Tyler Reddick only led a quarter of a lap during the Daytona 500, but it was the most important one.
The 23XI Racing driver won The Great American Race after a chaotic final lap.
After a race that featured a mix of fuel saving and big crashes it came down to a four-lap sprint to the finish following a caution period.
Michael McDowell skipped the final round of pit stops to take the lead for the restart and stayed out front until Carson Hocevar got by with one to go and was in the lead as the white flag waved.
He was then spun out of contention by Erik Jones. The incident collected several cars, but the race stayed green as Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and then Chase Elliott took the lead.
Elliot stayed out front through Turn 4 when Reddick dove to the inside with a push from his teammate Riley Herbst and got by, just as Herbst ran into charging Brad Keselowski and collected Elliott, leaving Reddick home free for the win.
“I’m just speechless, I didn’t know if I’d ever race, it’s surreal, honestly,” Reddick said during his front stretch interview.
“Honestly, the best part is my son asked me before the race, ‘are you finally going to win this race?’ Something about today just felt right.”
The win was Reddick’s first in the Daytona 500 and follows a second-place finish last year.
Stenhouse, Joey Logano, Elliott and Brad Keselowski followed Reddick across the line, all out of control from contact.
The race had just five caution periods and more than half of the field suffered damage, but 29 cars were still on the lead lap for the final green flag. With so many green flag laps, various fuel-saving strategies came into play and much of the race was run at five seconds off of the normal pace. The final stops took place all with less than 20 laps left.
23XI Racing co-owner Michael Jordan was thrilled with the win.
“I’m ecstatic, I mean, I don’t even know what to say,” he told Fox after the race. “I feel like I just won a championship, but until I get my ring, I won’t even know.”
“I thought Riley did an unbelievable job pushing at the end. That 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,” he said.
Full results:
- Tyler Reddick, No. 45
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47
- Joey Logano, No. 22
- Chase Elliott, No. 9
- Brad Keselowski, No. 6
- Zane Smith, No. 38
- Chris Buescher, No. 17
- Riley Herbst, No. 35
- Josh Berry, No. 21
- Bubba Wallace, No. 23
- Noah Gragson, No. 4
- William Byron, No. 24
- Daniel Suarez, No. 7
- Ty Dillon, No. 10
- Kyle Busch, No. 8
- Kyle Larson, No. 5
- Cody Ware, No. 51
- AJ Allmendinger, No. 16
- Carson Hocevar, No. 77
- Ross Chastain, No. 1
- Erik Jones, No. 43
- Michael McDowell, No. 71
- Ty Gibbs, No. 54
- Cole Custer, No. 41
- Ryan Preece, No. 60
- John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42
- Ryan Blaney, No. 12
- Corey Heim, No. 67
- Jimmie Johnson, No. 84
- Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97
- Denny Hamlin, No. 11
- Casey Mears, No. 66
- Connor Zilisch, 88
- Austin Cindric, No. 2
- Christopher Bell, No. 20
- Chase Briscoe, No. 19
- Austin Dillon, No. 3
- Justin Allgaier, No. 40
- Todd Gilliland, No. 34
- Alex Bowman, No. 48
- BJ McLeod, No. 78
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This story has been updated with additional information
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