Johnson Rules Road

Before climbing into his Chevrolet for the Daytona 500, Jimmie Johnson read his team a fax from their crew chief, Chad Knaus.

“I believe in you guys,” it read. “I’ve trained you well. Do your job today.”

The El Cajon driver and his Hendrick Motorsports team did exactly that Sunday, enabling Johnson to pull away from a crowded field and from four years of frustration to win stock-car racing’s biggest prize.

But Johnson’s victory came with controversy firmly attached -- courtesy of Knaus.

Knaus faxed his pep talk from Charlotte, N.C., having been sent home by NASCAR last Monday for cheating during Johnson’s qualifying attempt.

Inspectors had found an illegal modification to the rear window of Johnson’s No. 48 car, and another member of his team, Darian Grubb, assumed the crew-chief duties for the Daytona 500.

Knaus had been penalized for rules violations before, and his latest infraction raised questions about whether Johnson’s victory under gray, misty skies and the lights of Daytona International Speedway carried a taint, along with the $1.5 million in prize money.

But Johnson would have none of it.

“This is a huge, huge statement,” he said. “We play within a set of rules. Chad broke the rules. He’s admitted that. We looked as bad as we could ever look, but we got the job done.”

Team owner Rick Hendrick, celebrating his sixth Daytona 500 victory, likewise said that the Knaus episode “is a nonissue,” and that Johnson “drove a smart race and Darian did a super job.”

Others, including third-place finisher Ryan Newman, weren’t so sure.

“This could still be the first opportunity for NASCAR to pull away a victory if the thing is illegal,” said Newman, who drives a Penske Racing Dodge. “It’s disappointing. I think a lot of Jimmie Johnson and his talent, but I’m pretty sure at least three of his last four wins have had conflictions with the cars being illegal. You know, it’s not necessarily good for the sport.”

Johnson had the lead as the 200-lap raced neared its end, with a dozen cars still bearing down on him. With only two laps left, an accident set up a two-lap shootout to decide the race, and Johnson never relinquished the front spot, winning at an average speed of 142.667 mph.

Another Californian, Casey Mears of Bakersfield, finished second in a Dodge owned by Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates.

“I couldn’t be happier,” Mears said. “The biggest thing is that it starts us out right in the points this year.”

Johnson now takes his early lead in the Nextel Cup points chase to the two-mile California Speedway for the Auto Club 500 next Sunday.

The win was Johnson’s 19th victory in 148 starts, and his first at either Daytona or Talladega, the two superspeedways where NASCAR mandates the use of carburetor restrictor plates.

The plates keep the cars from exceeding 200 mph and, as a result, they run in packs, which puts a premium on a driver’s patience.

“I didn’t try as hard to be the guy that led the most laps [or] made the most aggressive moves,” Johnson said.

His victory also eased some of the disappointment he’s experienced in four years in the Nextel Cup series, during which he has come agonizingly close to winning the title three times. He finished second in the points in 2003 and 2004 and fifth last year, when Tony Stewart won the Cup.

Stewart, meanwhile, finished fifth but stoked another controversy over dangerous racing that he had initiated here a week ago.

After the Bud Shootout exhibition race, Stewart publicly declared that his colleagues were driving too dangerously, especially when it came to bumping one another in the high-banked turns.

That prompted NASCAR to announce it would penalize drivers who raced too rough. Stewart’s stance also prompted some racing observers to suggest that he was becoming the drivers’ public voice, succeeding the late Dale Earnhardt.

Yet on Sunday, Stewart drew one of NASCAR’s first new penalties for bumping incidents with front-runner Matt Kenseth.

Stewart banged hard into Kenseth on the back straightaway on Lap 107 and sent him sliding into the infield. NASCAR penalized Stewart for “aggressive driving” and sent his Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet to the rear of the field.

Kenseth then appeared to retaliate by softly bumping into the side of Stewart as they left pit road. NASCAR stepped in again, ordering Kenseth to take his Roush Racing Ford through the pits at reduced speed.

“Tony took me out intentionally,” said Kenseth, fuming. “There’s no two ways about that.

“Tony went out and said all that stuff early in the week,” Kenseth added. “If he’s worried about people’s lives and he’s going to wreck somebody at 190 mph, that’s tough.”

But Stewart claimed that Kenseth had first shoved him earlier in the race.

“He got back what he started in the first place,” Stewart said. “He has no room to complain. He started the whole thing and I finished it.”

Stewart also collided with defending Daytona 500 winner Jeff Gordon in the early going.

“I’m going to take part of the blame on that one,” said Gordon, Johnson’s teammate, “but I think Tony should take part of it as well.”

Knocked out early was Carl Edwards, another Roush driver. Trying to avoid an accident in front of him on the backstretch, Edwards drove his Ford up on the hood of Kyle Petty’s Dodge and then was dragged by Petty for several hundred yards.

Edwards, considered a contender for the Nextel Cup this year after finishing third in 2005, later said he “could have done a better job of slowing down. That wasn’t Kyle’s fault.”

The Penske Racing team of Newman and Kurt Busch also made a late run at the win, which would have been the first Daytona 500 victory for team owner Roger Penske. But Busch was involved in a crash with only 14 laps left.

Pole sitter Jeff Burton finished 32nd after being involved in the late-race accident. There were 11 caution flags, and 32 lead changes among 18 drivers.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

How it stands

Jimmie Johnson won NASCAR’s first race of the season:

*--* DRIVER CAR MONEY 1. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet $1,505,124 2. Casey Mears Dodge $1,095,766 3. Ryan Newman Dodge $796,116 4. Elliott Sadler Ford $684,076 5. Tony Stewart Chevrolet $537,944 6. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet $411,683 7. Brian Vickers Chevrolet $347,583 8. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet $377,694

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