Race Central

The 2020 Truck Series champion from Alpine, California, led 17 of 163-scheduled laps and capitalized on a last-lap incident involving Austin Hill and Ross Chastain to achieve his first elusive career victory after 15 runner-up results.

The race saw a thrilling conclusion to the time shortened race with Kyle Busch picking up his 68th career victory.

The 2026 Daytona 500 champion from Corning, California, was awarded the pole position for Sunday's Cup event at Atlanta due to rain and lightning canceling Saturday's qualifying session.

In this article, we'll take a look at the key storylines emerging from the first race of the season in our first Four Takeaways column of the year.

The two-time O'Reilly Auto Parts Series champion from Corning, California, executed two crossover moves and dodged a final-lap multi-car wreck to become the 44th competitor to win the Great American Race.

The 31-year-old Hill from Winston, Georgia, led a race-high 78 of 120 laps and persevered through a two-lap shootout to win the O'Reilly opener at Daytona for a fourth time in five years.

The 23-year-old Smith from Talking Rock, Georgia, led eight of 102 over-scheduled laps and went from third to sixth and first on the final lap to win the first Truck event of 2026 at the World Center of Racing.

The 2023 Craftsman Truck Series champion from Seymour, Wisconsin, posted a pole-winning lap at 176.883 mph in 50.881 seconds to claim the first Truck pole position of 2026 at the World Center of Racing.

Elliott, the 2020 Cup Series champion from Dawsonville, Georgia, led nine of 60-scheduled laps and fended off Carson Hocevar with eight laps remaining to record his third career Daytona Duel victory.

The three-time Cup Series champion from Middletown, Connecticut, led 15 of 63 over-scheduled laps and survived an overtime shootout for his fourth Daytona Duel victory.