Jimmie's on top

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Jimmie Johnson was not going to stand for it.

The driver of the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet was not going to allow anyone or anything to tarnish his victory yesterday in the 48th Daytona 500, especially after he went an extra 7 1/2 miles to capture the checkered flag after a late caution with three laps remaining in this 200-lap affair produced the sixth green-white-checkered finish in eight races during Speedweeks.

The way Johnson saw it, his first triumph in his fifth career Daytona 500 start was to be cherished after his Hendrick Motorsports team endured great pressure and even greater scrutiny following NASCAR's ''ejection" of crew chief Chad Knaus for a rear-window template violation last Sunday that nullified Johnson's qualifying speed. It forced Johnson, 30, of El Cajon, Calif., to race his way from the rear of the field to a fourth-place finish in his 150-mile qualifying heat in Thursday's Gatorade Duel.

''I'm so, so proud of my race team," said Johnson in Victory Lane after he delivered car owner Rick Hendrick his sixth Daytona 500 trophy and second in a row on the heels of Jeff Gordon's triumph here last year. ''I wish Chad was here. I know he's kicking his TV set in now, so bummed out. But his hard work got this team to where it is."

In the span of a week, Johnson and his team went from the humiliation of getting their wrists slapped yet again by NASCAR -- and having their crew chief dismissed from the premises -- to the unbridled jubilation of winning NASCAR's biggest race. So nothing was going to spoil it. Not even the speculation by Ryan Newman, who wound up finishing third behind runner-up Casey Mears, about whether the No. 48's victory would be upheld after postrace inspection.

''Hey, you know, this could still be the first opportunity for NASCAR to pull away a victory if the thing is still illegal," said Newman. ''You know, it's just disappointing. I mean, I think a lot of Jimmie Johnson and his talent and stuff, but I'm pretty sure at least three out of his last four -- if not three out of his last three wins -- have had conflictions with the car being illegal. You know, it's not necessarily good for the sport.

NASCAR inspectors cleared the 48 car at 9:55 p.m., some four hours after the end of the race.

''I kind of view it as jealousy, and he doesn't have a crew chief in there working hard enough to make his cars as good," said Johnson, who earned $1,505,124 for the victory.

With interim crew chief Darian Grubb, 30, of Floyd, Va., picking up the slack for Knaus, Johnson started ninth in the 43-car grid, led four times for 23 laps (including the final 17), and never lost sight of the lead pack even when he dropped to 11th. With 20 laps to go, Johnson went from fifth to the front when he overtook Brian Vickers on Lap 187 just before the race's ninth of 11 caution flags, for a four-car melee on the backstretch involving Kurt Busch, Sterling Marlin, Jamie McMurray and Jeff Gordon.

''I've been aggressive before," Johnson said. ''Made some mistakes, caused wrecks, a lot of different things. But [today] I wanted to sit and ride and take care of things."

And that's precisely what he did when he went into the lead and stiff-armed the field on a pair of restarts after another backstretch accident (this one involving McMurray, pole sitter Jeff Burton, and rookie Denny Hamlin) on Lap 197 forced yet another green-white-checkered finish.

As Johnson prepared for a final three-lap sprint to the finish line, Grubb was approached by an NBC-TV reporter in the pits and asked if he was nervous. ''Jimmie Johnson's never run out of the top 10, so it makes my job easy to call a race like this. Why would I be nervous? I got the greatest car and I got the greatest driver."

Grubb was proven right on both counts when Johnson pulled away from the pack on the restart on Lap 200, with only Newman and Mears in tow. Mears, a California chum of Johnson's from their off-road racing days, tried to hold his position, but when Newman pulled out of the draft to make a pass, Mears knew he had to tuck his No. 42 car behind the 48. It proved a million-dollar move for Mears when Greg Biffle's wallbanger in Turn 4 of the white-flag lap produced the race's 11th and final caution and froze the field, effectively ending the race under caution.

''It was pretty wild there at the end," said Mears, who captured a $1,095,766 payday for his runner-up effort. ''I wanted to go with Newman as soon as he pulled out, the No. 38 [of fourth-place finisher Elliott Sadler] had a big run on me and I had to block the bottom. It's just tough to figure out who to go with at the end, but congratulations to Jimmie. He's a big friend of mine."

Said Johnson, ''When Ryan pulled up, I knew I had to block the bottom. I saw Casey just stay in line because he knew he could benefit from third to second. I felt very good about that, was happy to see him come around and finish second. I owe him a lot for staying in line and giving me a big push to the end."

It enabled Johnson to cruise into Victory Lane at Daytona, where today his car will be enshrined for one year in the Daytona USA Motorsports Museum. As one press box observer wisecracked, it should give NASCAR inspectors ample time and opportunity to comb every inch of the 48.

A defiant Johnson dedicated his 19th career NASCAR Nextel Cup victory ''to the haters of the 48 team."

''I believed this team could still win it," he said, after his team owned up to Knaus's mistake and made every attempt to move forward, at a very fast clip. ''No doubt, Chad not being here is a huge handicap. Everyone stepped up. Everyone overcame it. That's why I'm so proud of this Lowe's team."