What happens when a teammate’s desperation costs you the biggest win of your life? Chase Elliott learned the brutal answer on February 15, 2026.
With 500 feet separating him from his first Daytona 500 trophy, Elliott watched his No. 9 Chevrolet transform from race leader to outside wall casualty in a split second. The culprit? Riley Herbst, ironically a fellow 23XI Racing driver whose No. 63 Toyota threw a last-ditch block at Brad Keselowski.
Herbst’s rear bumper clipped Elliott’s right rear quarter panel, spinning the Hendrick Motorsports star sideways as Tyler Reddick—Herbst’s own teammate—sailed past to claim victory. Elliott used dry humor to mask the devastation: “Maybe I should have just wrecked the first time,” he told reporter Kelly Crandall.
The irony cuts deeper: Herbst’s block inadvertently handed 23XI Racing their first Daytona 500 victory while destroying Elliott’s decade-long pursuit of the same trophy. Jeff Gordon didn’t hide his emotions, gesturing wildly from the pit box as the No. 9 car limped across the line in fourth place.
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