Biggest winners and losers from the Daytona 500

The 68th running of the Daytona 500 is in the books, and the driver doing the most celebrating is, of course, race winner Tyler Reddick. 

Here are the biggest winners and losers from Sunday's 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season opener. 

Winner: 23XI Racing

Tyler Reddick winning the race? Check. 

Three cars in the top 10? Check. 

Michael Jordan now a Daytona 500 winning car owner? Check. 

Sunday's race couldn't have gone much better for 23XI Racing, which won NASCAR's biggest prize in the opening race of its sixth Cup Series season. Riley Herbst and Bubba Wallace, who led 40 laps and won Stage 2, both finished inside the top 10 and got their seasons started off on the right foot.

For a young organization with championship aspirations, a Daytona 500 win could be what 23XI needs to catapult a title worthy campaign. 

Loser: Team Penske

Joey Logano managed a third-place finish on Sunday, but it was a largely underwhelming performance from a Penske trio that dominated the Daytona 500 in 2025.

Logano, Austin Cindric and Ryan Blaney led a combined 125 laps in the 2025 running of the Daytona 500. That total dropped to just 16 on Sunday, with Blaney and Cindric being involved in crashes and finishing 27th and 34th, respectively. 

All three Penske Fords will be fast again at EchoPark Speedway next week, but they'll need to figure out how to put themselves in a position to win the race. 

Winner: RFK Racing

Ryan Preece ended the Daytona 500 backwards and in 25th-place, but RFK's two other entries ended up with solid results. 

Brad Keselowski was denied yet another chance at a Harley J. Earl trophy after crashing in the tri-oval on the final lap, but still began his season with a fifth-place finish while still on the mend from a broken femur. Chris Buescher managed to lead four laps and finish seventh after running inside the top-five for much of Stage 3. 

Expect all three RFK Racing Fords to be fast again at EchoPark Speedway on Feb. 22.

Loser: Joe Gibbs Racing

JGR's 35th anniversary season couldn't have gotten off to a worse start. Chase Briscoe started the race on the outside pole but was involved in an early crash and finished 36th after leading 23 laps. Ty Gibbs, Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell all ran up front at various points of the race but finished 23rd, 31st and 35th, respectively. 

That will put all four JGR drivers in an early points hole as the circuit heads to EchoPark Speedway next week, and while it's not a huge concern, another week of poor results at what is likely to be another chaotic race would be very detrimental. 

Winner: Front Row Motorsports

Like with RFK, there is an outlier. Todd Gilliland was involved in the "Big One" on Lap 123 and finished 39th. 

But FRM's other two drivers, Zane Smith and Noah Gragson, put on quite the show at Daytona. Smith won Stage 1 after playing fuel strategy perfectly and was in position to win the race on the final lap before finishing sixth. Gragson received damage in an early incident but clawed his way to a solid 11th-place finish to start the year. 

Loser: William Byron's three-peat bid

Byron's shot at history seemed doomed from the start. He had to start the race from the rear in a back-up car and received damage after hitting the wall multiple times. He finished 12th after saving his car from a would-be wreck on the final lap, but couldn't pull off what would've been a historic Daytona three-peat.