DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A failed block on the final lap of the Daytona 500 sparked critical comments from multiple Cup Series champions.
Videos by FanBuzz
They thought 23XI Racing's Riley Herbst should have avoided the move that wrecked multiple contenders at the start-finish line.
"The 35 (Herbst) just wrecked me out of nowhere for no reason," Brad Keselowski said in response to a question from FanBuzz. "That was one of the dumbest things I've ever seen. He had no chance of blocking my run.
"I had a huge run. I don't know if I could have gotten the 45 (Tyler Reddick) or 47 (Ricky Stenhouse Jr.), but I would have liked to have found out because my run was coming fast. And the 35 just wrecked us and himself. Pretty stupid."
#NASCAR - Brad Keselowski called Riley Herbst's attempted block on the final lap of the Daytona 500 one of the dumbest things he's ever seen.
"Pretty stupid." pic.twitter.com/PGp7RMdbj2— John Newby (@JohnNewby_) February 15, 2026
This incident occurred after the leaders took the white flag. A series of pushes on the outside line wrecked Carson Hocevar, Erik Jones, and Michael McDowell. This left Chase Elliott, Reddick, and Stenhouse running three-wide for the lead.
A push from Zane Smith sent Elliott clear into the lead. Smith followed with Reddick and Riley Herbst behind. Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Stenhouse, and Chris Buescher all followed as they headed down the backstretch.
As they approached the start-finish line, Reddick dove to the inside while Smith faded. Herbst raced up behind Elliott, but he chose not to push the Hendrick Motorsports driver. Instead, he tried to dive to the outside to block Keselowski's run.
TYLER REDDICK WINS THE DAYTONA 500! pic.twitter.com/nOAjUM4Buu
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 15, 2026
This failed. He spun off the nose of the No. 6, spun Elliott into the wall, and also hit Logano. This chain reaction also sent Stenhouse into the wall.
Reddick crossed the line unscathed and won his first Daytona 500 while the field wrecked behind him after this block.
"I was going to get crashed if I had tried to throw another move on (Reddick)," Elliott said after exiting the infield care center. "I feel like the best play for me was to try and re-rack and get one last shove to the line.
"But it was the 35 and he wasn't going to push me. Then he winds up crashing himself, not pushing me, which then in turn crashed me anyway. Maybe I should have just turned left and re-racked the first time."
Stenhouse finished second, Logano finished third while spinning, Elliott finished fourth while spinning, and Keselowski finished fifth while spinning. Herbst was credited with an eighth-place finish.
"I thought, well, one lane block kind of makes sense, but to block from the very bottom all the way to the top and wreck yourself and everybody else is just stupid. Very, very stupid," Keselowski added.
