One year after hanging onto his car on the final lap, preventing a spin that could have easily resulted in a race-ending caution, Riley Herbst caused a massive pileup coming to the checkered flag that likely affected the outcome of the 68th annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.
After helping 23XI Racing teammate Tyler Reddick take the lead away from Hendrick Motorsports' Chase Elliott with a massive run coming off of turn four of the 200th lap around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona Beach, Florida oval, Herbst tried to move to the outside of Elliott in a lane that RFK Racing's Brad Keselowski was already occupying.
Herbst did have the momentum to potentially make something happen, but only if the No. 6 Ford, which was even quicker, wasn't there.
Which, of course, it was.
Brad Keselowski rips Riley Herbst over Daytona 500 wreck
Keselowski, racing with a broken right femur from which he continues to recover after a mid-December ski trip incident, did not hold back on Herbst after the race, calling the move "really stupid".
"Right here at the end, I had this huge run, and the No. 35 wrecked us," Keselowski said after the race on Fox. "Really disappointing. Tore up the No. 9. Tore up the No. 22, a bunch of cars that didn't deserve to be wrecked. So that was a big bummer and really stupid."
Brad Keselowski on Riley Herbst coming across his nose at the finish:
— Kelly Crandall (@KellyCrandall) February 15, 2026
"It was one of the dumbest things I've ever seen." pic.twitter.com/0rzktWlS6L
Fox Sports lead announcer Mike Joy noted that Reddick was pretty much the only driver who finished in the top seven with a car that wasn't wrecked.
"Other than Tyler Reddick, I don't think anybody in that top seven came across the start/finish line pointed in the direction they wanted to be going."
Not to be picky, but it was really the top eight.
Hyak Motorsports' Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished second, with Team Penske's Joey Logano in third. Elliott still finished fourth, but backwards, ahead of Keselowski in fifth.
Front Row Motorsports' Zane Smith, who was second behind Elliott before Reddick's run, finished sixth, ahead of RFK Racing's Chris Buescher in seventh. Herbst finished eighth.
Full results can be found here.
Race number two on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is another superspeedway race, that being next Sunday afternoon's Autotrader 400. That race is set to be shown live on Fox from EchoPark Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway) beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET, so begin a free trial of FuboTV now!