Daytona International Speedway (Daytona Beach, Fla.) — Winning the Daytona 500 automatically makes it a historical moment no matter the year, no matter the number of times a driver or team has won it.
But the first time? That’s next level.
The 2026 Daytona 500 will go down as a seminal moment in not just the career of driver Tyler Reddick but also in 23XI Racing.
There have been others: the first race win by Bubba Wallace at Talladega in 2021, Reddick winning the 2024 regular-season title, Wallace winning the 2025 Brickyard 400. And now a victory in the team's sixth season at the Daytona 500.
"We're only starting our sixth season, so I feel like getting that done, especially coming off a Brickyard 400 win — two crown jewels in a row, so to speak," 23XI Racing President Steve Lauletta told me. "A lot of people on the team, it's their first Daytona 500 win. That makes a big, big difference in terms of how they're going to pay attention and focus for the rest of the season."
Even veterans of the sport were still emotional Monday morning as they took photos by the car before it went to the track museum for a year.
"I’ve lost track how many years I've been in the sport. It's 27 [or] 28 and this is the first time I've been in Daytona on a Monday pushing a car into the museum," 23XI Racing Senior Director of Competition Dave Rogers told me.
Lauletta fielded calls from sponsors Sunday night who were ecstatic. Reddick said when he looked last night, he had 900 texts and had not started to go through them to start responding.
For an organization with 10 victories, they can use the Daytona 500 victory to show they can execute on the biggest stage, giving them something to build momentum on for the entire season. The team is co-owned by driver Denny Hamlin (although Hamlin races for Joe Gibbs Racing) and basketball legend Michael Jordan.
"This is where the most eyes are on our sport," three-time Daytona 500 winner Hamlin said in his post-race news conference. "This is good for our partners. It's good for everyone on our race team. Winning races certainly helps a lot of things. But when you can win the Daytona 500, I'll tell you, just early in the season — because I've done it — it really helps with momentum to start the year because now you're not chasing anything.
"You're in a good spot. You can race a lot freer."
They could race a little bit differently. With the change in NASCAR’s championship format, the win doesn’t guarantee Reddick a spot in the postseason, but he was already considered a likely participant, as finishing 16th in the standings would be a considerable drop from where he has run the last couple of years.
"For us in particular, I think we always had the goal of multiple wins even before the playoffs start," Reddick crew chief Billy Scott told me. "This is a nice start in the points, a nice momentum builder. But I think we'll treat the rest of the season as we always have. We’re here every week to win."
The team celebrated at a Daytona Beach bar last night and there will be another celebration at the shop in the coming weeks.
"[Our sponsors] will put more plans behind promoting the win, which is good for the sport and good for us," Lauletta said. "I'm excited to get back to the halls of [our shop] Airspeed and see how everybody is there.
"I know they're excited. It's just a massive push forward in the momentum you need to start the season."
Reddick, in his post-race news conference, indicated that would happen.
"We've done a really good job of setting ourselves up for success. And I think this just, if anything, is going to motivate us to work that much harder at the start of this year as we get going," Reddick said.