What’s Happening?

The 2026 season-opening race at Daytona is officially in the books for the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. We had some wild, action-packed moments throughout, with the cream rising to the top as everyone else boiled over. In the end, it was, predictably, Austin Hill who took the first checkered flag of the season. It marked his fourth win at Daytona, all coming in the season opener, and his eleventh superspeedway win in all. In the process of winning the race, he led the pack most of the night, leading 78 of the 120 laps and sweeping the stages. That gives him 75 points to start the year.

WHAT A FINISH!!!!@_AustinHill holds off the late push for his fourth victory at @DAYTONA in five years! pic.twitter.com/vJaepL5tQA

— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) February 15, 2026

Key Incidents

Natalie Decker Goes OFF on Sam Meyer

Natalie Decker had a viral moment during tonight’s race, where she had some choice words for Sam Meyer following a late-race crash. Check out that story below.

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O’Reilly: Natalie Decker Blasts Mayer on Radio After Late Race Crash

Big One Takes Out Some Heavy Hitters

The biggest wreck of the evening happened when Williams Sawalich got sucked around by dirty air as Corey Day entered the corner a hair lower than the No.18. This set out a chain reaction that took out a lot of competitive cars, including Taylor Gray and Jeb Burton. Read all about it in the story below.

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O’Reilly: Sawalich Gets Loose and Spins, Triggering Big One

Race Results

• Per the usual, Austin Hill was the class of the field tonight. He started the race from the pole and went on to lead the most laps at 78. Additionally, he won all the stages, earning a max points day. He’ll be leaving Daytona with 75 points in his possession.
• Austin Hill wasn’t only the best tonight, his teammate Jesse Love was pretty sporty as well. The duo swept the front row to start the race and Love led a bulk of laps as well, leading 27 of them. It seems that RCR is just unbeatable at these types of tracks.
• Having a solid but quiet day was Rajah Caruth. He was involved in a couple of incidents but still somehow drove with veteran awareness. It’ll be interesting to see how he can do in that No. 88 ride, considering Connor Zilisch success in the car last year. He finished 10th tonight.
• Caruth wasn’t the only JRM car to have a solid night. Of them all, Sammy Smith performed the best in the draft as he was consistently in contention for the lead. He even led one of the laps that wasn’t held by RCR. He finished the day in 5th.
• The bonus point for the Xfinity Fastest Lap goes to Rajah Caruth in the JRM No. 88.

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