DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Tyler Reddick won Sunday’s 68th running of the Daytona 500 in a race that ended in typical Demolition Derby style at Daytona Int’l Speedway.
Reddick’s ninth career NASCAR Cup Series victory was the biggest of his career as he became the fourth Daytona 500 winner to lead only the final lap of the race.
Reddick’s last-lap maneuvers sent 23XI Racing to victory lane in the first race since the much-publicized antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR. 23XI Racing is co-owned by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin.
“There were many points in this race we weren’t making the decisions we wanted to, but we just reset and went back at it,” said the 30-year-old Reddic. “I’m speechless. I didn’t think I would ever win this lap.”
Carson Hocevar held the lead as the field took the white flag, but drifted high to block Reddick and contact sent Hocevar spinning.
The green flag remained out setting up a wild finish that saw Reddick draft past Chase Elliott who had slipped into the lead. As Reddick headed to the checkered flag, Brad Keselowski and Riley Herbst got together with Herbst spinning across the track and collecting Elliott with the trio crashing across the finish line.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., the 2023 Daytona 500 winner, was credited with second, while Joey Logano, Elliott and Keselowski completed the top five.
There were 66 lead changes among a record 26 drivers. There were five yellow flags for 32 laps. The race was completed in three hours, 23 minutes and 56 seconds at an average speed of 147.107 mph.
More To Come