Tyler Reddick is a Daytona 500 champion after surviving the chaotic final lap in Sunday's season-opening race. While his thrilling win punctuated a race that showed the pros and cons of the current superspeedway package, he is a deserving winner of NASCAR's most prestigious race and that should not be ignored.
Reddick would not have even had a shot if NASCAR had not elected to let the race finish under green, which was a surprising decision to say the least. That also gave Team Penske's Joey Logano a shot at his second Daytona 500 win and first since 2015, but he was wiped out in the tri-oval crash coming to the checkered flag and had to settle for a disappointing third.
That was the story of the race for one of the sport's top organizations. Team Penske's three drivers, Logano, Austin Cindric and Ryan Blaney, combined to lead 125 laps in the 2025 Daytona 500 and were expected to put together a similar performance on Sunday.
Logano was in a good position late, but it was a lackluster showing from Blaney and Cindric, who finished 27th and 34th, respectively. Cindric was one of 20 drivers caught up in the stage two "Big One", while Blaney was trapped in the back of the pack as the entire field ran three-wide in fuel conservation mode during the bulk of the final 65-lap run.
Team Penske disappoints in Daytona 500
The three drivers only led a combined 16 laps and were not able to gain control of the race like we have grown accustomed to seeing from them. After all, Cindric is also a previous Daytona 500 winner (2022) and Blaney has a pair of wins in the summer race at Daytona (2021 and 2025), not to mention three wins at Talladega Superspeedway.
Logano has always had a knack for finding his way to the front on drafting-style tracks, even if he only led nine laps in this year's Daytona 500. According to NASCAR Insights, Logano has now led in 19 consecutive drafting races, which ties Hall of Famer Richard Petty's streak for the longest such streak in NASCAR history.
After leading nine laps in the Daytona 500, Joey Logano has now led in 19 consecutive drafting track races.
— NASCAR Insights (@NASCARInsights) February 18, 2026
This ties Richard Petty for the longest streak in NASCAR history. He has a chance to break the all-time record this weekend in Atlanta. pic.twitter.com/2gjUuYhxIq
With all of that considered, it was a shocking performance for the Team Penske organization. Logano noted after the race that he was just happy to see the finish after placing 32nd or worse in the 2024 and 2025 Daytona 500s, but a third place finish after leading only nine laps is still not a typical performance from him.
If there is a silver lining for Team Penske, another superspeedway race is on deck this Sunday with a trip to Atlanta's EchoPark Speedway. Since the track was reconfigured after 2021, Logano has two wins (March 2023 and September 2024), while Blaney and Cindric always seem to find their way to the front as well.
Even with a new championship format in place, it was the same Daytona that produced chaos once again. But it was not a typical performance from Team Penske. The organization will likely bounce back at EchoPark Speedway on Sunday, but their showing at Daytona was definitely not expected for three drivers who always seem to be a threat on drafting-style tracks.