2026 Daytona 500 Race Recap

By Adam Carabine

Tyler Reddick reigned supreme at The Great American Race.  Time for a quick recap of the notable moments!

The Daytona 500 initially got moved up an hour to avoid some potential inclement weather.  They were able to get the entire race in with no rain.

Lap 3 In honour of the 25^th anniversary of Dale Earnhardt’s passing, the fans stood silently with three fingers in the air.  Commentary on FOX was quiet for the whole lap as well.

Lap 5: BJ McLeod suffers a mechanical failure of some sort, bringing out the first caution of the day.  His day would be done pretty quickly, but no one else got too banged up.

Lap 12: After most cars came down pit road to top up on fuel, the race returned to green.

Lap 65: End of Stage One, won by Zane Smith.  The Top 10 had enough fuel from topping up earlier, and managed to avoid the green flag pit cycle in order to collect the stage points.

Lap 72: Stage Two is Green!

Lap 86: Caution is out for a decent-sized incident involving Connor Zilisch, Austin Dillon, Cody Ware and Ross Chastain.  All were able to continue, and they returned to green on lap 92.

Lap 124: The BIG ONE catches many drivers, and they end up finishing Stage Two under caution as they continue to clean up.

Lap 136: Green flag on the final stage. 

Lap 150: With everyone in major fuel saving mode, lap times have fallen to around 51s, about 4.5s slower than top speeds.

Lap 181: Some green flag pit stops start, Toyotas first.

Lap 185: The fuel saving doesn’t work so well for Cole Custer as he runs out of gas, but he limps his way to pit road and it stays green.

Lap 190: Everyone but Michael McDowell has pit.

Lap 192: Another BIG caution, with Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell taking the wrost of it.

Lap 197: Green flag with 4 to go

Lap 200: Multiple crashes on the final lap, but NASCAR lets them run it out under green.  Despite Chase Elliott leading at the end of Turn Four, Tyler Reddick emerges victorious!