When the white flag was waving in the 2026 Daytona 500, Carson Hocevar led the field from the top lane. Teammate Michael McDowell was right with him, as Spire Motorsports was poised for a 1-2 finish and the biggest NASCAR Cup Series victory of their existence.
Tyler Reddick was inside the top five, in contention and leading the middle lane. At that point, he had not led a single lap all day.
45 seconds later, the No. 45 Toyota found itself a winner as Reddick earned his first ever Daytona 500 trophy.
How did it all happen?
After a crash involving the Toyotas of Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin with less than 10 laps to go, McDowell, who had stayed out while all others pitted, became the race leader. His No. 71 Spire team was committed to staying out and stretching the fuel tank; in the end, he ran the final 67 laps without a pit stop.
McDowell and Hocevar remained in control of the race, with McDowell leading the bottom lane at the start of the final lap when the crashing began.
Some hard pushing on the outside lane caused Hocevar and the second car on the outside, Erik Jones, to spin down the track. This first incident collected McDowell on the bottom, while Reddick got a piece of the No. 43 car but was able to keep it straight.
The outside line then stacked up because the spinning cars caused a chain reaction which led to a large crash at the back end of the main pack. The FOX broadcast soon showed John Hunter Nemechek getting bumped into Cole Custer, causing the No. 41 Chevrolet to spin from the top lane. All of a sudden, the majority of the pack had lost momentum, but NASCAR chose to keep the race green the rest of the way.
As it became clear the caution flag wasn’t coming out, the camera panned away from there and the focus went back toward the leaders.
Back up front, two-time defending Daytona 500 champion William Byron was able to save his car from spinning with McDowell, Jones and Hocevar by straightening out his car on the apron. Byron merged back up into traffic, which stalled the momentum of contenders like stage two winner Bubba Wallace and others.
This left about eight cars left heading off of turn 2 to fight for the win, including Reddick. The No. 45 Toyota found himself on the inside lane now, but with no help. At the same time, Chase Elliott got a huge push from Zane Smith, the stage one winner, to clear them past Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the middle lane.
Elliott and Smith were able to clear the pack and move to the bottom heading into turn 3 as Reddick now got help from his 23XI teammate, Riley Herbst. The push from Herbst’s No. 35 allowed Reddick to get on the outside of Smith and pass him off turn 4.
Reddick and Herbst still remained connected with momentum as they closed in on Elliott, who was now without Smith’s bumper directly behind him. Elliott did not decide to throw a block on Reddick as he ducked to the bottom, making the move as Herbst decided to take Elliott three-wide on the top.
Unfortunately for Herbst, a hard-charging Brad Keselowski beat him to the outside with help from Joey Logano, Stenhouse and teammate Chris Buescher all lined up behind the No. 6 Ford. Contact between them caused another crash on the final lap as they came to the checkered flag but it was all behind Reddick, the only driver in this pack who crossed the line untouched.
Herbst smacked the wall in front of Keselowski, came down the track and clipped Elliott, who hit the wall head on. Logano and Stenhouse piled in, receiving heavy damage, as the entire pack of cars crossed the finish line sideways, sheet metal dragging and sparks flying.
Just like that, Reddick’s miracle rise was complete. After a winless 2025 season, Reddick started his 2026 campaign with a Daytona 500 victory, the first one of his career and the first for 23XI Racing.
Here’s a closer look at his in-car camera for how the final lap unfolded.
Michael Bellifemini joined Frontstretch in February 2026 as a contributor. Bellifemini was born and raised in New Jersey and graduated from Seton Hall University. He called Seton Hall men's and women's basketball games for their college radio station, 89.5 FM WSOU, and continues to broadcast in the area. Outside of covering NASCAR, Bellifemini is also an avid baseball, football, basketball, and hockey fan and enjoys watching different sports leagues on a daily basis.