Daytona 500

In a dramatic last lap battle, Tyler Reddick won his first Daytona 500 with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. second and Joey Logano third. Chase Elliott, who came out of turn four with the lead, had to settle for fourth when he was hit by Riley Herbst coming to the finish line and Brad Keselowski overcame his off-season injury to finish fifth. Carson Hocevar took the white flag in the lead but was hit by Erik Jones, taking them both out of contention. Reddick only led one lap in the race, but it was the most important one, to secure the biggest win of his career and the also for his 23XI team. 

The Great American Race started with two-time Cup champion Kyle Busch on the pole and Joe Gibbs Racing driver Chase Briscoe beside him. Busch was able to move out front and stayed there until lap four when John Hunter Nemechek brought the inside lane to the front of the field. The first caution flag came out when BJ McCloud spun on lap 5 and made contact with William Byron and Justin Allgaier. Also involved in the incident were Casey Mears, Noah Gragson and Tyler Reddick. The green flag came back out on lap 12 with Kyle Busch and Joey Logano going back and forth for the lead. Nemechek took the lead on lap 16 and swapped the lead with Logano until the third line developed with Brisco leading that lane to the front of the field, taking the lead on lap 36 for the first time. Briscoe pitted on lap 58, handing the lead to Chase Elliott for one lap before Elliott hit pit road. Zane Smith found himself in the lead and he stretched his gas milage looking to maximize the stage points. The strategy worked as Smith won his first career stage. 

Cindric started out front for stage two until the Toyotas hooked up and moved to the front as Denny Hamlin took the lead on lap 76. Fellow Toyota driver Bubba Wallace grabbed the lead on lap 78. Team Chevy drivers hooked up on the inside and came to the front with Cody Ware taking the lead on lap 81, Ross Chastain moved to the lead two laps later on lap 83. Allgaier took the lead on lap 85 and the caution flag came out coming to lap 86 as Chastain tapped Ware sending him into Ty Gibbs and Briscoe. Austin Dillon hit Briscoe, causing damage to Dillon’s front end. The restart had Chastain leading the field and Kyle Larson beside him. The outside lane prevailed and Chastain paced the field until lap 97 when Cindric moved back to the lead. Chastain would retake the lead the following lap until his teammate Shane Van Gisbergen led for the first time on lap 102. Kyle Larson would lead lap 105 and Kyle Busch 106. Hamlin moved back to the lead on lap 123 but he and Allgaier got together and took out several of the front runners, twenty cars in all. Wallace made it through to lead the field under caution to the stage two win.

The final stage began with the Toyotas of Wallace and Corey Heim up front and Wallace jumped back out into the lead. Three Toyota drivers lead each line as the race moved on with Heim on the bottom, Wallace in the middle and Christopher Bell in the outside lane. With twenty laps to go, Wallace and three other Toyotas made their gas-and-go pitstop, putting Chris Buescher in the lead. Five laps later, the group of Ford drivers pitted and that put Busch back in the lead. With thirteen laps remaining, Elliott lead as Busch made his stop for gas but he only went one lap before he pitted. Everyone had pitted except Michael McDowell, who was waiting for a caution and he got what he was waiting for when Heim tapped Hamlin, knocking him into Bell, bringing out a caution. With five laps remaining, the green flag fell with McDowell in first place after he was in 31st place before everyone started making their pit stops. McDowell had his teammate Hocevar and Hocevar pushed McDowell to the lead coming the white flag. In a chaotic final lap, Tyler Reddick came to the finish line first as cars wrecked all around him.