The end of the 2026 Daytona 500 was a thriller.
It all came down to a four-lap green flag sprint to the finish that saw two wrecks on the final lap as Tyler Reddick stole the win from leader Chase Elliott with a pass on the final stretch.
It was Reddick’s first victory in The Great American Race and an impressive result after he started in 26th position.
Things didn’t go as well for pole-sitter Kyle Busch, who was chasing his first Daytona 500 title in 21 starts. The Richard Childress Racing driver was racing up front early on and led 19 laps on the day, but was dealing with an ill-handling car the entire race.
Busch remained in contention and took the final restart in 11th, but the inside lane he was in was overtaken and he fell to the back of the lead lap pack.
Then, with two laps to go, he abruptly dropped off of the pack entirely, which caught his spotter, Derek Kneeland, by surprise.
“You out of fuel?” Kneeland can be heard asking over the radio.
“No, what the f— am I going to rush to the wreck for, we’re running f——- 30th,” Busch replied.
“Outside lane never goes, remember?”
Sure enough, a lap later Kneeland was saying “wrecking, wrecking,” as the first of two last-lap pile-ups started. Busch slowed and proceeded to drive through the smoke as the race stayed green and Kneeland guided him through traffic, then sped up just before the yellow flag waved for the second wreck.
The savvy move allowed him to cross the finish line in 15th position and claim 22 points to kick off the first season of the revived Chase championship format, which does away with the ability to make the postseason with a single race win and is based entirely on the regular season points standings.
Along with the stage points he earned during the race and a point picked up during his Daytona Duel qualifying race, Busch will now be heading to Atlanta 14th in the standings with 29 points.
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