Tyler Reddick's dramatic last-lap pass delivers Michael Jordan his first Daytona 500 victory, a stunning redemption for a team that battled legal turmoil
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - They say the Daytona 500 doesn’t care about your story. It doesn’t read résumés, it doesn’t check win columns, and it definitely doesn’t hand out participation trophies.
But every once in a while, the Great American Race looks down at the chaos, the drama, the lawsuits, the doubt — and decides to write poetry anyway.
On Sunday, Tyler Reddick became a Daytona 500 champion in the most Reddick way possible: quietly, relentlessly, and then suddenly, violently.
He led exactly one lap. The final one.
Coming down to the final lap, Chase Elliott was the man. The Hendrick machine was dialed, and the entire NASCAR world was already writing the headline: “Chase Finally Gets His 500.”
Then, on the backstretch of the last lap, Riley Herbst — Reddick’s own 23XI teammate — was there in the right place, at the right time to get him the run he was looking for.
That's all Reddick needed, as he crossed the line with his first career Daytona 500 win. His first win in 38 races, after an entire 2025 season in which he never once visited victory lane.
It was Reddick's eighth start in the Great American Race, and it was 23XI's fifth year in the event.
Let that sink in. Michael Jordan. Denny Hamlin. Two of the most competitive human beings on the planet. Owners who poured their names, their money, and their reputations into a team that, just a few months ago, wasn’t even sure it would exist in 2026.
Remember the summer of 2025? The charter battle? The leaked texts? The courtroom drama that had NASCAR fans picking sides like it was a playoff series?
23XI lost its charters last summer. For a few dark months, the very future of the team hung by a thread. Tyler Reddick — coming off a season where he’d been one of the most consistent drivers in the sport but hadn’t won — didn’t even know if he’d have a ride with 23XI Racing.
Jordan, the man who once said “I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying,” stood in a federal courtroom fighting for his team’s survival like it was Game 6 of the Finals.
And now? He’s in victory lane at Daytona, hugging Reddick, shaking hands with Jim France — the very man who was on the other side of that legal war — and probably fighting back tears behind those famous sunglasses.
This wasn’t just a race win. This was full-circle, poetic justice, middle-finger-to-the-doubters redemption wrapped in a checkered flag.
After the race, Reddick said the struggles of last year, were worth it for this day to finally come.
NASCAR is built on moments like this one. The kind you’ll tell your kids about. The kind where you’ll always remember exactly where you were when Tyler Reddick stole the Daytona 500 on the final lap.
When the team that nearly died in a courtroom stood tallest on the biggest stage in American motorsports. And fittingly, it came in the very first race after the lawsuit was settled.
The sport tried to kill 23XI. Instead, 23XI just won its first Daytona 500. There’s something beautiful about that.
The No. 45 team put in the work — fighting for respect, fighting for charters, fighting for their place. They leave as champions. And with the legal cloud finally lifted, the best days for this team aren’t behind them. They’re just getting started.
Tyler Reddick didn’t just win the Daytona 500. He reminded every single person watching what this sport is supposed to be about: heart, fight, and one perfect moment when everything lines up and the whole world gets to watch an underdog become a legend.
Save the date. February 15, 2026. The day 23XI Racing — and Tyler Reddick — had their moment.