DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 22, 2026) – Since 2021, Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin has never disappointed when it comes to outstanding racing at Daytona International Raceway. The start of the 2026 season continued this trend with another photo finish, where Noah Harmon (No. 12 Hendricks Motorsports) won his first-ever Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup race by 0.039-second over Justin Adakonis (No. 23 McCumbee McAleer Racing).
A record 45 cars took the green flag for Thursday’s Round One race at Daytona, so it’s not surprising that the lead pack consisted of roughly 16 cars running nose-to-tail for 45 minutes. That translated into a gaggle of eight cars crossing the finish line in a pack, with the first six cars covered by less than 0.15-second as they raced across the finish line.
Two favorites to win the race had problems early on that brought them to pit lane for repairs and cost them laps. Gresham Wagner (No. 5 JTR Motorsports Engineering) got hit and spun around entering the Le Mans Chicane. He eventually continued but was forced to make a trip to his pit box for checks.
Reigning champion and race polesitter Jeremy Fletcher (No. 22 McCumbee McAleer Racing) also endured some hard hits early on and even got two wheels in the air at one point. This ultimately brought him onto pit lane with damaged suspension.
It was Harmon’s teammate Westin Workman (No. 21 Hendricks Motorsports) who led the field to the white flag. Traditionally that is not where one wants to be to win the race and Workman was more than happy to give up the spot to Adakonis. He continued to lead the field through the Le Mans Chicane with the Hendricks teammates on his bumper.
Harmon, in third, presumed it would be his job to push Workman to the win, but the pair ended up splitting Adakonis coming to the finish line. Once that happened, it became a free-for-all for the rest of the pack, deciding to go low with Harmon or high with Workman.
At the line it was Harmon, by 0.039-second over Adakonis.
“I came out (of the Le Mans Chicane) in third,” Harmon said. “I knew I had a good shot. I could see a gap behind me and didn’t think they’d get a run. I had my teammate, Weston [Workman] ahead of me and I was committed to helping him. I came out of NASCAR Four. Justin [Adakonis] moved up and I cut left, and I got a push from Julian [DaCosta] and rode it all the way to the line.”
After narrowly missing out on Rookie of the Year honors last season and starting the week at Daytona with mechanical issues and a poor qualifying result, Harmon couldn’t have guessed he’d be standing on the top step of the podium Thursday evening.
The win is the first of his MX-5 Cup career and the first for Hendricks Motorsports.
“I’m so happy right now,” Harmon said. “This night race, I’ve gone from watching it to doing it the last three years but haven’t even come close to winning. This is the one I would have wanted to win over any other race on the schedule. So, it means so much to me. All my family’s here and all my friends are here. It is so cool and I can’t thank everybody at CUBE 3 and Hendricks for making it even possible to be here today.”
Starting fourth, Adakonis was surprised to lose Fletcher, his drafting teammate.
“I didn’t know he [Fletcher] had an issue,” Adakonis said. “I was looking for him the whole time, but I really didn’t know until I saw him on the last lap and we were lapping him.”
He may have narrowly missed out on the win, but Adakonis was still happy to start his sophomore season with a podium.
“I didn’t see Noah [Harmon] on the bottom,” Adakonis said. “I thought I’d got Weston [Workman] covered off and then I saw Noah and thought ‘Shoot, man. I missed that one,’ but it was super fun.
“We had issue with the water temps the whole race, so I had to keep going out to the front and leading to keep them cool,” he added. “It kept spiking up and down and I was just trying to manage it. So as long as I was up front, I was good. It was a fun race and thanks to all the MMR guys, they gave me a really good car, and Marcus [Gregory] for spotting and Dan [Lawrence] for working on the car.”
Gossett started the race in seventh but moved up and down the lead pack each lap and couldn’t be sure he’d be in the right spot at the finish.
“I would move back to 10th and then I’d go back to first,” Gossett said. “Then, I’d go back to 10th and then back to first. It was madness! I’d be sad. I’d be happy. It was a roller coaster! I don’t even know how we ended up in third at the end.”
Now starting his sophomore season, the third-place result is Gossett’s first podium finish.
“I had the bottom line, and then, in the end, I chose the high line,” Gossett said. “Jared [Thomas] behind me chose the bottom line. I think I made the right decision. I definitely flew around everybody on the outside! So yeah, a good start to the season.”
Thomas would go on to finish fourth, and Julian DaCosta (No. 95 BSI Racing) completed the top five.
Harmon’s run from 17th on the grid to first at the finish would normally be enough to claim the Penske Shocking Performance Award, but not with Cam Ebben (No. 55 Advanced Autosports) in the race! The rookie had a mechanical issue in qualifying and opted to change to new tires for the race, which automatically puts him last (45th) on the grid. The third-generation racer fought his way through the field and picked up 22 positions to finish 23rd.
This season Gossett is racing with his twin sister Ellie (No. 77 BSI Racing), who took home the highest finishing female driver award in her debut MX-5 Cup race by finishing 32nd.
Longtime MX-5 Cup driver Peter Atwater (No. 26 JTR Motorsports Engineering) finished 19th and earned the Takumi Award for the highest finishing driver over the age of 40.
Round two of Mazda MX-5 Cup is set for 10am ET, Friday, January 23, and will be streamed live on the IMSA and RACER YouTube channels.
About: The Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin is the signature spec series for Mazda Motorsports. The series has been operated by Andersen Promotions since 2017 and is currently sanctioned by IMSA. Mazda-powered grassroots champions can earn Mazda scholarships for this pro-level series. The Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup awards more than $1 million in prizes and scholarships.
Find out more at http://www.mx-5cup.com.
