Tyler Reddick Captures First Daytona 500 in Crash-Filled Race

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Reddick Outlasts Wrecks to Win 2026 Daytona 500Chris Graythen - Getty Images

For yet another time, the Daytona 500 was smashing.

As in crashing and bashing and mashing.

This time drivers couldn’t wait until the race’s final laps to go crazy. There was a nine-car wreck on lap 86 (of 200), but that was only the prelude. On lap 123, with the field stacked like firewood, a front stretch wreck collected about half the lineup, spraying cars across the tri-oval and damaging several potential winners.

And, of course, there was a wreck—another big one—on the final lap as the survivors of the earlier skirmishes raced toward history.

It probably wasn’t a coincidence that one of America’s most famous brats—Fox cartoon star and legendary troublemaker Bart Simpson—was called on to throw the green flag to start Sunday’s mayhem. Thirty-seven of 41 cars were involved in at least one accident.

Chris Graythen - Getty Images

At day’s end, the ultimate survivor made for a wonderful story. Tyler Reddick escaped the craziness of the last crash as 15 drivers tried to figure out the best path to victory in a packed field. Several of them ran into either the wall or each other, and Reddick pushed through to beat Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to the finish line by 0.30 of a second.

Reddick’s win, his first in NASCAR’s biggest race, carried with it more emotion than the typical Daytona 500 victory, and every one carries a lot. Reddick spend far too much of last season bouncing between speedways and hospital rooms as his baby son, Rookie, fought through complex health issues that kept the Reddick family and his extended racing family on edge for weeks. To have Rookie in victory lane Sunday, in his mother’s arms, must have been the biggest part of the win for Reddick.

Jim France and Michael Jordan shaking hands.Chris Graythen - Getty Images

The victory was Reddick’s ninth in Cup. Oddly enough, the wins have come at nine different tracks.

Reddick’s win also was laced with irony. It was only two months ago that his team owners, Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin, were in a federal courthouse in Charlotte, North Carolina locked in courtroom combat with NASCAR’s owners. That court case was settled in the second week of the trial as NASCAR’s ruling France family reached an agreement with Jordan and his legal team. Sunday’s result produced the surrealistic scene of NASCAR chairman Jim France shaking hands with the basketball hero in victory lane.

Strange, indeed.

The victory washed away memories of Reddick’s 2025 season, one that was winless and, as described by crew chief Billy Scott, “Less than desirable.”

The race day held out the temptation of victory for a big batch of drivers. Joey Logano could have won. Either of the Chases—Elliott and Briscoe—could have won. Ditto for Kyle Busch, Bubba Wallace, Denny Hamlin, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Michael McDowell, Brad Keselowski. The race had 25 leaders, a 500 record.

But the day’s accidents ripped away the hopes of many. Reddick called it “Just true Daytona madness.”

He led only one lap. The big one.

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