BY Neha Dwivedi, Staff Writer
Something about 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick presenting Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan their first Harley J. Earl trophy as a Daytona 500 winner just seems right to kick off the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season.
There’s no doubt that Hamlin would have liked to seal the deal himself but watching his driver bring it home still hit the mark. That much showed in victory lane, where Jordan joined the celebration and lifted the trophy with his 30-year-old driver.
Reddick snapped a winless run that stretched 38 races and wiped the slate clean after a season without a trip to victory lane. This time, he struck early, cashing in during the opening points race and not just any race but a crown jewel. He led only one lap but in racing, timing is everything and being in the right place at the right time can turn the tide.
The win came with a push from teammate Riley Herbst. Without Herbst shoving him to the front beside Chase Elliott on the final lap and trying to throw a block on Brad Keselowski up top, the whole scene might have read differently. In the end, Reddick kept his nose clean and threaded the needle through the chaos of multiple cars spinning around him.
Recalling the moment from the cockpit, Reddick said, “Well, it wasn’t until I was basically back around in front of the speedway on the cool-down lap when someone finally said, yes, you won the race, because obviously a number of these races have played out where, I mean, I crossed the start-finish line first but in the moment, I’m not looking for the flashing yellow lights or the green light on the fence, so I’m just, Did I win? Did I win? Are you sure we won? It took a couple (of) minutes to get that verification. But in the moment, crossed the start-finish line, crossing the start-finish line here first, in this race, the race that – I watched a lot of NASCAR racing growing up but I would never miss a Daytona 500 as a little kid growing up out in California, sitting with my family on Sunday watching this race.”
He also credited Herbst, calling his role crucial and saying the win would not have happened without him. Reddick gained even more respect for Herbst for helping him by pushing toward Zane Smith, who was trying to keep Elliott out front.
“I love that he made the move, that at the moment, was right for him to win the Daytona 500 and I told him that, ‘Man, I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you in the way that you wanted it to,’ … he did everything right on that last lap, pushing me and then doing everything he could to win the race for himself. Obviously, they all crashed but he did a really good job today, as well.”
Looking back on the storm he survived last year, both on and off the track, when his son Rookie was in the ICU with heart trouble, and how it weighed on him while his form dipped from what he showed in 2024, Reddick said, “To have last year play out the way that it did was, it was rough. Obviously, everything else happening outside of the racetrack was not easy to manage, as well, with my son. So, to get through all that, and here we go, it’s 2026 and go race, I definitely worked really hard in the off-season but it’s tough when you don’t win.”
He admitted the off-season brought some hard talks on top of everything else. Still, he values the group around him because they keep it real. The team knows last year they fell short but instead of dragging baggage into the new season, they turned the page and built toward 2026.
Reddick knows the Daytona 500 was not flawless, yet the final stage clicked for the whole team. It was the kind of execution they had been chasing on superspeedways. One race does not make a season but the way the No. 45 crew delivered spoke volumes about the work behind the scenes.
Hamlin backed that up, pointing to the work Reddick put in during the off-season. The 23XI Racing boss said he was not around the Airspeed shop much due to the antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR and the death of his father in a tragic house fire. Still, word from inside the team headquarters indicated how much people saw a shift in Reddick’s outlook as the No. 45 driver leaned in, trying to right the ship and sharpen his edge during the winter.
“We held a meeting with everyone in competition a few weeks ago, a couple of weeks ago,” Hamlin said. “I look back there, Tyler is the only one making notes and he just was really tuned in. That’s what we want out of him.”
Hamlin added that from the first time he spoke with him about joining the team, he knew Reddick’s potential. The Joe Gibbs Racing ace admitted last season brought a gap between hopes and results in Reddick’s case but he believes a win this early can lift a weight off Reddick’s shoulders and let him race free again, the way he always has when he is at his best.
And, perhaps it was fitting that Hamlin’s mom, who suffered burns pulling her husband from their burning home, was at the Daytona 500 and standing with her son on pit road in a show of strength and pride, continuing to support the dream they risked everything on early in his life as a younger racer. Looking down, there is no doubt his late father was smiling, as well, watching his son’s vision play out at 200-plus miles per hour at the most historic track in NASCAR. Hamlin wrote in second grade that he would win the Daytona 500, he’s done it three times. Now, the team he formed with Jordan has done so, too.
With the lawsuit behind them and NASCAR making things better for the teams, there’s nowhere to focus for 23XI this year except on bookending the season by taking home the Cup Series trophy at Homestead-Miami Speedway.