Around 100 miles north of California’s capital of Sacramento lies Corning, a town of 8,000 surrounded by agricultural land and the Shasta mountain range looming on the horizon. 

I’ve been to Corning once in my life, for a Brad Paisley concert at the local casino, and it was an odd feeling. Driving past the closed businesses of a once-booming town and seeing a new part of the state left me with an uncanny feeling that is hard to forget.

The memory of my three days in Tyler Reddick’s hometown flooded back to me as he crossed the start-finish line to win the 2026 Daytona 500 because it was emblematic of something bigger. In the 2025 season’s 36 races, Reddick found himself winless, struggling to put together something that would match his Championship Four season from the year prior. 

That 2025 season felt like most of my time spent in Corning, watching and meeting people who were trying their best to turn around something they love, their home. That feeling permeated all 199 laps of this race for the #45 car, until the final lap.

As cars wrecked in front of him and the field scattered like ducks fleeing from a pond, suddenly Reddick was one of seven or so cars with a chance at immortality. Ultimately, diving below fan-favorite Chase Elliott to claim his first Daytona 500, Reddick forced Mike Joy to push out some all-inspiring words.

“The 30-year-old from Corning, California, earns his ninth career victory,” Joy exclaimed as Reddick rolled around.

The mention of Reddick’s hometown not only brought forth those memories but also a smile to my face. For those 8,000 residents in Corning, what does it mean to now be the hometown of a Daytona 500 winner? 

In the same way that Reddick’s win sparks hope for the #45 team’s championship hopes in 2026, one must believe it will spark hope for those living in that small Northern California city that hosts a yearly Olive Festival. I mean, it did so for team-owner Michael Jordan, who’s won everywhere in life, so why wouldn’t it?

“I feel like I just won another championship,” Jordan said in victory lane.

Between the double yellow lines

What the 2026 Daytona 500 will be known for moving forward depends on two factors: Reddick’s season and the next Superspeedway races. There’s a great chance that this serves as a springboard to a championship run, if he can maintain momentum.

However, if he doesn’t, I think we’ll be looking back on this 500 with somewhat views. While The Great American Race delivered another spectacular finish and some fun wrecks, there was a lot of in-between that was not entertaining.

Fuel-saving at plate tracks is here to stay, but it won’t be the last time this writer bemoans it. The three-wide action is exciting, but if nobody’s passing each other, I can get the same action on the 101, albeit a bit slower. I will give credit to John Hunter Nemecheck and Cody Ware for making things exciting in stage two, though.

With the playoff system gone, I’d love to see stage cautions go the way of the dodo and bring some uncertainty back into these races.

21 years of trying, 21 years of failure

Kyle Busch has been attempting and coming up short in the Daytona 500 for nearly my entire life, and today was no different. Despite qualifying on pole and giving himself a chance in the end, the former Candy Man only brought home a 15th-place finish.

It’s disappointing, but not unexpected, as some funky pit strategy in the first stage indicated things were a miss with the #8 car. Plus, he had jalapeno lime nicotine pouches on the hood, and whatever demon created those should not see victory lane.

She blue on my oval

Despite a new Chevrolet body and Toyota’s strong qualifying effort, the ever-shrinking Ford camp was still dominant at the Superspeedways. The blue ovals occupied half of the top 10 and even helped Zane Smith win stage one.

With consistency becoming key in the new Chase format, these big tracks are going to matter all the more late into the year. So far, Ford has given themselves the advantage there and may come to matter once July and August roll around.

The NASCAR Cup Series is finally back and will return next week at Echopark Automotive Speedway in Atlanta for another drafting track experience.