Carson Hocevar capped off a busy triple-header weekend of racing at Daytona International Speedway by being in a prime position to win his first Daytona 500 event until a spin on the final lap derailed his hopes to commence the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season.
The 23-year-old Hocevar from Portage, Michigan, initially commenced this year’s Daytona Speedweeks by being the 29th-fastest competitor during Wednesday’s pole qualifying run. He greatly improved his starting spot for Sunday’s Daytona 500 event to sixth place after finishing in second place behind Chase Elliott during the second America 250 Florida Duel event on Thursday.
Hocevar then endured a pair of rough outcomes during the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ season-opening events at Daytona between Friday and Saturday. During the Truck event, where he competed with Spire Motorsports, he won the first stage period, but was involved in three separate spins, most of which occurred due to blowing rear tires and retiring in 35th place of the 37-truck field due to suspension issues. Hocevar then competed with Young’s Motorsports for the O’Reilly opener at Daytona on Saturday. After being involved in two separate incidents, he managed to finish in 20th place of the 38-car field.
With Sunday’s Daytona 500 event next on his schedule, Hocevar was shuffled towards the midpack region, which he spent for the majority of the first stage period. Through a late cycle of green flag pit stops, Hocevar opted to strategically remain on the track for stage points. Ultimately, he racked up seven by settling in fourth place when the first stage period concluded on Lap 65. In addition, Hocevar’s teammates at Spire Motorsports, Daniel Suarez and Michael McDowell, also racked up stage points by finishing sixth and seventh, respectively.
Shuffled back to 18th place to commence the second stage period, Hocevar mirrored his run throughout the first stage period by racing within the midpack region. After dodging two multi-car wrecks, he settled in 24th place to cap off the stage on Lap 130. Restarting in 17th place to commence the final stage period with 65 laps remaining, Hocevar was still mired within the mid-pack region on the leaderboard, but was racing amongst the leaders through tight three-wide formation.
Then, after strategically pitting under green for a final time for fuel with less than 15 laps remaining, Hocevar cycled up to the front of the pack. With nine laps remaining, he was scored in third place when a late caution that flew with nine laps remaining jumbled up the field for a late shootout. During a four-lap shootout, Hocevar drafted with teammate Michael McDowell, starting with three laps remaining as the former pushed the latter to the lead for two laps. Hocevar then used a run through the backstretch to overtake McDowell and lead with two laps remaining.
Shortly after leading the final lap, Hocevar got turned off the front nose of Erik Jones. The contact caused Hocevar to slap the outside wall before he spun back across the track and through the frontstretch’s infield, where he was just dodged by McDowell before both McDowell and Jones would also spin. With a last-lap opportunity to win both the Daytona 500 and his first Cup Series career event evaporated from the spin, Hocevar nursed his No. 77 Spectrum/Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry to an 18th-place result.
Hocevar’s 18th-place result marks his career-best result in the Daytona 500 after he previously finished 40th and 30th, respectively, during his first two starts in the Great American Race. Combined with seven stage points, Hocevar is ranked in ninth place with 36 points to commence the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season and his season-long pursuit to make his first-ever Chase.
Amid the disappointment, Hocevar was left pleased with being in contention of winning his first Daytona 500 event as he shifts his focus towards next weekend’s event at EchoPark Speedway, a track where Hocevar achieved his career-best Cup result of second place a year ago.
“I don’t really know what happened, other than I felt like I got a good shot in the rear, but they’re a little offset,” Hocevar said on FOX. “I was just trying to just get our lane rolling, but really proud of these [No. 77] guys. At least it wasn’t a tire or a motor or some other freak deal. He went on to say, “I go to bed in the night knowing that and knowing that I don’t know what I would really do different.”
“I was just really proud of our effort and our car, felt like we could push no matter who it was to lead and go forward, and then run lanes, but I was a lot better pushing. Just felt like we were gonna be in a good shot and felt really good about today and it was so close. Thank goodness Dan Towers [CEO of TWG Motorsports] and Jeff Dickerson [co-owner of Spire Motorsports] believe in me and they get to let me have a lot more shots at this Daytona 500 thing. Besides the year, that’s good points, and between the Duel and the stage and then, having a shot with our speed and going to a track I really like. Hopefully, we can make something of this.”
Carson Hocevar’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 is slated to commence at 3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN Radio, SiriusXM and HBO MAX.
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.
For much of the final lap of the 2026 Daytona 500, Chase Elliott appeared to be in a position to achieve his first Daytona 500 victory. Instead, Elliott’s hopes of winning evaporated just shy of the finish line as a final lap carnage relegated him to a top-five result.
The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion from Dawsonville, Georgia, endured a strong Daytona Speedweeks that commenced by being the ninth-fastest competitor following Wednesday’s pole qualifying run. Elliott’s chances of winning Sunday’s Daytona 500 grew stronger when he won the second America 250 Florida Duel event. The Duel victory awarded Elliott the fourth-place starting spot for the main event.
Throughout the first stage period, Elliott spent a bulk of it racing towards the front and dicing with his fellow competitors. After pitting under green before the first stage’s conclusion, Elliott settled in 18th place. He would finish in 18th place for a second consecutive time, this time following the second stage period despite dodging two multi-car wrecks.
Restarting in eighth place at the start of the final stage period with 65 laps remaining, Elliott battled towards the front for the majority of the stage. Despite getting shuffled towards the midpack region following his final green-flag pit stop for fuel with less than 15 laps remaining, an opportunity presented itself for Elliott when a caution that flew with nine laps remaining jumbled up the field for a four-lap shootout.
Restarting in 15th place during the shootout, Elliott then capitalized on final lap spins that knocked out the leaders, Carson Hocevar and Michael McDowell, to bolt to the front with drafting help from Zane Smith. After battling both Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Tyler Reddick for the lead amid a three-wide battle through the first two turns, Elliott received another draft from Smith from the outside lane to storm ahead through the backstretch.
Elliott proceeded to lead through the backstretch and Turns 3 and 4 before he got separated from Smith. With Reddick reeling in, Elliott was unable to block Reddick’s crossover move to the left that allowed the latter to get underneath the former towards the double yellow line. At the same time, Riley Herbst, who was drafting Reddick, made his move to the right of Elliott’s No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry as Elliott was also unable to block Herbst.
Then, after Herbst and Brad Keselowski made contact against the outside wall, Herbst veered back to the left, clipped and sent Elliott head-on into the wall. Despite the hard impact, Elliott managed to limp his damaged entry to a fourth-place result and emerge as the highest-finishing Hendrick Motorsports competitor of the 2026 Cup opener.
Elliott’s fourth-place finish marks his third top-10 career result and second in the top-five mark in the Daytona 500. The 2026 season marked Elliott’s 11th attempt at joining his father, Bill, as a champion of the Great American Race, with the former achieving back-to-back pole positions during his first two starts (2016-17).
Despite racking up no stage points between the first two stages, Elliott is ranked in third place in the standings with 43 points as he continues his season-long pursuit to make the Chase and contend for a second Cup Series championship.
“We ended up getting gifted the lead, and [Smith] and I had got out by ourselves down the back,” Elliott said in the infield care center on FOX. “He had given me a good shove off into [Turn] 3, and then it was kind of just he and I, and at that point, I just felt momentum shift, like there was going to be another run coming behind us there at some point. Unfortunately, that was accurate, and then at that point in time, you’re just on defense. Man, that’s a really, really tough place to be, truthfully.”
“I feel like if I had thrown a double block on [Reddick], probably would have just crashed us at that point in time.” Elliott added, “I felt like you had to pick your battles. I thought maybe if somebody would pick me up on the top, you might have one more run to the line, but unfortunately ended up getting turned around.”
Chase Elliott’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 is slated to commence at 3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN Radio, SiriusXM and HBO MAX.
After concluding the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season winless, Tyler Reddick stormed back atop the competition with a thrilling victory in the 68th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, February 15.
The two-time O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion from Corning, California, only led the final lap of 200 scheduled laps in the opener. After starting in 26th place, he spent the majority of the event racing within the mid-pack region.
Reddick’s key move to victory occurred with 15 laps remaining after pitting for fuel with a bevy of Ford competitors. As the late green flag pit stops cycled through, Reddick also cycled through to the front. He was in a prime position to assume the lead when a late caution flew with nine laps remaining.
Photo by Mike Biskupski for SpeedwayMedia.com
He restarted on the front row with McDowell for a four-lap shootout. Reddick then went from being drafted to the lead to nearly losing both his momentum and draft after getting pinned in the middle of a tight three-wide battle. Reddick, though, managed to remain in contention, receiving critical drafts through every lane to remain within the top-five mark.
Then on the final lap, Reddick dodged a multi-car wreck that eliminated several front-runners, including McDowell. Reddick initially appeared to have no drafting help through the first two turns. However, he received one from teammate Riley Herbst that allowed Reddick to reel in Chase Elliott and Zane Smith. With two crossover moves, Reddick managed to overtake the latter two. He then drove away while the rest of the front-runners wrecked, approaching the finish line. It was his first victory in the Great American Race.
The starting lineup for this year’s Great American Race was determined through a single-car qualifying session. It was comprised of two rounds on Wednesday, February 11. It was followed by a pair of America 250 Florida Duels on Thursday, February 12. Through all of these on-track sessions, a total of 45 competitors, including nine open competitors, battled for 41 starting spots.
At the conclusion of Wednesday’s qualifying session, Kyle Busch achieved his first Daytona 500 pole position with a pole-winning lap at 183.651 mph in 49.006 seconds. Chase Briscoe qualified in second place and started alongside Busch with a qualifying lap of 183.687 mph in 49.023 seconds.
During Thursday’s Duels, Joey Logano won the first Duel and Chase Elliott won the second. As a result, they were awarded the third and fourth-starting spots for this year’s Daytona 500, respectively.
In the aftermath, the following competitors, including Justin Allgaier, Corey Heim, Jimmie Johnson, BJ McLeod and Casey Mears secured starting spots for this year’s Daytona 500 as open entries. Anthony Alfredo, Corey LaJoie, Chandler Smith and JJ Yeley were the four open competitors who did not qualify for the main event.
Prior to the Daytona 500, the following names, which included Chris Buescher, William Byron, Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez dropped to the rear of the field in backup entries after all wrecked their primary entries during their respective Duel events.
When the green flag waved and the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season commenced, Kyle Busch, who elected to start on the outside lane, received an early push from Chase Elliott. This allowed him to muscle ahead of Chase Briscoe entering the first two turns. He then transitioned to the inside lane in front of Briscoe before Briscoe swapped to the outside lane through the backstretch. As the field raced in two-stacked lanes amid the draft, navigating through Turns 3 and 4 along with the frontstretch, Busch edged Briscoe to lead the first lap.
During the second lap, the field fanned out to three-packed lanes through every turn and straightaway. At the front, Busch was placed on defensive mode despite leading the next two laps. Prior to the fourth lap, John Hunter Nemechek used the inside lane to both motor ahead and move in front of Busch entering the frontstretch as the former assumed the lead.
On the fourth lap, the event’s first caution flew. BJ McLeod, who was battling Tyler Reddick in the mid-pack region, snapped sideways through Turns 3 and 4 due to blowing a right-rear tire. During McLeod’s spin, he made contact with William Byron. Both Byron and Justin Allgaier scrubbed the outside wall while trying to avoid McLeod. Amid McLeod’s incident, Noah Gragson and Casey Mears sustained damage to their respective entries after the latter hit the former while both steered to the apron to avoid the carnage.
During the event’s first caution period, a majority of the field led by Nemechek pitted, primarily for fuel. The rest, led by Busch, remained on the track. Over the next several laps under caution, numerous competitors either returned to pit road or pitted for the first time to top off with fuel. Meanwhile, the leader, Busch, was the lone competitor who remained on the track without pitting.
When the event restarted under green on Lap 11, Busch received a push from Briscoe. This gave him a slight advantage exiting the frontstretch. But Joey Logano charged back alongside Busch through the first two turns. As the field navigated through the backstretch, Logano used the draft from Nemechek, and a bevy of competitors from the inside lane to motor ahead through Turns 3 and 4. Logano then made a bold move to slide in front of Busch. He led the next lap before he transitioned back to the inside lane and dueled with Busch for the lead.
Just past the Lap 15 mark, the top-39 competitors were separated by less than three seconds of one another, with the top 27 being separated by less than two seconds while the top 16 were separated by a second. At the front, Nemechek, who navigated his way back to the lead on Lap 14, was leading. Nemechek led through Lap 18 before Logano led the next lap. Nemechek then reassumed the lead by Lap 20. Logano, Brad Keselowski, Busch, Josh Berry, Briscoe, Ty Dillon, Shane van Gisbergen, Cole Custer, and Chase Elliott were racing in the top 10.
Through the Lap 25 mark and with the field racing in two-wide formation, while a majority of the competitors opted to race in single-line formation on the outside lane, Nemechek continued to hold a steady lead over Logano, Keselowski, Busch, and Berry, while Briscoe, Ty Dillon, van Gisbergen, Cole Custer and Elliott were racing in the top 10, respectively. Behind, Austin Dillon, Ty Gibbs, Kyle Larson, Christopher Bel, Denny Hamlin, rookie Connor Zilisch, Todd Gilliland, Zane Smith, Buesche,r and Erik Jones occupied the top-20 spots. Meanwhile, Ryan Blaney, Allgaier, Austin Cindric, Bubba Wallace, Ross Chastain, AJ Allmendinger, Cody Ware, Byron, Michael McDowell, and Noah Gragson trailed in the top 30, respectively, while Jimmie Johnson was mired towards the tail end of the lead lap field.
Ten laps later, the field fanned out to three-packed lanes as Briscoe was drafted to the lead from a long drafting lane that included teammate Ty Gibbs. Briscoe assumed command over Logano, and he proceeded to drive in defensive mode by blocking both Gibbs towards the outside wall and Logano from the middle lane while Nemechek tried to mount a charge from a third drafted lane towards the inside lane. Then, entering the frontstretch, Busch got sideways in front of Christopher Bell and made contact with Keselowski. Amid the contact, Keselowski, who went off the track, managed to blend back on the racing surface without spinning.
Another 10 laps later, Briscoe continued to both lead and drive defensively while blocking three-packed lanes through every turn and straightaway. Behind Briscoe, Ty Gibbs led a charge from the outside lane towards the outside wall, and Logano led a middle lane while Nemechek led the third inside lane towards the apron. Through various shuffling within the stacked field, Briscoe continued to lead by Lap 50 just before Busch, Ty Dillon, Berry, Allmendinger, and Mears peeled off the racetrack to pit for fuel under green.
On Lap 56, a quartet of competitors that included Logano, Keselowski, Allgaier, and Nemechek pitted for fuel under green. Then two laps later, Jimmie Johnson spun while trying to enter pit road with a bevy of Toyota competitors, including the leader, Briscoe. Despite briefly getting his entry stalled on the frontstretch grass while sideways, Johnson managed to nurse his entry onto pit road without drawing a caution. Another lap later, another wave of competitors led by Elliott and including teammate Byron, who scrubbed the outside wall a few laps earlier, pitted. Amid the pit stops, Todd Gilliland, who was among several who had not yet pitted, assumed command before he was overtaken by teammate Zane Smith.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 65, Zane Smith captured the first Cup stage victory of the 2026 season. Austin Cindric, Ryan Blaney, Carson Hocevar, and Daniel Suarez followed suit in the top five while Chris Buescher, Michael McDowell, Ryan Preece, Alex Bowman, and Noah Gragson were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, the top-10 finishers of the first stage period opted not to pit and instead, pursue stage points. They all finished more than 30 seconds ahead of the rest of the field, led by 11th-place finisher Briscoe.
Throughout the first stage period, 13 lead changes occurred while seven competitors, including Stage 1 winner Zane Smith, led at least a lap. Under the event’s first stage break period, the field led by Smith returned to pit road for both tires and more fuel. Following the pit stops, Hocevar exited pit road first, and he was followed by Blaney, Buescher, Suarez, Cindric, Briscoe, Preece, Riley Herbst, Denny Hamlin, and Zane Smith, respectively.
The second stage period started on Lap 71 as teammates Blaney and Cindric occupied the front row in front of Buescher, Hamlin, Briscoe, Wallace, Zane Smith, Reddick, McDowell, and Bell, respectively. At the start, Cindric received a draft from Hamlin from the inside lane to motor ahead of Blaney through the first two turns. Cindric then darted to the right and moved in front of Blaney and a long line of competitors through the backstretch. With the draft working to his advantage, Cindric cycled back to the frontstretch and led the next lap.
At the Lap 75 mark, Hamlin, who spent the previous four laps reeling in on Cindric, emerged as the leader after he was drafted by Bubba Wallace through the first two turns a lap prior. With Hamlin transitioning to the outside lane and keeping Cindric and a bevy of competitors drafting him, Wallace then mounted a charge from the inside lane as the latter head teammate Tyler Reddick drafting him during the next lap. With the field fanning out to three lanes, Wallace led a lap for himself on Lap 77 as he continued to duel with Hamlin.
On Lap 79, a tight three-wide battle for the lead ensued as Cody Ware, who received the free pass to cycle back on the lead lap following the first stage’s conclusion, came storming from the inside lane with drafting help from Kyle Larson. With Wallace getting pinned in the middle lane and Hamlin mired up in the outside lane, Ware led the next lap. With Wallace and Hamlin getting shuffled out of the top-two spots, Ross Chastain then made his move beneath Ware and dueled against him for the lead during the following lap as the field fanned out to three-wide formation.
Then on Lap 85, the caution flew when Zilisch, who made a bold move beneath Allgaier in an attempt to take the lead entering the frontstretch, barely scrubbed against Allgaier as Chastain reeled in behind Allgaier. This ignited a chain reaction as Ware, who was barely hit by Chastain on the right side, veered to the left and clipped both Gibbs into Zilisch and Briscoe, where the latter was hit by Austin Dillon while spinning through the frontstretch’s grass. Meanwhile, Gibbs also spun through the frontstretch’s grass while Zilisch spun through the apron, came up the frontstretch’s tri-oval, and was barely hit by Gilliland before he spun back down through the grass.
Amid the carnage, Ty Dillon, who had overtaken both Allgaier and Zilisch prior to the incident, was scored the leader, followed by Allgaier, Chastain, Wallace, and Ware. During the caution, the field led by Allgaier pitted for service. Following the pit stops and with mixed pit strategies ensuing, Chastain exited pit road first, and he was followed by Larson, Hamlin, Busch, and Cindric.
The start of the next restart on Lap 91 featured Chastain and Larson on the front row, where Chastain rocketed ahead of Larson with drafting help from Hamlin from the outside lane. Chastain proceeded to lead through the first two turns and the backstretch before Larson came storming back from the inside lane with drafting help from Busch. However, Chastain motored back ahead entering the frontstretch as he led the next lap.
Chastain maintained the lead over the next two laps before Cindric tried to motor ahead by Lap 94. As the field fanned out to three-wide formation, Cindric motored ahead with no drafting help, and he was quickly overtaken by the drafting duo of Chastain and Hamlin, with the former maintaining the lead during the next lap.
At the halfway mark on Lap 100, the top-35 competitors were racing within two seconds of one another, with the top 25 separated by within a second. The leader at the mark was Chastain, while Buescher, van Gisbergen, Cindric, Blaney, Zane Smith, Larson, Hamlin, Keselowski, and Busch were in the top 10. Behind, Allgaier, Corey Heim, Wallace, Herbst, Custer, Ty Gibbs, Elliott, Byron, Nemechek, and Berry trailed in the top 20 as McDowell, Gilliland, Bell, Bowman, and Logano followed suit in the top-25 mark, respectively.
Fifteen laps later, Busch, Larson, van Gisbegen, Blaney, Chastain, and Hamlin were engaged in a tight battle for the lead and in front of two-stacked lanes, with Busch leading the inside lane while Larson led the outside lane. As both Busch and Larson continued to battle dead even for the lead past the Lap 115 mark, the former led through the Lap 120 mark as he had Blaney, Hamlin, Larson, and Allgaier reeling in for the top spot.
Then on Lap 123, the Big One erupted through the frontstretch when Allgaier tried to move up the track to stall a hard charge from Hamlin, the latter of whom received a strong draft. Instead, Allgaier and Hamlin made contact that resulted with Allgaier, who was squeezing Hamlin towards the outside wall, getting turned sideways and igniting a stack-up that sent numerous competitors wrecking and spinning. In total, 20 competitors, including Chastain, Cindric, Larson, Busch, Blaney, Logano, Byron, Herbst, Bowman, Ty Gibbs, and van Gisbergen, wrecked.
Amid the carnage, Wallace escaped with the lead. The latest multi-car wreck was enough for the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 130 to officially conclude under caution. As a result, Wallace was awarded the second stage victory. He was followed by Blaney, Nemechek, Busch, Herbst, Heim, Buescher, Reddick, Logano, and Suarez, respectively.
By then, the event featured 39 lead changes and 19 different leaders, including Stage 2 winner Bubba Wallace. During the event’s second stage break period, the lead lap field led by Wallace pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Wallace exited first, and he was followed by teammate Heim, Buescher, teammate Herbst, Bell, Custer, Berry, Elliott, Keselowski, and Gragson. Several competitors, including Busch, returned to pit road to top off with fuel prior to the start of the final stage period as Wallace continued to lead.
With 65 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as teammates Wallace and Heim occupied the front row in front of Buescher, teammate Herbst, Berry, Bell, Elliott, Custer, Keselowski, and Gragson. At the start, Wallace and Heim dueled for the lead in front of two stacked for nearly a full lap as Wallace received a push from Buescher from the outside lane to lead the next lap. Heim then led the next lap by a hair from the inside lane as the field fanned out to three-packed lanes, with Bell mounting a charge towards the outside lane. With Bell leading the outside lane, Wallace getting pinned in the middle lane, and Heim settling in the inside lane, the trio of Toyota competitors continued to duel against one another in front of the pack with 60 laps remaining.
Down to the final 50 laps, the Toyota trio of Bell, Wallace, and Heim continued to duel against one another in front of three-stacked lanes through every turn and straightaway. By then, Custer, Buescher, and Herbst were the next trio of competitors dueling in three-wide formation for fourth place while Preece, Berry, and Elliott followed suit through a third three-wide formation. As Heim, Wallace, and Bell all continued to duel three-wide for the lead, the top-27 competitors were racing within a second of one another while the top 31 were separated by one-and-a-half seconds with 45 laps remaining.
The top-26 competitors stretching from the leader, Wallace, and back to 26th-place Ty Dillon were separated by under a second from one another with 35 laps remaining. By then, Wallace, who spent the majority of the final stage’s start dueling with teammate Heim and Bell in a three-wide formation, had new challengers that included Custer, Buescher, Berry, and Preece reeling in through two lanes while Bell tried to keep pace from the inside lane along with Heim and Herbst.
Ten laps later (25 laps remaining) and as the on-track intensity continued to intensify, Wallace, who spent the majority of the final stage period leading the middle lane, transitioned to the inside lane in front of Bell, but he continued to hold steady with a narrow lead and amid the tight three-wide pack. Behind Custer, who was being drafted by Preece, challenged from the outside lane, while Buescher was leading the middle lane, being drafted by Berry. Buescher and Custer continued to duel against Wallace from the middle and outside lanes, respectively, and in front of the stacked field, while Wallace retained the lead with 20 laps remaining.
A lap later, the leader, Wallace, along with Toyota teammates Heim, Bell, and Herbst, surrendered their track positions to pit for fuel under green. A trio of Toyota competitors that included Hamlin, Erik Jones, and Johnson pitted two laps later while the rest led of the field led by Buescher continued to remain on the track.
Then, with 16 laps remaining, the leader Buescher, along with Berry, Gragson, Preece, Nemechek, Allmendinger, Keselowski, Reddick, and Custer, pitted their respective entries as both Chastain and Busch battled for the lead during the following two laps. More competitors over the next lap.
With the field scattered as the pit stops for nearly the entire field cycled through with 10 laps remaining, McDowell, who has yet to pit, was leading by nearly half of the track. Meanwhile, Keselowski was briefly leading the rest of the field that had pitted along with Buescher before Reddick boosted his way to the front and battled Keselowski for the runner-up spot. Reddick then assumed command as he had McDowell, Byron, and Wallace drafting.
With nine laps remaining, the caution flew when Heim made contact with Hamlin, which sent the latter into teammate Bell, with both Joe Gibbs Racing drivers smacking the outside wall and causing the field to scatter to avoid the incident. Heim, Erik Jones, and Preece also smacked the outside wall amid the chain reaction, with Bell sustaining the most damage and a broken right front.
At the moment of caution, the leader McDowell was the lone competitor who had not yet pitted, but the caution played to his favor as he elected to remain on the track with the lead. During the caution period, some, including Larson, Allmendinger, Cody Ware, Johnson, Suarez, Custer, and Herbst, pitted while the rest remained on the track.
As the event restarted under green with four laps remaining, McDowell and Reddick occupied the front row. At the start, both dueled for the lead before Reddick muscled ahead from the inside lane with drafting help from Byron. The field quickly fanned out to three lanes through the backstretch as Reddick tried to go on defensive mode. Reddick, however, got pinned in the middle lane as McDowell and Byron threaded the needle. Reddick, though, regained his momentum with drafting help from teammate Wallace, but Spire Motorsports’ McDowell and Hocevar drafted their way to the lead during the next lap. McDowell and Hocevar, along with Jones and Reddick, managed to slightly break away from the three-wide field during the next lap.
When the white flag waved, and the final lap started, Hocevar, who navigated his way to the lead over McDowell through the backstretch, was leading ahead of the pack stacked three lanes through the frontstretch. Shortly after, Hocevar got turned into the outside wall after he was bumped by Jones. This caused Hocevar to spin through the infield along with teammate McDowell and Jones while Byron briefly went off the track. Despite more competitors that included Ty Dillon, Nemechek, Custer, Blaney, and Johnson wrecking entering the first two turns, the event remained under green as Stenhouse, Elliott, and Reddick battled dead even in three-wide formation and in front of a scattered field for the lead.
Through the backstretch, Elliott received a push from Zane Smith to rocket ahead of Stenhouse and Reddick while Logano was also trying to reel in on Smith. Behind, Herbst gave Reddick a push that enabled Reddick to muscle into third place. With Herbst, Logano, Keselowski, Stenhouse, and Buescher trying to reel in through the backstretch, Elliott led Smith through Turns 3 and 4.
Then, entering the frontstretch, Reddick darted to the right and overtook Smith with Herbst drafting Reddick. Reddick then darted to the left beneath Elliott while Herbst tried to make a move to the right of Elliott. Herbst then got turned by Keselowski, and he came back down the track and clipped Elliott. As Elliott, Herbst, Keselowski, Logano, Stenhouse, Smith, and Buescher all wrecked entering the tri-oval, Reddick escaped the carnage and stormed to the checkered flag with the victory by three-tenths of a second.
Photo by Mike Biskupski for SpeedwayMedia.com
With the victory, Reddick became the 44th competitor to win the Daytona 500 and the first Californian to achieve the feat since Jimmie Johnson made the previous achievement in 2013. He also joins Kurt Busch, Austin Dillon, and Michael McDowell as the only Daytona 500 champions to win the event after only leading the final lap.
Reddick, who finished in the runner-up spot during the 2025 Daytona 500 and went winless throughout the 2025 campaign, notched his ninth career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his first at Daytona in the Cup circuit and first since he won at Homestead-Miami Speedway in October 2024. The Californian also delivered the fourth Daytona 500 victory for the Toyota nameplate, the first for crew chief Billy Scott and the first for 23XI Racing.
“Last year was really hard for all of us [at 23XI Racing], hard for me,” Reddick said on the frontstretch on FOX. “When you’re a Cup driver, and you get to this level, and drive for [co-owner] Michael Jordan, it’s expected you win every single year. For us to go on that drought that we did made us really look hard in the mirror. [I’m] Just really proud of everyone on the Chumba Casino Toyota Camry. [I] Worked really, really hard in the off-season. There were many points in this race we weren’t making the decisions that we wanted to, but we just reset and every opportunity that we got to restack, we went back at it.”
“We had the lead there when that caution came out, lining up next to McDowell,” Reddick added. “We just kind of kept getting hung a couple of times in the closing laps there. Every time we kind of break up, there’d be someone really with nowhere left to go but to push, and they pushed me. Obviously, my teammate Riley Herbst gave me lot of pushes there and then tried to win the race for himself as he should in the end. Incredible how it all played out. True Daytona madness…[I] Never thought [I’d] be a Daytona 500 champion.”
Like Reddick, Michael Jordan, co-owner of 23XI Racing and a lifelong NASCAR fan, was left ecstatic as he achieved his first Daytona 500 victory. The organization’s first victory in the event occurred two months after reaching a settlement with NASCAR amid a lawsuit battle over unfair charter agreements that had spanned for more than a year. During his post-race interview in Victory Lane, Jordan also credited the teamwork executed by all four 23XI Racing teams, including Riley Herbst, as the latter drafted Reddick to the victory.
“I can’t even believe it,” Jordan said. “It was so gratifying. We have four guys that were really fighting, that was helping each other out. You never know how these races gonna end. It’s like you’re just trying to survive. I thought Riley [Herbst] did an unbelievable job by pushing at the end. That just shows you what teamwork can really, really do. He doesn’t get enough credit. He won’t get enough credit, but we feel the love. We understand exactly what he did. We just hung in there all day. Great strategy by the team. We gave ourselves a chance at the end. I’m ecstatic. I don’t even know what to say. It feels like I won a championship, but until I get my ring, I won’t even know.”
Amid the carnage, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., the 2023 Daytona 500 champion, claimed second place while Joey Logano, Chase Elliott and Brad Keselowski, all of whom wrecked across the finish line, finished in the top five. Zane Smith, Chris Buescher and Riley Herbst, all of whom also wrecked while streaking across the finish line finished sixth through eighth, respectively, while Josh Berry and Bubba Wallace completed the top 10.
Notably, William Byron, who was striving for a historic three-peat in the Daytona 500, ended up in 12th place, and Kyle Busch settled in 15th place in front of Kyle Larson. Meanwhile, the trio of Carson Hocevar, Erik Jones, and Michael McDowell fell back to 18th, 21st, and 22nd, respectively, amid their final-lap spins.
There were 66 lead changes for 26 different leaders, and five cautions for 32 laps. In addition, 25 of 41 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the first event of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, Tyler Reddick leads the standings by 17 points over Zane Smith, 19 over Chris Buescher, 21 over Bubba Wallace, 22 over Joey Logano, and 23 over Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Riley Herbst apiece.
Results:
1. Tyler Reddick, one lap led 2. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., four laps led 3. Joey Logano, nine laps led 4. Chase Elliott, two laps led 5. Brad Keselowski 6. Zane Smith, nine laps led, Stage 1 winner 7. Chris Buescher, four laps led 8. Riley Herbst 9. Josh Berry, one lap led 10. Bubba Wallace, 40 laps led, Stage 2 winner 11. Noah Gragson 12. William Byron 13. Daniel Suarez 14. Ty Dillon, three laps led 15. Kyle Busch, 19 laps led 16. Kyle Larson, seven laps led 17. Cody Ware, two laps led 18. Carson Hocevar, one lap led 19. AJ Allmendinger, one lap led 20. Ross Chastain, 12 laps led 21. Erik Jones 22. Michael McDowell, 10 laps led 23. Ty Gibbs 24. Cole Custer 25. Ryan Preece 26. John Hunter Nemechek – OUT, Accident, 19 laps led 27. Ryan Blaney – OUT, Accident, two laps led 28. Corey Heim, one lap down, eight laps led 29. Jimmie Johnson – OUT, Accident 30. Shane van Gisbergen, one lap down three laps led 31. Denny Hamlin, two laps down, three laps led 32. Casey Mears, five laps down 33. Connor Zilisch, five laps down 34. Austin Cindric, seven laps down, five laps led 35. Christopher Bell – OUT, Accident, nine laps led 36. Chase Briscoe, 12 laps down, 23 laps led 37. Austin Dillon – OUT, Accident 38. Justin Allgaier – OUT, Accident, three laps led 39. Todd Gilliland – OUT, Accident, one lap led 40. Alex Bowman – OUT, Accident 41. BJ McLeod – OUT, Accident
With the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season officially underway, the next event on the schedule is EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, Georgia, for the Autotrader 400. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, February 22, and air at 3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN Radio, SiriusXM, and HBO MAX.
Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Chevrolet Team Show Speed Before Multi-Car Accident Derails Strong Performance
Finish: 37th Start: 7th Points: 32nd
“Not how we wanted to start the season. The Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Chevrolet was really fast this week and that’s a testament to all of the work that everyone does at RCR, ECR, and CT Spring Company. We were in a good position when the wreck happened in front of me. I bailed to pit road and unfortunately the No. 19 was there in the smoke. Proud of the guys for hustling to fix the car so we could go gain a few positions. That is going to pay dividends in this points format.” -Austin Dillon
Kyle Busch and the No. 8 zone Jalapeno Lime Chevrolet Team Earn Pole Position and Top-15 Finish at Daytona International Speedway
Finish: 15th Start: 1st Points: 14th
“We unloaded in Daytona Beach with a fast No. 8 zone Jalapeno Lime Chevrolet so great effort by everyone at RCR, ECR, and CT Spring Company. It was good to win the pole and lead laps. Unfortunately, we got off on balance during the Daytona 500, making our Chevy darty and hard to drive. After we got caught in on-track contact, we lost position that we were never able to earn back. Turning our focus to Atlanta.” -Kyle Busch
Date: Feb. 15, 2026 Event: 68th Running of the Daytona 500 (Round 1 of 36) Series: NASCAR Cup Series Location: Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway (2.5-mile oval) Format: 200 laps, broken into three stages (65 laps/65 laps/70 laps) Race Winner: Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing (Toyota) Stage 1 Winner: Zane Smith of Front Row Motorsports (Ford) Stage 2 Winner: Bubba Wallace of 23XI Racing (Toyota)
RWR Race Finish:
● Cody Ware (Started 33rd, Finished 17th / Running, completed 200 of 200 laps)
RWR Points:
● Cody Ware (19th with 20 points)
RWR Notes:
● This was Ware’s sixth career start in the Daytona 500 and his 10th career NASCAR Cup Series start at Daytona. His best Daytona finish remains fourth, earned in August 2024 in the Coke Zero Sugar 400.
● This was Ware’s sixth top-20 at Daytona and his seventh straight top-25 finish at the 2.5-mile oval.
● Ware led once for two laps to bring his laps-led total at Daytona to 25.
Race Notes:
● Tyler Reddick won the Daytona 500 to score his ninth career NASCAR Cup Series victory and his first at Daytona. His margin of victory over second-place Ricky Stenhouse Jr., was .308 of a second.
● There were five caution periods for a total of 32 laps.
● Only 25 of the 41 drivers in the Daytona 500 finished on the lead lap.
● Reddick leaves Daytona as the championship leader with a 17-point advantage over second-place Zane Smith.
Sound Bites:
“The No. 51 Jacob Construction Chevrolet was super-fast and we were able to get to the front, lead some laps and just continue to build on the awesome improvements we’ve had with Chevrolet. Our result didn’t show the speed, but still an awesome day. It gives us a lot of confidence going into Atlanta next weekend.” – Cody Ware, driver of the No. 51 Jacob Construction Chevrolet
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Autotrader 400 on Sunday, Feb. 22 at EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. The race begins at 3 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
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.
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I don’t know. The whole race just didn’t really go as well as I would have hoped. In the first stage, when everyone stayed out and made it, we didn’t go for that. So, we lost points there. And it kind of still set us back. You know, we had a hard time just getting back up there. We had a great pit cycle, but no one was great with us. So, we lost all the position we gained on pit road when I got swallowed up by the field. And then made a great move at the end, got three wide on top, got to the front. I had an opportunity to get underneath the Spire cars. It felt like it was the right move, I made it, and the car was just slow at the end. I think the damage I got from the wreck earlier hurt it more than I expected when I put it back out in the wind which made me go back a little bit.” TO SALVAGE A TOP FIVE UNDER THIS NEW POINTS SYSTEM, DOES THAT GIVE YOU SOME CONCESSION? “Yeah, I’m not upset. I mean, we finished third in the Daytona 500. Honestly, we’ve led a lot of laps in this race and we haven’t seen the finish in years. So… I saw the finish. I ended up in the same place, you know, the infield care center, but I saw the finish this time and that’s much better.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Castrol Ford Mustang Dark Horse – A FIFTH-PLACE FINISH IN THE DAYTONA 500. HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL? “Good and bad. You know? I’m happy that we were so competitive today, and where I was a few weeks ago, to just be able to run the race, feels pretty good. But then super disappointed. I had a big run off of turn four and I felt like I could have made a three wide pass for the lead at the line, and the 35 just dumped me in the wall. But he got his part of it. All in all, we made something of it with a top five day.”
EVERYTHING FEELING OK AFTER THE INCIDENT? “Yeah, great. Yeah, feel real good.”
ZANE SMITH, No. 38 Speedy Cash Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “It’s painful that the 45 was, I guess, in my position, but I know I didn’t have the run on the 9 that I needed to win and so I tried backing up to any help I could get, and then obviously it fell apart there at the end. All in all, it’s a great growing day for us and some great points scored, but frustrating to be that close and just miss out.” YOU WERE IN POSITION TO WIN, WHICH IS ALL YOU GUYS SAY YOU CAN ASK FOR. “For sure. It’s not every day you have a shot to win the Daytona 500, so that feels great and I feel like there were some great points scored, just not quite enough.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Body Guard Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “It was nuts right there at the finish. I’m really proud of everybody to take this Body Guard Ford Mustang from dead last on the field and run it up to a top 10 finish. It’s impressive. This team did such a phenomenal job. We are continuously in the hunt to win these things. We had a teammate with us this time, but just couldn’t close it. There were a couple good blocks from some others that really stalled us out.” WHAT DID YOU FEEL OUT THERE AS FAR AS PUSHING? “Our car pushed really well. I watched a lot of people struggle with handling, especially when the sun was out. It seemed like it got a lot better those last 50 laps and I think that made the racing so much tighter off of four. I think we would have had some bigger lifts had the end of the race been an hour earlier, but it was still a good run all the way to the end. I’m proud of RFK. Everybody on this team, I can’t thank them enough. That was our backup car and that was a lot of work for everybody on this team and they did a phenomenal job.”
JOSH BERRY, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “We really just tried to stay with Chris and Brad the best I could, but it seemed like I could stay pretty close to them but whoever was behind me would lose me and we couldn’t get it going like we wanted. All in all, it was a solid final stage. We had a complete disaster in the first stage and rebounded really well and gave ourselves a chance at it at the end.” YOU WERE IN POSITION TO WIN ON THAT LAST RESTART. DID YOU THINK YOU COULD POTENTIALLY WIN? “Yes and no. I wanted to be a little bit further forward than we were. We just had the cycle work out and we slipped back a little bit further than I wanted, but we were still in striking distance. You see how much happens in the last couple of laps, but, all in all, we ran a good race and we had a really good Motorcraft/Quick Lane Mustang. I’m really proud of the guys.”
NOAH GRAGSON, No. 4 Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang Dark Horse – YOU HAD SOME ADVERSITY EARLY ON, BUT YOU CAME BACK AND WAS RIGHT THERE AT THE END. “Yeah. We had a decent opportunity at the end, but the 66 gave us a bunch of damage on lap five. That sucked because that parachuted me with the left-rear and we had no real straight line speed after that. It is what it is, but we’ll keep on trying to finish races and enjoy it. We’ll be alright.”
AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “It was definitely a shame to get caught up in that wreck. Wrong lane, wrong time for that to all happen. That’s the way it goes, but we had a fast Ford Mustang Dark Horse. The Discount Tire boys and everybody did a great job to get our track position and get some stage points and in position really to get more there. It’s good to work with the Ford boys, but we just weren’t able to see it to the end and, unfortunately, not able to make enough of an impact to help a Ford win the race. I expect us to have a lot of the same opportunities next week and we’ll try to make the most of them.”
TODD GILLILAND, No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I don’t know what happened, but that’s two incidents that were completely out of my control. The first one only really got me and the second one was in my lap again. I guess that’s how these things go sometimes. It just really sucks. We made our way all the way back up there in our Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang Dark Horse and that was really impressive, but we’ll just have to do what we can next week.”
NASCAR Cup Series Daytona International Speedway Daytona 500 Team Chevy Post-Race Report February 15, 2026
Stenhouse Jr., Elliott Lead Chevrolet with Top-Five Finishes in the “Great American Race”
Stage One: For the first time in his championship-earning career, Kyle Busch led NASCAR’s top division to the green flag from the pole position for the 68th running of the DAYTONA 500. The speed of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet prevailed on the start with Busch taking over the top position to lead the official opening lap of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season. Busch maintained a top-five running position throughout the first-half of the opening stage, but a loose-handling Chevrolet saw the Richard Childress Racing driver fall out of the top-10 as the team approached its first trip to pit road of the day. Busch was among the first group of cars to make the dive to pit road with 15 laps to go in the stage for a fuel-only stop. Among those electing to stretch their fuel mileage included the trio of Spire Motorsports Chevrolet’s with Carson Hocevar leading the Bowtie brigade to the first green-white checkered flag with a fourth-place stage finish.
Stage Two: The No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet team followed up a strong opening stage with a win in the race off pit road – gaining three spots to earn a fourth-place starting spot for Stage Two. In true Daytona fashion, a new pack of cars took quick command of the field that featured a strong contingency of Chevrolet-powered machines, with Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain finding the lead to bring the race to the halfway mark. Re-entering the battle for the lead was the polesitter, Kyle Busch, who progressively navigated his No. 8 Chevrolet back into the top-five. Despite an accident at the lead, Busch narrowly made his way through the carnage with minimal damage to salvage a fourth-place finish in the stage.
Final Stage: While what looked to be the final green flag pit cycle of the race, a caution flew with less than 10 laps remaining – leaving Team Chevy’s Michael McDowell in the catbird seat as one of the lone cars that had yet to hit pit road. Radio transmission from atop the No. 71 pit stop indicates that the Spire Motorsports Chevrolet was three laps to the good on fuel as the former DAYTONA 500 Champion led the field to the green flap for the restart with four laps to go. But it was the superspeedway ace, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., that survived a last-lap crash to lead Chevrolet with a runner-up finish.
Team Chevy Unofficial Top-10 Results Pos. Driver
2nd – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 4th – Chase Elliott
Chevrolet’s season statistics with one NASCAR Cup Series races complete:
The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season continues at EchoPark Speedway with the Autotrader 400 on Sunday, February 22, at 3:00 P.M. ET. Live coverage can be found on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
Post-Race Driver Quotes:
Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
Finished: 37th
“Not how we wanted to start the season. The Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Chevrolet was really fast this week and that’s a testament to all of the work that everyone does at RCR, ECR, and CT Spring Company. We were in a good position when the wreck happened in front of me. I bailed to pit road and unfortunately the No. 19 was there in the smoke. Proud of the guys for hustling to fix the car so we could go gain a few positions. That is going to pay dividends in this points format.”
Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Finished: 4th
“It seemed really fortunate to get through the first crash, and that opened the door to somehow get to the lead. But then I got pushed clear and I think the No. 38 was behind me and pushed me clear by everybody down the back, and then it was just he and I. We got a good ways out there and we were just in a lot of trouble because momentum had shifted. At that point, I was just on extreme defense, and then from there, I was just trying to defend as best I could without crashing myself, but everybody else ended up crashing anyway. Maybe I should have just wrecked myself trying to block. But, yeah, I hate that. Obviously very close but close doesn’t cut it.”
Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
Finished: 14th
“I feel really good about the day for our No. 10 Grizzly Nicotine Pounches Chevrolet team. A top-15 finish to start the year is nothing to frown about. Our Grizzly Camaro was strong. We were able to lead laps in the DAYTONA 500 again and run up front most of the day. We just have to clean some things up so we can keep ourselves up front at the right times. I’m proud of this team’s effort. Everyone worked hard all week to continue to chip away at this race car. By the time we got to the last stage, it was the best it was all weekend. That’s all you can ask for and we’ll go onto Atlanta with some momentum.”
AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
Finished: 18th
“Just one of those races where you are just trying to be smart and be patient. Just trying to be smart the first two-thirds of the race and not getting in anything. Did a good job of that. We had to wait a little longer and I was basically at the tail end of the pack and we made a call there to try to do tires and it’s just hard to go anywhere on those restarts. I felt like every lane I would get in, I would get checked up and go to the back again. Technically, we missed the wreck, didn’t save it and did a 360 and that cost us some spots. But, yeah, just happy to come out unscathed and all in one piece and go do this again in Atlanta.”
William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Finished: 12th
“We had a lot of damage on our car from the Stage One incident. Our right-front suspension was bent, so the car was driving really weird and it was just super, super loose, as well as tight as the same time. I couldn’t believe we had a shot there at the end. I thought that was amazing. It was a great strategy with the fuel sequence, and I thought, man, we have a shot with lining up on the front two rows. That’s all you can ask for. I thought Tyler (Reddick) was out to a pretty decent lead on the restart, and I thought the bottom was the place to be. There was one time I got clear and I probably could have taken the middle, but I didn’t know if the balance of my car could handle being there. I just had to keep my car straight, so I thought if I tried to make a block, I would wreck. It was just incredible that we had a shot at it there at the end.”
Justin Allgaier, No. 40 JR Motorsports Chevrolet
Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident at the end of Stage Two.
Finished: 38th
“Unfortunately, I’m going to have to take 100 percent of the responsibility for that one. I hate it for everyone that got caught up in it. I felt like our No. 40 Traveller Whiskey Chevrolet was incredible all day. Greg Ives (crew chief) and this whole team have done a phenomenal job building a race car that we felt like we could come here and not only run up front, but be able to lead laps.
I got to the top lane there and I watched the run coming on the top with Denny (Hamlin). I thought he was going to push. I thought the lane was closed up just enough that he wouldn’t try to go up there, but when I realized he was going up there, it was just too late. Once the air kind of got on the spoiler, it just turned me to the right. I hate it for everyone that got caught up in it because it wasn’t what we wanted.
But hats-off to Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kelley Earnhardt Miller, everyone at JR Motorsports, for this opportunity. To have Traveller Whiskey and Chris Stapleton back on board, it was great to be out front and be able to lead the DAYTONA 500. Thank you to all of our partners and the Hendrick Engine Shop. We had big power today and that was really what it came down to. We’ll go back and regroup. I’m going to watch this video back a lot and really try to figure out what I could have done better.”
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet
Finished: 2nd
“It’s never bad to finish in the top-five in the Daytona 500. It’s a big race and we have left here finishing in the 30s and have been pretty down about that. So, on one hand, it’s good because our strategy worked out perfectly today. We stuck to it. It was brutal riding around there for a while. Not sure what the Toyota’s were doing, but I think that made the race pretty boring there for a while for the fans. It was chaos after they pitted, so yeah, our No. 47 Chef Boyardee Chevrolet was as strong as I needed it to be. It did the things I wanted, but we just came up one spot short.”
Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident at the end of Stage Two.
Finished: 40th
“It’s just unfortunate – wrong place, wrong time. We made some good moves to gain some positions back that we lost when we got stuck on pit road. I had a little thought to bail earlier, but right as I thought, I gained a lot of track position through the middle, and I was going to stick with it and see if we could get some stage points. Just wrong decision on that one. It is what it is. We will keep digging; go to Atlanta next week and try to win.”
How were the Chevrolet’s handling with the new nose?
“I think everybody’s cars are driving pretty bad from where I sat, especially off of Turn Four. I felt like I could push really well, so everything on the Chevy end was great there. It was just a lot of getting off of the throttle off Turn Four and that made the bottom really difficult to run, and it kind of brought the two grooves up the racetrack. Even the middle could get pretty sketchy. I was far enough back that I couldn’t really see what started it. I could see the No. 40 (Justin Allgaier) try and get up in front of the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin), and that is probably what caused it. But for us, just wrong place at the wrong time.”
Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet
Finished: 17th
“I think the No. 51 Jacob Construction Chevrolet was a super-fast car and we were able to get to the front; lead some laps and just continue to build on the awesome improvements we have had with Chevrolet. I think our result didn’t show the speed, but still an awesome day. Stayed on the lead lap and mitigated some mistakes we had on pit road, and I think it gives us a lot of confidence going into Atlanta next weekend.”
Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Finished: 22nd
“I’m not really sure what happened. We had two Spire Motorsports Chevrolet’s out front there, and I thought we would have a great shot to have everyone covered there. It just didn’t work out. It’s unfortunate. I feel like we put ourselves in position to win and we just didn’t get there.”
“It was a long day after the wreck, but our No. 88 Red Bull Chevrolet was getting better as the race went on and as the sun went down. We struggled a little bit when it was really hot out, but as the shade came in, we definitely started to excel a little more. We were able to get up to the front and lead a lane. But right when we got up there, that’s when we wrecked. Overall, it was a good day for me. I learned a lot and I got to experience my first DAYTONA 500. I know there will be more to come.”
About General Motors
General Motors (NYSE:GM) is driving the future of transportation, leveraging advanced technology to build safer, smarter, and lower emission cars, trucks, and SUVs. GM’s Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC brands offer a broad portfolio of innovative gasoline-powered vehicles and the industry’s widest range of EVs, as we move to an all-electric future. Learn more at GM.com.
Mission GT Challenge Inaugural Series Endurance Race Among Highlights of Successful Season-Opening HSR Sebring Pistons & Props Presented by Alan Jay Automotive Network
HSR Competitor and Pilot Bob Hahnemann Presented with HSR Best Plane Award for His Debuting Beechcraft T-34 Mentor Formerly Owned by Pioneer Astronaut Frank Borman
SEBRING, Florida (February 15, 2026) – A rapid-fire run of six Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) sprint races Sunday morning brought the 2026 edition of the HSR Sebring Pistons & Props presented by Alan Jay Automotive Network to a competitive conclusion after four days of season-opening on-track action at Sebring International Raceway. Among the weekend’s many highlights was the first full schedule of competition for the HSR Mission GT Challenge for modern GT cars, which ran its series debut 60-minute endurance race Saturday evening.
The endurance race bookended a pair of Mission GT Challenge sprints earlier on Saturday and Sunday morning, and the themes throughout the trio of races were top competition and podium parity. More than four different manufacturers and their various models of cars recorded race wins or podium finishes in Mission GT Challenge competition at Sebring.
The top winners were Ed Wheatley and his quick professional coach and co-driver Jimmy Llibre in their ACI Motorsports 2019 No. 2 Fortress Stabilization Porsche 991.2 GT3 R, and solo driver Kevin Clayton in the European Auto Garage 2020 No. 03 Mercedes-AMG GT4 supported trackside by Kingpin Racing. Wheatley, Llibre and Clayton swept the respective trio of races in the GT3 and GT4 divisions, but their locks on the win column did little to hide the mix of manufacturers who joined them on the podium throughout the weekend.
In fact, Saturday’s opening sprint race produced a pair of podiums made up of six entirely different models of cars across four different manufacturers. Llibre drove the No. 2 Porsche GT3 R to the victories in both sprints, and was joined in Saturday’s GT3 podium top three by runner-up Todd Treffert in the CRP Racing 2018 No. 141 Mercedes-AMG GT3 and third-place finisher Charles Wicht in his Charles Wicht Racing 2020 No. 71 Bentley GT3-R.
Clayton led a competitive GT4 podium that was the same in all three races. Daniel Fortin secured a trio of runner-up showings in his Performance Tech Motorsports 2023 No. 38 Toyota Supra GT4. Former HSR driver of the year Drew Ewing in turn scored third-place GT4 showings across the board in his 2016 No. 13 Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport.
Other Mission GT Challenge winners and podium players on the weekend included Ben Myers, Michael Flynn, Dan Ammann and Mark Boden.
Myers finished first in GT3 in the Saturday endurance race in the 2017 No. 29 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup prepared by the 901 Shop. Flynn joined Myers on the enduro GT3 podium with a fine run to third place in his Irish Mike’s Racing 2020 No. 195 Porsche 991.2 GT3. Ammann took third-place in GT3 in the Enduro in his Vintage Racing Company No. 268 Porsche 992 GT3 Cup car.
Boden earned his podium with a third-place GT3 run in his Fall-Line Motorsports No. 246 Porsche 911 GT3 in Sunday’s sprint.
Sunday’s off-track highlight was the presentation of the annual HSR-presented Best Plane award that went to pilot and race car driver Bob Hahnemann. In addition to joining his son Matt Hahnemann at the wheel of their 2007 No. 111 Porsche 997 GT3 Cup car at times over the weekend, the senior Hahnemann flew the Pistons & Props debuting Beechcraft T-34 Mentor to Sebring. The special plane, a post World War II trainer that was a learning workhorse for thousands of cadets for more than 25 years, was the last one owned by legendary NASA astronaut pioneer and American United States Air Force (USAF) Colonel Frank Borman, Commander of Apollo 8, which was the first mission to fly around the Moon.”
“I have been racing for 25 years and have never received an award as special as this one,” Bob Hahnemann said. “I want to dedicate it to Frank Borman. He flew this plane and made it something special, and it just seems right to honor him as the true aviation and space pioneer that he was.”
Next up on the 2026 HSR calendar of events is the 48th HSR The Mitty presented by Hagerty, April 23 – 26, at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Mazda was announced as the Featured Marque of this year’s event, HSR’s oldest race and first blockbuster event, at the onset of this weekend’s HSR Sebring Pistons and Props presented by Alan Jay Automotive Network.
Tickets for the 48th HSR The Mitty presented by Hagerty at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta can be purchased online at: https://am.ticketmaster.com/ral/buy/Mitty2026. For complete information on the 48th annual The Mitty Presented by Hagerty race weekend, including the event schedule, entry lists and ticket information, visit: https://www.hsrrace.com/the-mitty/.
About HSR: An International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) property, Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) was formed in the mid-1970s with an event at Road Atlanta. There was one goal then and it remains true today: to celebrate the racing cars from the past. As a “time machine” of sights and sounds, HSR provides a venue for competitors and spectators alike to share in the wonderful history and excitement created by the cars that competed at race tracks around the world. HSR currently sanctions eight vintage and historic racing events at some of the world’s most renowned race tracks, including Road Atlanta, Sebring International Raceway, Daytona International Speedway and more. The complete schedule and full event information can be found on HSR’s website at www.HSRRace.com. Look for the HSR Channel on YouTube and follow HSR on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/HSRrace/ and on Twitter X at @HSR_race and Instagram @HistoricSportscarRacing.
