Chase Elliott had 1st Daytona 500 title in sight before losing out in last-lap wreck to Reddick

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Chase Elliott climbed from his car and sat on the outside wall of the track in stunned disbelief that the Daytona 500 victory that was his — his first one, only a few feet from the finish line — was wiped out in a wreck.

NASCAR's most popular driver, Elliott needed a moment to collect his thoughts outside the No. 9 Chevrolet. Fireworks exploded behind Elliott for race winner Tyler Reddick. Elliott could only think of how close that celebration — and the victorious pool hall siren in Dawsonville, Georgia, being sounded— was to being for him.

“We were leading the Daytona 500 off (turn) four coming to the checkered flag," Elliott said, "and didn’t win.”

About the only Daytona 500 victory that could have been more popular than an Elliott winning the race would have been a checkered flag for team owner Michael Jordan. Jordan co-owns 23XI Racing and certainly his team's victory infused NASCAR with splashy headlines and needed buzz coming out of the sport's version of the Super Bowl when Reddick emerged from the wreck Sunday to top Elliott.

“He had a great shot at it coming off four," Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron said. "It’s a bummer for sure.”

The Daytona 500 feels like one big bummer for Elliott.

Elliott, the 2020 NASCAR champion, won a qualifying race for the third time in his career leading into the race. He has started from the pole twice in his career.

Again, early Daytona success meant nothing on race day: Elliott finished fourth and fell to 0 for 11 at the Daytona 500.

“I’m not the type of person that ever lets myself get there in the first place,” Elliott said. “I knew it wasn’t over. That’s part of this style of racing.”

Elliott joins a long list of hard-luck losers at Daytona, including Fireball Roberts (1961), Donnie Allison (1979) and Mark Martin (2007). In 1990, Dale Earnhardt cut a tire less than mile from the finish line, allowing Derrike Cope to steal one.

Elliott had control on the final lap after leader Carson Hocevar was spun off the track and it appeared he would finally win his first Daytona 500. Elliott instead was clipped by Riley Herbst, and the nose of the Chevy tagged the wall. Elliott, who finished as runner-up in 2021, crashed and Reddick sailed past to take Jordan to the Daytona International Speedway victory lane.

“I just felt like Tyler was coming so quick,” Elliott said. “I kind of blocked one direction. He went the other way.”

Jeff Gordon, the three-time Daytona 500 champion who now serves as an executive at Hendrick, stood atop the pit box and seemingly tried to push Elliott to victory lane. He rocked back in his seat and threw his hands on his headset once the crash erupted and marred Elliott's race.

Elliott, the 30-year-old son of Hall of Fame driver and two-time Daytona 500 champion Bill Elliott, found little consolation in having a great shot at the end at winning.

“You can run it through your mind 1,000 times, do you do something different,” Elliott said. “I feel like if I had thrown a double block on (Reddick), probably would have just crashed us at that point in time. I felt like you had to pick your battles. I thought maybe if somebody would pick me up on the top, you might have one more run to the line but unfortunately ended up getting turned around.”

Elliott, who has 21 career Cup wins, has yet to win NASCAR's biggest prize. Even though Elliott doesn’t have a win in the Daytona 500, he has shown promise. He has finished inside the top 20 seven of the last eight years, including a second place showing in 2021.

The losing streak goes on — even as confidence remains high he'll join his dad one day in the select group of Daytona 500 champions.

“I think you have to trust in that a little bit; keep your head down, stay working, and if there’s a day and a time for us, then there is,” Elliott said. “We’ll enjoy that moment if it ever comes.”

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Chase Elliott, (9) wins the second of two NASCAR Daytona 500 qualifying auto races at Daytona International Speedway, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Chase Elliott celebrates winning the second of two NASCAR Daytona 500 qualifying auto races at Daytona International Speedway, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Chase Elliott moves toward the pitt during the NASCAR Daytona 500 auto race at Daytona International Speedway, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Nigel Cook)

Chase Elliott signs autographs during practice at the NASCAR Daytona 500 auto races at Daytona International Speedway, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

ATLANTA (AP) — A weekend storm system sweeping across the Southeast brought tornado warnings to Mississippi and Louisiana, and then took aim at parts of Georgia and Florida, as people in the Northeast were finally getting a reprieve from weeks of bitterly cold temperatures.

Some of the fiercest weather in the South was reported near Lake Charles, Louisiana, where high winds from a thunderstorm overturned a horse trailer and a Mardi Gras float, damaged an airport jet bridge and flung the metal awning from a house into power lines. The damage was documented by National Weather Service employees who surveyed the area.

Power poles were snapped and toppled near the Louisiana towns of Jena, Cheneyville and Donaldsonville, the weather service reported.

No deaths or serious injuries were reported, but the damage reports came as the storm system continued into parts of south Georgia and the Florida Panhandle, which were under tornado watches on Sunday.

The storms led to some power outages across southern states, but nowhere near the massive number of outages caused by ice storms late last month in northern Mississippi and Nashville, Tennessee. By Sunday evening, a few thousand customers were still without electricity in Florida, Louisiana, Kentucky and Virginia, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide.

Meanwhile, the Northeast was beginning to thaw after a weekslong stretch of uncommonly cold weather.

Boston was running nearly 7 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 14 Celsius) below average for February last week, and the city was on pace for its coldest winter in more than a decade. Boston remained cold on Sunday, but this week’s forecast called for temperatures climbing into the high 30s and low 40s, which is closer to the seasonal average.

On the West Coast, much of California braced for a powerful winter storm that was expected to bring drenching thunderstorms, damaging winds and heavy snow in mountain areas. Jacob Spender, a weather service meteorologist in Sacramento, urged people to take precautions in the coming days.

“So if they are traveling, packing winter safety kits. Anything to be prepared. This is a bigger system, and a major system,” Spender said.

Rain that began Sunday in the San Francisco Bay Area was forecast to intensify throughout the day and overnight, bringing the risk of flooding. Forecasters said the Sierra Nevada, including ski resorts around Lake Tahoe, could see up to seven feet (two meters) of snow before the storm moves through late Wednesday.

To the south, Los Angeles area residents in some neighborhoods scarred by last year's devastating wildfires were under an evacuation warning through Tuesday because of the potential for mud and debris flows. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said she's ordered emergency crews and city departments to prepare to respond to any problems.

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Associated Press journalists Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; Julie Walker in New York City; Patrick Whittle in Portland, Maine; and Jeff Martin in Atlanta contributed.

Ice covers a navigational beacon at the end of the South Pier along Lake Michigan, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, in St. Joseph, Mich. (Don Campbell/The Herald-Palladium via AP)

Coast Guard Seaman Leyla Siglam monitors ice breaking from the Coast Guard Cutter Hawser during an ice-clearing operation at Wallabout Bay in the East River in New York, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)

Ice is in front of the Statue of Liberty as seen from the Coast Guard Cutter Hawser icebreaker tug boat in Upper New York Harbor in New York, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)