Twice a year, the NASCAR circus comes to the Mecca of Motorsports, the place where legends are made, careers are defined, and legacies are solidified, the Daytona International Speedway.
To begin the NASCAR season, the Great American Race, the Daytona 500 kicks off, as is tradition.
Pre-race ceremonies were moved up an hour, to try to escape looming weather coming in the early evening. Bart Simpson (yes, that Bart Simpson) waved the green flag, signaling the start of the race.
Stage 1 was won by Zane Smith, driver of the No. 38 Ford for Front Row Motorsports. It was Smith’s first career stage win. He got there by saving just enough fuel, with a few drivers behind him running out of fuel after the stage ended under caution, further proving how lucky Smith got.
Stage 2 was won by Bubba Wallace, driver of the No. 23 Toyota for 23XI Racing. Wallace won the stage due to a crash on the last lap of the stage, which affected 17 cars. Even though Wallace won a stage of the Daytona 500, he wouldn’t be 23XI Racing’s luckiest driver of the day.
The last lap commenced, and there were no more niceties from anyone in the field. Blocks, pushes, contact, flat out racing at nearly 200 mph. Carson Hocevar, driver of the No. 77 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports led Lap 199, but shortly after taking the White Flag, he spun out off the nose of Erik Jones in the No. 43 Toyota, which wrecked some more cars, however no caution was thrown.
The field pushed on, with steadily declining numbers, but one car stood out from the rest. The No. 45 Toyota of Tyler Reddick, driving for 23XI Racing, had built up a run off of turn 2, and with some help from his teammate, Riley Herbst in the No. 35 Toyota, Reddick was able to overtake multiple cars, and put himself in prime position to win, swerving around the aforementioned No. 38 of Smith, and was able to cut low to get beside the No 9. Chevrolet of Chase Elliott, and with the pedal to the floor, Reddick claimed victory in The Great American Race. It was Reddick’s first win in 38 races, his first since October of 2024, when he won at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
After the race, Reddick was quoted saying the following about the end of the race. “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.”
23XI Racing, which is co-owned by 3x Daytona 500 Winner Denny Hamlin and NBA legend Michael Jordan, adds another Crown Jewel race victory to their repertoire, as Wallace won the Brickyard 400 last season at the prestigious Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
After winning the biggest race of the NASCAR season, Michael Jordan, a man who knows what winning on the biggest stage feels like, had this to say. “It feels like I won a championship, but until I get my ring, I won’t even know”. Jordan also described the win as “so gratifying”.
Next week, NASCAR goes to drafting track for the second straight week. EchoPark Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway) hosts the top-three NASCAR series, with a Truck and O’Reilly double-header on Saturday, and with the Cup Series on Sunday, February 22nd, at 3:00 PM on FOX.
Tune in on Sunday to see the NASCAR Cup Series take on the trickiest super-speedway of the year!
