The Daytona 500 results delivered exactly what NASCAR sells as its biggest promise. The race delivered late chaos, split-second decisions, and a winner decided at the last possible moment. Tyler Reddick timed it perfectly, taking the lead on the final lap to win the 68th running of the Great American Race at Daytona International Speedway and hand 23XI Racing its first Daytona 500 trophy.
Reddick’s victory did not come from controlling the race. It came from surviving it. NASCAR’s own timing and scoring shows he led just one lap all day, and that lap was the one that mattered, edging Ricky Stenhouse Jr. by 0.308 seconds at the line.
Daytona 500 Results: How Tyler Reddick Won It on the Final Lap
If you needed proof that the Daytona 500 results can flip in a heartbeat, the closing stretch supplied it. Reddick’s No. 45 Toyota stayed in the mix long enough to get one decisive push, with teammate Riley Herbst helping him surge forward as the field reorganized for a late dash. Reddick then muscled past Chase Elliott in the final yards and escaped the mess that unfolded behind him.
The official recap from Daytona International Speedway showed how tight and frantic the finish was, with incidents erupting behind the leaders while Reddick cleared the wreckage and broke through.
This was not, by any means, a comfortable win for Reddick. It was opportunistic and ruthless, which is the only reliable way to win at Daytona when the pack racing turns every closing mile into a gamble.
Daytona 500 Results: Top 10 Finishers from NASCAR’s 2026 Opener
Here are the headline Daytona 500 results for the top 10, as listed in NASCAR’s official race results:
Tyler Reddick finished first, followed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in second and Joey Logano in third. Chase Elliott took fourth, Brad Keselowski was fifth, Zane Smith finished sixth, Chris Buescher came home seventh, Riley Herbst placed eighth, Josh Berry was ninth, and Bubba Wallace rounded out the top 10 in tenth.
Notably, Elliott was in position to win until the final moments, while Keselowski and others were swallowed by the final-lap turbulence that Daytona produces almost by design.
Daytona 500 Results: A Race Shaped by Weather Pressure and Record Turnover Up Front
This year’s Daytona 500 results were also shaped by what happened before the green flag. NASCAR moved the start time up by one hour to beat an incoming storm threat, with coverage beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET and the green flag scheduled for roughly 2:13 p.m. ET.
Once the race started, it became a revolving door at the front. Daytona’s race report noted Reddick was the 25th different leader, a record, which tells you everything about how unstable control was throughout the afternoon.
And that is why the Daytona 500 results deserve a hard reading. This was not a race where the “best car” simply drove away. It was a race where timing and drafting help, and luck all worked together, and Reddick cashed in when the window finally opened.
What the Daytona 500 Results Mean Going Forward
For Reddick, these Daytona 500 results snap the kind of narrative that follows a top driver when wins dry up. He said after the race: “Just speechless… I didn’t know if I’d ever win this race. It’s surreal.” The bigger point is simpler: 23XI now has its Daytona 500 moment, and Reddick has the sport’s most iconic early-season leverage.
For the rest of the field, the Daytona 500 results are a warning. If you cannot position yourself for the final restart, your day is irrelevant, no matter how clean the first 199 laps look. At Daytona, you either strike late or you get swallowed by someone who will.
