TYLER REDDICK WINS THE DAYTONA 500
Reddick claims fourth Daytona 500 crown for Toyota
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (February 15, 2026) – For the first time since 2020, Toyota is celebrating a victory in the Daytona 500 with Tyler Reddick. The California-native drove a masterful final few turns, dodging multiple incidents to pick up his first win in the Great American Race. It is the first Daytona 500 win for 23XI Racing, as well. Co-owner Denny Hamlin now can lay claim to all four of Toyota’s Daytona 500 victories – three as a driver (2016, 2019 and 2020) and now as an owner.
23XI had a stellar day with all three of their full-time drivers – Reddick, Riley Herbst (eighth) and Bubba Wallace (10th) finishing in the top-10. Wallace also led the most laps in the race – 40, with Chase Briscoe (23 laps led) and John Hunter Nemechek (19 laps led) also spending considerable time out front. Toyota led over half of the race, pacing for 103 total circuits.
Toyota has won the last three Crown Jewel races in NASCAR – the Brickyard 400 (Bubba Wallace), the Southern 500 (Chase Briscoe) and now the Daytona 500.
Toyota Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Daytona International Speedway
Race 1 of 36 – 500 miles, 200 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, TYLER REDDICK
2nd, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.*
3rd, Joey Logano*
4th, Chase Elliott*
5th, Brad Keselowski*
8th, RILEY HERBST
10th, BUBBA WALLACE
21st, ERIK JONES
23rd, TY GIBBS
26th, JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
28th, COREY HEIM
29th, JIMMIE JOHNSON
31st, DENNY HAMLIN
35th, CHRISTOPHER BELL
36th, CHASE BRISCOE
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
TYLER REDDICK, No. 45 Chumba Casino Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing
Finishing Position: 1st
What are your emotions after winning the Daytona 500?
“I had that weird moment where I think everyone was too busy screaming and I was like, ‘did we win?’ Man, it’s something — as a kid, I grew up watching the Daytona 500 with my family and just dreamed of being a NASCAR Cup Series driver one day. And, then obviously really wanted to win the 500 so I just – it takes a lot of work, it takes a lot of things to go the right way. We did it today.”
Can you talk about the last lap?
“Yeah, you know, I think we had that crash and got really split up there. I was three-wide and wasn’t where I wanted to be and just everyone is kind of going for themselves out there and Riley Herbst, my teammate, picked me up and pushed me, got me back to those first two cars. From there, man, just tried to keep the momentum going in my favor. I wasn’t going to push anybody and just got really fortunate. Riley went to the top of Chase (Elliott) that I was able to get by them before they got to the end.”
TYLER GIBBS, president, TRD U.S.A.
Can you take me through that last lap?
“Absolutely incredible. Without Riley (Herbst) and the teamwork that we had all day – just an incredible result. That was amazing all the way to the end. For all of the cars involved, I’m glad that everybody is okay.”
How huge is this for TRD?
“It is huge for us. You look at the way the points stack up, the way that it works with the championship format – for Tyler (Reddick) to start off with this many points, how steady he was a couple of years ago, this is exactly the way to start.”
At the end of the day, there is a Camry in victory lane.
“I love it. You’ve seen the fuel mileage game played multiple times over different manufacturers depending on how pit strategy works out. For us today, we played it a little bit and then we went for it in the end. Just really good to see the speed in our Camrys.”
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in the U.S. for nearly 70 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our nearly 1,500 dealerships.
Toyota directly employs nearly 48,000 people in the U.S. who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of more than 35 million cars and trucks at our 11 manufacturing plants. In 2025, Toyota’s plant in North Carolina began to assemble automotive batteries for electrified vehicles.
For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.
