as naturally as possible with a fantastic finish. Sure, many folks will criticize Herbst coming into the tri-oval, but I don't think I can. He clearly wasn't going to push the 9 car, and he wanted to win the race himself. It was just unfortunate that he and his spotter did not anticipate that big of a surge from Keselowski coming to the line, and mayhem ensued. And as that mayhem ensued, Tyler Reddick sailed to victory and gave us a pretty good first winner of the 2026 campaign.

Next up, we head to EchoPark Speedway (formerly known as Atlanta Motor Speedway) with all three NASCAR national touring series back in action! The Craftsman Truck Series kicks off the festivities on Saturday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. EST with the FR8 208 on FS1. The O'Reilly Auto Parts Series follows the Truck action on Saturday evening at 5 p.m. EST on The CW with the Bennet Transportation & Logistics 250. The NASCAR Cup Series caps off an exciting weekend in the ATL on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. EST on FOX with the Autotrader 400.

EchoPark Picks:

Trucks = Justin Haley

O'Reilly = Austin Hill

Cup = Brad Keselowski