Who… should you be talking about after the checkered flag?
He didn’t get much attention before the Daytona 500. He didn’t get much during the race, either, not leading a single lap through the first 199 circuits.
But after the Daytona 500? Tyler Reddick had all the attention, thanks to a bold last-lap charge to take the win amid a pair of multi-car crashes.
A late caution at Daytona International Speedway led to a restart with just three laps remaining of the scheduled distance. Reddick’s 23XI Racing teammate, Bubba Wallace, led the most laps of the day, and rookie teammate Corey Heim made viewers take notice by leading four times for eight laps.
But thanks to a push from his fourth teammate Riley Herbst, Reddick was able to get a run on race leader Chase Elliott coming to the finish. A multi-car crash in turn 1 on the final lap involving then-race leader Carson Hocevar did not draw a caution as all of those involved were able to get out of the way. Elliott had a clear lead on the backstretch, but Reddick drove from the bottom of the track to the outside to power by Ricky Stenhouse Jr., then dropped back to the inside at the last second, edging ahead just as Herbst tangled with Brad Keselowski and Elliott coming to the finish. Stenhouse squeezed through to finish second while Joey Logano slid sideways across the line to take third.
It’s Reddick’s ninth career Cup Series win and his first Daytona 500 victory. It was also the first Daytona 500 win for Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan as car owners.
On the other hand…
Two-time Cup champion Kyle Busch has certainly had his struggles in recent years, but after winning the pole in Daytona, would it finally be the year for Busch to win the sport’s biggest race, one of only a few that has evaded Busch over his career?
Busch led seven times for 19 laps and was able to run with the leaders. However, caution flags and differing pit strategies mired the No. 8 in the pack, and Busch suffered some damage in a lap 124 incident. He finished 15th, respectable enough, but not what Busch and his fans had hoped for after his fast start.
What… is the big question everyone should be asking after the race?
While Reddick’s winning drive was perfectly executed, the race ended with carnage behind him with Logano sliding sideways across the line to finish third and at least half a dozen cars torn up while others limped home from a turn 1 incident on the same lap.
The finish was set up by a multi-car crash inside 10 to go … and before that, the final stage was largely the field riding around at part-throttle, saving fuel to set up the final round of pit stops.
Which actually leaves two questions.
One: should NASCAR and its fans be satisfied with the save fuel — crash — save some more fuel — more crashes (including one on the final lap), rinse and repeat that has become the Daytona 500, NASCAR’s most prestigious race?
And two: is NASCAR willing to do anything about it — or is the sanctioning body satisfied with the crashes that many fans, whether they admit it or not, come to see?
Amid multiple changes NASCAR made during the offseason, it made no attempt to change the way teams approach superspeedway races. The long-term solution would be to commit to an aero package that breaks up the single swarm of cars that has become the norm. However, that could be a hard sell to many fans because many do like the single-pack racing, wrecks and all. The pack racing does create excitement via multiple lead changes and yes, those multi-car crashes. But is it really the only way?
Where… did he come from?
Reddick’s win came from deep in the pack, but the other driver who deserves some props for coming from mid-pack to score a solid result is Reddick’s teammate Riley Herbst, who was instrumental in Reddick’s charge to the win.
Though Herbst was involved in the crash coming to the checkers, he finished fifth in the second stage and came home with a career-best eighth-place result. While Keselowski was critical of Herbst following the last-lap tangle, it looked to be as much a product of superspeedway closing rates as it was of Herbst being too aggressive. It’s Herbst’s first top 10 since 2023 and the third of his Cup career. He didn’t get much mention from the broadcast, but Herbst ran a solid race on Sunday.
When… are we going to talk about the points?
Right now.
Thanks to his win and the added bonus points that come with it, Reddick leaves Daytona in the top spot. Logano’s win in his qualifying race, along with his third-place finish on Sunday, gave him enough to hold down second, 12 points behind Reddick. Elliott is third, 15 behind Reddick, with Zane Smith in fourth thanks to his stage one win and sixth-place finish. Stenhouse rounds out the top five.
Keselowski leaves Daytona sixth in the standings, with RFK Racing teammate Chris Buescher in seventh. Wallace, Hocevar and Ryan Blaney complete the top 10 this week.
With race wins no longer a guarantee of a Chase berth, every point matters. Will we see drivers racing differently as a result? Probably not every week, but stage points and fastest lap points do add up, so look for drivers to race aggressively to secure them as the season goes on. Hocevar locked down the fastest lap point at Daytona.
Why… should you be paying attention this week?
If you were looking for the Cup Series to settle into a rhythm, you might want to wait another week. But if unpredictable pack racing with some wild crashes is your jam, you’re in luck, because NASCAR heads to EchoPark Speedway (also known as Atlanta to … well, everybody) for the AutoTrader 400.
Since the 2021 reconfiguration, the driver to watch at EPS is Elliott, who has two wins and a series-leading average finish of 9.1. Blaney has been very consistent since the repave as well, with six top 10s, most in the series, though he does not have a win on the current surface.
Logano and William Byron also have two wins apiece in the eight races since the repave, but both have also had enough bad luck to be lower on the average finish ladder. Their success will be dependent on incident avoidance, something that will be especially important since both were involved in incidents at Daytona that mean an early points setback.
How… did this race stack up?
Was the race itself really that much different from recent superspeedway races?
Reddick’s bold last-lap charge was a change from some of them, where nobody was able (or willing) to take that kind of a risk.
But other than Reddick’s winning move and Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin enjoying the win after last winter’s contentious lawsuit against NASCAR, the race doesn’t really stand out for any reason.
The most dramatic part of the race just might have come on Thursday night. The qualifying races don’t have nearly the impact they once did, with the charter system in place with its guaranteed starts and the smaller entry lists that the system has produced. Once the two fastest open teams are accounted for, there are really only two spots up for grabs.
Still, the drivers fighting for them fought tooth and nail. In the first race, Casey Mears got onto pit road a little too hot and went for a slide, losing a lap after getting stuck in the wet infield grass, leaving Corey LaJoie and Chandler Smith to duke it out. Yet somehow, after Smith got collected in one incident (which gave Mears the free pass back onto the lead lap) and LaJoie crashed on the final lap, Mears, despite also getting knocked into the wall, never lifted and somehow took the transfer spot.
Afterwards, Mears was emotional in his press conference as he works towards the 500th Cup start milestone. The No. 66 team worked for hours to repair the damaged car to be ready for the 500.
In a much tamer second race, Anthony Alfredo grabbed the spot and also enjoyed an emotional celebration … only to have his finish disqualified after his car failed post-race inspection for unsecured interior hoses, which may have provided an advantage. That led to a further wait for BJ McLeod’s car to go through inspection before he could be declared the final transfer into Sunday’s event.
This all came after Busch, a certain Hall of Famer who has struggled mightily in the last couple of years, won the pole on Wednesday.
All in all, the weekend had some great storylines. Some of the best ones though didn’t happen on Sunday, and they didn’t wind up having any impact on the outcome.
There is one other thing that fans who watched the race on TV should appreciate, though. The race was simply about the race. The new (recycled) championship system means that winning the sport’s biggest race is once again the goal — not making the playoffs, but simply celebrating winning the Daytona 500. And that made this edition the best in years.
Amy is an 20-year veteran NASCAR writer and a six-time National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) writing award winner, including first place awards for both columns and race coverage. As well as serving as Photo Editor, Amy writes The Big 6 (Mondays) after every NASCAR Cup Series race. She can also be found working on her bi-weekly columns Holding A Pretty Wheel (Tuesdays) and Only Yesterday (Wednesdays). A New Hampshire native whose heart is in North Carolina, Amy’s work credits have extended everywhere from driver Kenny Wallace’s website to Athlon Sports. She can also be heard weekly as a panelist on the Hard Left Turn podcast that can be found on AccessWDUN.com's Around the Track page.
It’s nice that winning a race rather than points is the point for now.
happy for Reddick but no I don’t think the riding around followed by crashes is something fans should be satisfied with. RP track races have been dissatisfying and awful for yrs. I don’t enjoy them at all.
Really? Fans begged for this. If you want to increase ratings and track attendance, get a driver killed. NASCAR used to be the only form of motorsports where fans cheer injuries and death. Now NASCAR fans are attending Sprint Car races and cheering injuries there.
As one long-time fan (with a bunch of friends who are long-time fans), I can assure you that your stereotype of NASCAR fans is just that… a stereotype. We’ve seen drivers like Neil Bonnett and Dale Earnhardt lose their life behind the wheel, and I can assure you that nobody wants to see that, least of all fans of the sport. I’m pretty sure I speak for most fans.
Anyone else find it funny that the TV announcer experts were talking about what a failure Tyler Reddick is and that his job was on the line if he didn’t improve. He wins and he is vaulted to second greatest racer ever, behind of course Mini Tyrell…
Just another wreck fest. Down with plate racing!
I”m gonna stay positive… there was some exciting racing at times, and watching three lines of tightly-packed race cars jockeying for position at 190mph is thrilling. Tyler Reddick did an admirable job of getting to the front and winning the race. To top it off, my favorite driver, BK, finished fifth. However, as a long time fan, the most amazing thing about this year’s Daytona 500, to me, is that it was completed without a rain delay. How often does that happen?
it was three lines at 172 mph.
Yeah… Hey, I said I was old. I suffer from CRS.
Tightly packed sardines in a traffic jam they can’t move in for lap after lap after lap after….
There was plenty of that too. Like I said, I was trying to be positive. That ain’t easy with
restrictor platetapered spacer tracks.Speaking of saving fuel, how many drivers are going to be fined for not following the “100% racing rule,” often called the performance obligation, requiring all competitors to race at 100% of their ability to achieve the best possible finish?