#NASCAR / #ARCA Race Weekend Recap (Daytona)
Winners: Tyler Reddick (Cup); Austin
Hill (O'Reilly Series); Chandler Smith (Trucks) plus Gio Ruggerio (ARCA)
NASCAR Cup
Tyler Reddick Triumphs in 68th running of Daytona 500
Tyler Reddick waited for the last possible moment to make his move – and it paid off with victory in Sunday’s 68th running of the Daytona 500.
In the final 500 yards of the “Great American Race,” Reddick got a welcome push from teammate Riley Herbst, muscled his way past Chase Elliott and powered his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota toward the finish line.
As the Daytona track exploded in chaos behind him, when Herbst tried an ill-fated late block on Brad Keselowski and a knot of cars slid sideways across the finish line, Reddick already was celebrating a 0.308-second victory over 2023 Daytona 500 winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Reddick was the 25th different leader — a record for the race — and the only lap he led was the last one.
“Last year was really hard for all of us, hard for me,” Reddick said. “When you’re a Cup driver and you get to this level and drive for Michael Jordan, it’s expected you win every single year.
“For us to go on that drought, it made us look hard in the mirror, and I am really proud of everyone on our Chumba Casino Toyota Camry. Worked really hard in the offseason, and there were many points in this race where we weren’t making decisions we wanted to, but we just reset, and every opportunity we got to reset, we went back at it.
“Just speechless. I didn’t know if I’d ever win this race. It’s surreal, honestly. The best part is my son (Beau) asked before this race, ‘Are you finally going to win this race?’ Something about today just felt right.”
Pole: Kyle Busch
Click Here for Race Results
Next Race: The Cup Series will return on Sunday, February 22, 2026 at 3:00 pm ET for the ‘Autotrader 400’ at EchoPark Speedway.
NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series
Austin Hill Wins O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Season Opener
Austin Hill continued his mastery of NASCAR’s big tracks, dominating Saturday’s United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway — the Georgia native’s fourth win in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season opener here in the last five years.
And as so typically happens on Daytona’s 2.5-mile superspeedway, the outcome came down to the dramatic last few laps and the race was decided by a split second.
Although he started from pole position and led a race high 78 of the 120 laps, Hill was tested all night — ultimately having to prevail on three restarts in the final 12 laps. His No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet beat JR Motorsports driver Justin Allgaier’s Chevrolet to the finish line by 0.081 seconds.
It marked Richard Childress Racing’s fifth consecutive win in this race, tying a mark set by Dale Earnhardt Inc. from 1990-94. It was Hill’s 15th career victory and 11th on a drafting style track.
“Just shows how good this team is,” Hill said of being able to pit late and out of sequence but still move forward when it mattered most. “It was a really tough decision to go from being 14th or wherever it was we restarted. But it just goes to show how good this team was. We had that restart and no one was going middle, so I was like, ‘Sure I’ll take it.’ Drove right up through there.”
“Daytona has just been so good to me,” said Hill, who swept both stage wins in addition to leading the most laps. “I love this place and it’s always fun to win.”
Pole: Austin Hill
Click Here for Race Results
Next Race: The NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series will return on Saturday, February 21, 2026, at 5:00 pm ET for the ‘Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250’ at EchoPark Speedway.
NASCAR Trucks
Chandler Smith Storms through to Triumph
Chandler Smith came from the middle of nowhere to win Friday’s ‘Fresh From Florida 250’ at Daytona International Speedway and immediately gave credit where credit was due.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you, Ty Majeski!” Smith shouted after taking the checkered flag in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season opener at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.
Driving the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports F-150, Smith was sixth as the lead group rounded Turn 3 on the second lap of overtime, with John Hunter Nemechek out front. But as Nemechek moved up the track to attempt a late block on Gio Ruggiero, Smith steamed through in the open bottom lane with a strong push from Majeski.
“He is all credit to how we just won that race, truthfully,” Smith said of Majeski’s push. “He stayed committed to a Ford and pushed a Blue Oval to a win.
Pole: Ty Majeski
Click Here for Race Results
Next Race: The Truck Series will return on Saturday, February 21, 2026 at 1:30 pm ET for the ‘Fr8 Racing 208’ at EchoPark Speedway.
ARCA
Gio Ruggerio Delivers Joe Gibbs Racing its First Daytona ARCA Menards Series Victory
There was plenty of significance behind Gio Ruggiero’s victory Saturday in the General Tire 200 at Daytona International Speedway.
Not only was it Ruggiero’s first triumph in the national ARCA Menards Series, but it also marked the first time Joe Gibbs Racing prevailed at Daytona on the platform.
Ruggiero was no stranger to success on drafting tracks entering Saturday’s 80-lap race, having earned his maiden NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win at Talladega Superspeedway last year. The comfort Ruggiero has found on drafting tracks is why he felt confident about winning the General Tire 200 in a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
“Obviously last year, my first ever race in the Truck Series, I finished second,” Ruggiero said. “I think there was a little bit of luck in that with the winner being DQ’d. Since then, I’ve had really strong cars and feel like I’ve just made the right moves on the superspeedways.”
Pole: Gus Dean
Click Here for Race Results
Next Race: The ARCA West Series will return on Saturday, February 28, 2026 at 5 p.m. PT for the ‘Oil Workers 150 presented by the West Coast Stock Car Motorsports Hall of Fame’ at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway.
