All week long, NASCAR was holding the caution flag a little longer than normal. That was especially true with incidents on the backstretch. ARCA, Truck Series, O'Reilly Series - all of them had moments where race control swallowed the whistle, so to speak, and it paid off.

Justin Allgaier made an errant move at the front of the field near the end of Stage 2, which triggered a massive 17-car melee in the 2026 Daytona 500.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Denny Hamlin has a plan for improving racing at Daytona International Speedway, and it involves going faster. He has already spoken to NASCAR executives about it, too. Hamlin shared his idea for fixing the Daytona 500,

Carson Hocevar and Chase Elliott had brief leads on the last lap at the 2026 Daytona 500, but two crashes led to Tyler Reddick winning the race.

Brad Keselowski would fall short of the Daytona 500 victory lane as his late run ended in an unfortunate wreck.

Tyler Reddick won the Daytona 500 in a car owned by Michael Jordan. Jordan joined Reddick in victory lane at Daytona International Speedway.

Nine cars finished within three-tenths of a second in a dramatic final lap at Daytona International Speedway, but William Byron falls short of historic three-peat.

Chase Elliott held the lead off Turn 4 in the 2026 Daytona 500, but could not fend off Tyler Reddick for the win.