The 2026 Daytona 500 is in the books, and Tyler Reddick is the winner after a thrilling final lap that involved multiple accidents taking out the majority of the field.
It all started just past the white flag, when race leader Carson Hocevar got turned by Erik Jones in front of the pack. The Spire Motorsports driver collected his teammate Michael McDowell, while several more spun behind them in the aftermath.
Based on similar scenarios in the past, everybody was anxiously awaiting the inevitable race-ending caution, with the finishing order to be determined by whoever was ahead at the arbitrary moment the lights came on. Instead, it never came.
Take a bow, NASCAR. Take a bow.
2026 Daytona 500 proves for once and for all why racing to the line on the last lap should be the norm again
There's no bigger letdown in NASCAR than when you're setting up for a thrilling finish on a superspeedway, and suddenly a caution comes out on the final lap and ruins it. This was a topic of much controversy at the start of 2025, when this exact situation occurred during one of the Daytona 500 Duel races only about a football field from the finish line and robbed Jones of a win.
After that, NASCAR gave the fans what they wanted and let both the Daytona 500 and the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race at EchoPark Speedway the following weekend run green after last-lap accidents. But of course, there was backlash to that too, and the Cup Series finish in Atlanta was the mother of all buzzkills.
NASCAR drew what was supposed to be a firm line in the sand, that they would err on the side of caution (literally) if an accident occurred on the final lap. Granted, this is NASCAR we're talking about, where the rules are made up as we go along.
Now, we're apparently back to letting them race – and this time, it had better stay that way.
Sunday's finish sure did a wonderful job of making the safety police look every bit like the overcautious pearl-clutchers they are. No one was hurt in the crash. There was plenty of time for the finishers to slow down before approaching the wreckage in turns one and two. Then they crashed again at the checkered flag. No one was hurt in that one either.
Obviously, there are certain instances when you have to throw the caution. If a car flips or takes a dangerous hit, or if there are stalled vehicles sitting in the leaders' path, it has to come out. But otherwise, the objective of racing is to finish at the checkered flag, and that's where fans deserve to see each race finish.
If it's too dangerous to ensure a race to the line whenever possible, cancel the whole sport. Wrecks happen. The vast majority of the time, everybody is going to be okay, and you can't live life in fear of the worst possible outcome.
Racing back to the line on the last lap has created some legendary finishes when it's allowed to happen. The 2026 Daytona 500 can now be added to that list, and we can all hope it won't be the last entry.