NASCAR is officially back as the Daytona 500 is now in the books! And this weekend did not disappoint! The cars and trucks were unstable, leading to some amazing pack racing. And while Tyler Reddick triumphed at the end, not everybody had a stellar weekend. Here are the biggest losers from the 2026 Daytona Speedweeks.
When Natalie Decker announced her NASCAR return a number of weeks ago, it was met with lukewarm response. Many fans have been critical of her time in NASCAR, particularly when she drove for DGR Crossley in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Still, it’s interesting to see how she does when she ones race the occasional one-off in one of NASCAR’s Top 3 divisions.
Unfortunately for her, this was a weekend she’d rather forget. After being involved in a late race crash in Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season opening, Decker went viral for crashing out on the radio. Over the radio, she was very critical of Sam Mayer. You can check out the specifics of what she said in the article below. But, at the end of the day, it was a bad weekend for Mrs. Decker as she left the World Center of Racing on the back of a rollback.
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When it comes to Beard Motorsports, it seemed like all the stars were aligning when they managed to race their way into the Daytona 500 in Thursday night’s duel races. But hang on a minute, pump the brakes! Following post-race inspection, it was announced that the No. 62’s qualifying time had been disallowed. This booted Alfredo, who thought he had just made his third straight Daytona 500, from the field entirely. A truly heartbreaking turn of events for Alfredo, he did manage to finish 11th in Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts race after a rocky start. So, while it wasn’t ideal, it wasn’t completely doom and gloom for fast pasta.
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Many fans entered this season very curious about Connor Zilisch and how he would perform in his rookie season in the NASCAR Cup Series. He dominated the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series last year and ran better in his part-time Cup attempts as the year went along. Known to be a road course racer, nobody was expecting him to light the world on fire at Daytona.
However, he somehow managed to find himself fighting Justin Allgaier for the lead around the halfway point. That was when his inexperience was put on full display. Zilisch, losing control of his car, doored the No. 40 car twice before spinning around off the nose of Cody Ware. This sparked a huge crash in front of the field, certainly an embarrassing moment for the young driver. His day was officially over. On the downside, we have another superspeedway-style race next week with Atlanta. There is a silver lining, though. The week after that is COTA. Will Zilisch be able to bounce back following this dismal debut?
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I think all fans who hate Austin Hill and watched the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts season opener at Daytona are big losers this weekend. Think about it–the worst happened. Austin Hill not only won the race, but he also earned a max points night, sweeping the stages and the race to earn 75 points to leave Daytona. To rub salt in the wound, he got out of the car and celebrated amidst a shower of boos. I think the heel turn (or maybe it’s hill turn) has finally happened. Denny Hamlin is no longer NASCAR’s biggest villain; he’s the sentimental favorite. That honor (or dishonor) now goes to Austin Hill. And, to make matters worse, we’re going to another superspeedway race next weekend. The Hill haters just can’t win!
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There was a lot of hype around Justin Allgaier heading into the 2026 season. On the O’Reilly Series side, he was largely considered the favorite for the championship with Connor Zilisch graduating to the Cup Series and Corey Heim not graduating to a full-time Cup or O’Reilly Auto Parts ride. And though he normally runs very well in superspeedway races, he was virtually a non-factor in Saturday’s race. That’s not to say he was awful; he was just around. And, if there was a crash, he somehow got a piece of it. Still, he managed to bounce back to a 2nd place finish, which is more than he can say about his effort on Sunday.
In Sunday’s Daytona 500, Allgaier looked strong. He started in the back and took his time getting to the front, but once he was up there, he looked mighty racy. Again, if there was a wreck, he got a piece of it. First, he suffered minor damage in the first incident of the night involving B. J. McLeod. Then, he was body slammed against the wall by Connor Zilisch in that fiasco. The nail in his coffin was his own doing. While battling for the lead at the end of Stage 2, he threw a bad block on Denny Hamlin and took out a lot of great cars. It’s almost as if he hit everything but the pace car this weekend. This has to be a disappointment following the team’s stellar 9th place run in the 2025 Daytona 500.
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