It is onerous to elucidate what occurred on the ultimate lap of the Daytona 500, but it surely was pure mayhem. Carson Hocevar was main on the white flag, however he bought turned from the lead. The race stayed inexperienced, and Chase Elliott surged forward with a push from Zane Smith.
However then got here Tyler Reddick with a helpful push from teammate Riley Herbst, passing Elliott on the exit of Flip 4. The sphere fanned out four-wide with Riley Herbst colliding with Brad Keselowski, triggering an enormous crash.
Reddick gained the race, Stenhouse completed second towards the wall, and Joey Logano crossed the road backwards in third. Elliott was fourth and Brad Keselowski completed fifth. Smith, Chris Buescher, Herbst, Josh Berry, and Bubba Wallace crammed out the rest of the highest ten — all three 23XI automobiles completed contained in the top-ten.
Daytona 500 remaining lap crash involving Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Riley Herbst, and Brad Keselowski
“Final 12 months was actually onerous for all of us, onerous for me,” mentioned Reddick, who went winless in 2025 as his new child child battled well being points. “If you’re a Cup driver and also you get to this degree and drive for Michael Jordan, it is anticipated you win each single 12 months.
“For us to go on that drought we did made us look onerous within the mirror, and actually pleased with everybody on our Chumba On line casino Toyota Camry. Labored actually onerous within the low season, and there was many factors on this race the place we weren’t making choices we needed to, however we simply reset, and each alternative we bought to reset we went again at it.
“Simply speechless. I did not know if I would ever win this race. It is surreal, actually. Truthfully, one of the best half is my son requested earlier than this race, Are you lastly going to win this race? One thing about right now simply felt proper.”
On the end, Reddick added: “Yeah, we had the lead there when that warning got here out, lined up subsequent to McDowell, and we simply type of stored getting hung a pair occasions within the closing laps there. Yeah, simply each time we might type of break up, there could be nowhere left to go however to push, they usually pushed me, clearly.
“My teammate Riley Herbst gave me a variety of pushes there after which tried to win the race for himself, as he ought to on the finish there. Simply unbelievable the way it all performed out. Simply true Daytona insanity.
“It will be a protracted night time if I’ve already misplaced my voice from screaming. By no means thought I would be Daytona 500 champion.”
Levels 1 and a pair of
Busch led the race from pole place, and he was aggressive in blocking all lanes as he tried to keep up. Nemechek moved forward, simply as the primary warning of the race flew.
One thing broke on the No. 78 of BJ McLeod, who snapped round in the back of the sphere. He collected Allgaier and Mears, but additionally William Byron whose try a historic three-peat simply bought quite a bit more durable. He complained concerning the automotive ‘wandering’ a bit, even after repairs to the toe.
Your entire discipline got here down pit highway except Busch. Because the stage rolled on, Busch ended up in the course of the pack and almost spun on the exit of Flip 4. He slammed doorways with Keselowski, and each of those veteran champions had been in a position to keep on.
And since he didn’t pit with the remainder of the sphere, Busch was among the many first to move down pit highway. Many of the discipline adopted, however one group managed to save lots of simply sufficient, stretching the gas to the very finish of the stage.
Zane Smith was amongst them, successful Stage 1 over Cindric, Blaney, Hocevar, Buescher, Suarez, McDowell, Preece, Bowman, and Gragson. Nevertheless, Gragson ran out throughout stage break, however bought a useful push from Berry again to the pits.
In Stage 2, it was a lot of the identical as drivers hit their gas numbers, but it surely was not almost as clean. Rookie Connor Zilisch made an look close to the entrance of the sphere, however his automotive was very unstable.
Moments later, he pushed up and his teammate Chastain bought unsettled, resulting in contact with Cody Ware and a multi-car crash.
Zilisch suffered harm, as did Briscoe and A. Dillon, who slammed into one another at pit entry and ended Bass Professional Outlets’ shot at a 500 win.
After that, Chevrolet drivers took turns main, but it surely all ended with Allgaier took the lead within the JRM entry on Lap 124. Hamlin tried to get to his exterior, and Allgaier got here up, unaware he was there,
About 20 automobiles suffered harm in that crash, placing drivers like SVG, Allgaier, Bowman, Gilliland out of rivalry.
Stage 2 ended beneath warning with Wallace main the way in which.
Stage 3
The ultimate stage was an enormous pack of 30 automobiles, three-wide, one second aside as they fuel-saved. Wallace and his fellow Toyotas led more often than not, and had been among the many first to pit with simply 19 laps left within the race.
Because the pit cease cycle wrapped up, Hamlin, Heim, and Bell collided in a small wreck on the frontstretch. NASCAR reluctantly threw the warning as storms had been getting nearer to the speedway.
McDowell was main as he hadn’t pitted, however he stayed out in an aggressive name to stretch the gas. Reddick was second, Hocevar third, Byron fourth, and Keselowski fifth.
The race restarted with simply 4 laps to go, and it was pure chaos. Hocevar took the white flag and completed simply nineteenth because the 2026 Daytona 500 discipline had a number of wrecks on the ultimate lap, with Reddick taking the win.
We would like your opinion!
What would you prefer to see on Motorsport.com?
– The Motorsport.com Crew
Trending Merchandise
