As Tyler Reddick celebrated his first Daytona 500 career victory at Daytona International Speedway, Bubba Wallace, Reddick’s teammate at 23XI Racing, was left defeated after having a dominant run conclude with a top-10 result.
Wallace, the 2025 Brickyard 400 champion from Mobile, Alabama, endured a roller coaster Daytona Speedweeks that started on a rough note. After being the 30th-fastest competitor during Wednesday night’s pole qualifying run, Wallace looked to improve on his starting spot for Sunday’s Daytona 500 during the first America 250 Florida Duel event. Despite assuming the lead with five laps remaining, his event went sour when contact from Austin Dillon sent Wallace’s No. 23 Xfinity Toyota Camry XSE entry spinning through the backstretch.
Settling in 13th place in his Duel event, Wallace started the 2026 Daytona 500 in 27th place and in Row 14 alongside teammate Riley Herbst. After settling in 18th place at the conclusion of the first stage period, Wallace began making his presence at the front known. Restarting in sixth place to commence the second stage period, Wallace led his first three laps (Laps 77 to 79) before he jostled at the front throughout the stage.
After avoiding two multi-car wrecks, one on Lap 85 and another on Lap 123, the latter of which enabled him to reassume the lead, Wallace was awarded the second stage victory that concluded under caution on Lap 130.
Leading the field to commence the third and final stage period with 65 laps remaining, Wallace spent a bulk of the stage battling alongside his 23XI Racing teammate, Corey Heim, and Toyota teammate, Christopher Bell, for the lead in a three-wide formation and in front of three-stacked lanes through every turn and straightaway. Compared to the first stage period, where he led 10 laps, Wallace ultimately led 30 laps throughout the final stage period.
Then, with 20 laps remaining, Wallace, along with Bell, Heim and Riley Herbst, elected to surrender their spots on the track to pit for the final time for fuel under green. By the time Wallace returned to the track, he did not cycle as the leader and was mired within the top-10 mark with approximately 10 laps remaining.
Following a late-race caution that flew with nine laps remaining, Wallace restarted in sixth place during a four-lap shootout and spent the duration of the shootout racing towards the front and the top-10 mark. Despite avoiding a multi-car spin that occurred exiting the frontstretch and at the start of the final lap, Wallace lost ground to the leaders when William Byron, who had briefly gone off the track to avoid the carnage, came up the track and caused Wallace to briefly step out of the gas.
Despite overtaking Byron, Wallace could only navigate his way to a 10th-place result when he crossed the finish line and watched from a distance as teammate Tyler Reddick achieved his first victory in the Great American Race.
With a 10th-place result, Wallace notched his fourth career top-10 result in the Great American Race and his first since he finished in fifth place during the 2024 event. Wallace’s 40 laps led were the most he led over the field and the most he led in a Cup event at Daytona.
Combined with the 10 stage points he achieved for winning the second stage, Wallace is ranked in eighth place with a total of 36 points to commence the 2026 Cup Series season and his season-long pursuit of making the Chase and contending for his first championship.
Nevertheless, Wallace was left dejected on pit road after falling short of winning the Daytona 500 in his ninth attempt.
“Man, I don’t know what to say,” Wallace said on FOX. “First off, hats off to the No. 45 group. I don’t want my emotions to take away from the monumental day they just accomplished. I thought this was our week. The best [Daytona] 500 I’ve ever had, and come up short sucks, but couldn’t be more proud of the team. I’m] Pumped for Xfinity to jump onboard the way they did and debut their first primary race in the 500. It was a good day for us, but damn, try again next year.”
Bubba Wallace’s 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season continues next Sunday, February 22, for the Autotrader 400 at EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. The event’s broadcast time will commence at 3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN Radio, SiriusXM and HBO MAX.
