DAYTONA BEACH — Sporting new bling on his right hand, Daytona 500 winner Tyler Reddick had joined an exclusive club — not only in his sport, but in 23XI Racing’s garage.
When you drive for Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin’s team, championship rings are the standard.
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A six-time NBA champion, Jordan was eager to be fitted for another one as he celebrated with Reddick in Victory Lane.
“It feels like I won a championship,” he said. “But until I get my ring, I won’t even know.”
Noting he wears a size 13, the 6-foot-6 legend towers over the latest winner of the Great American Race, whom Jordan blanketed in in a bear hug after his career-defining victory.
But like “His Airness,” the 5-foot-5 Reddick rose above the competition during the final seconds to capture another wild, chaotic Daytona 500 and deliver Jordan the ultimate prize in a sport he infused with passion and profile since he and Hamlin teamed up in after the 2020 season.
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“To be able to have someone like Michael Jordan believe in me enough to want me to drive here, someone like Denny Hamlin to believe in me enough to want me to drive here, and then deliver in these clutch moments …,” Reddick said Sunday evening. “To be able to come through on those promises and meet those expectations is the type of stuff that you just love to be able to do.”
Reddick delivered on a day when he rarely factored — until the end.
The 30-year-old became the 25th different leader Sunday — a record for the race — during the race’s final half-mile. As the cars exited Turn 4 of the historic 2.5-mile oval, Reddick dove to the inside and nudged front-runner Chase Elliott’s car to seize control
The move, reminiscent of Jordan’s push-off during Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals to set up his title-clinching jumper against the Utah Jazz, gave Reddick the margin he needed to surge ahead. Behind him, a crashed ensued, featuring Elliott, 2015 500 winner Joey Logano and and 23XI Racing teammate Riley Herbst.
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“It wasn’t the smoothest day,” Reddick said. “But when it mattered at the end, we did a really good job of being in the mix.”
Reddick credited Herbst with an assist worthy of Jordan, who raised the level of his Chicago Bulls’ teammates to championship heights. Herbst’s push entering the final corner propelled Reddick into position.
“I don’t win that race without Riley Herbst,” Reddick said.
Herbst’s sacrifice didn’t go unnoticed by Hamlin, whose bid for a fourth Daytona 500 effectively ended when he was caught up in a crash on Lap 192. The 45-year-old’s No. 11 Toyota limped to a 31st-place finish, two laps back.
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“I know the odds of winning here are really, really small,” Hamlin said. “After I got crashed at the end, I looked at the scoreboard — how many horses have I got left in this race? It was great to see Tyler making all the right moves, and Riley giving him a push at the end.
“It certainly soothes the sting of the day for the 11 car.”
Hamlin’s disappointment became Reddick’s elation a season after he failed to meet his own standards with 23XI Racing.
A winless 2025 snapped a three-year streak of multi-win seasons and fueled renewed determination.
“I talked to a lot of people in the shop, and they felt like Tyler had changed his … outlook, really was optimistic, all in on correcting the wrongs and wanting to get better,” Hamlin said. “Ownership held a meeting with everyone in competition a couple of weeks ago. I look back there, Tyler is the only one making notes — he just was really turned on.”
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Sunday reaffirmed the faith Hamlin and Jordan had showed when the duo signed Reddick for the 2024 season and put Reddick in the No. 45 Toyota — the number Jordan wore briefly when he returned to the NBA in 1995.
“He was very proud of me,” Reddick said of Jordan. “He’s always wanted to win this race. This is why he wanted me to be here, and Denny, same thing. They talked about my instincts as a driver and just the way that last lap played out, there was no premeditated thoughts, it was just all going off instincts and gut.”
Reddick raced on instinct not only for his owners, but for his family.
In October, he and his wife Alexa DeLeon watched their infant son Rookie George undergo surgery after doctors discover a chest tumor and kidney that wasn’t functioning. Days before Sunday’s race, 8-month-old Rookie began crawling.
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“On the way to Victory Lane, being able to pick him up, take him with me in the car, that’s what it’s all about,” Reddick said. “I’m the one in the car driving it, but we go on the road as a family.”
Long before Reddick took the checkered flag, his 6-year-old son Beau posed a simple question.
“Are you finally going to win this race?” Reddick recalled.
Reddick wasn’t sure — until the opportunity appeared on the final lap.
“I didn’t know if I’d ever win this race,” he said. “Something about today just felt right.”
Reddick’s ninth Cup Series win felt like the least he could do for him family and his team.
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“Last year was really hard for all of us, hard for me,” he said. “When you’re a Cup driver, and you get to this level and drive for Michael Jordan, it’s expected you win every single year.”
Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com.
