Earnhardt won NASCAR's biggest event Sunday on the same track that took his father's life three years ago passing Tony Stewart with 20 laps left with a maneuver that would have made his dad proud.

The race, attended by President Bush, launched the Nextel Cup era and came six years to the day that the Intimidator won his first -- and only -- Daytona 500 on his 20th try. "In a way, it feels like I'm closer to my dad," Junior said. "At the same time, this is a reminder of losing him all over again." 

In a daring move that must have been borrowed from the Intimidator, Earnhardt Jr. dipped to the inside without any drafting help and came within a foot of Stewart's car at nearly 190 mph coming through the trioval.

Stewart tried valiantly to catch up, briefly pulling beside Earnhardt coming out of turn two. But Junior showed his muscle on the backstretch, keeping Stewart in the rearview mirror. That's where Stewart stayed the rest of the way. Earnhardt pulled away on the final lap, winning by about four car lengths while the crowd of 180,000 -- many of them wearing Junior's red and white colors -- erupted in celebration.

Earnhardt came back around and stopped his car at the checkered finish line. He pumped his fist and jumped into the arms of his crew, who lifted him on their shoulders for all to see. Then he climbed back into the No. 8 Chevrolet and attempted a few doughnuts in the grass -- just like his father after the 1998 race.

"I was taught so many lessons about this place before I ever got behind the wheel," Earnhardt said. "I'm glad I don't have to worry about (winning the 500) anymore."

The Earnhardts became the third father-son combination to win the Daytona 500, joining Lee and Richard Petty and Bobby and Davey Allison.

Stewart led 97 laps -- nearly half the 200-lap event -- but didn't have enough to hold off Earnhardt, who set the pace for 59.

"I think his father is proud today," Stewart said. "I wanted to win the race. Trust me, if I could have held him off, I would have. But there was no holding that kid back. Today was his day."

A frightening crash on lap 72 took out defending race winner Michael Waltrip, whose car flipped at least three times and wound up landing on its roof in the backstretch. He wasn't injured.

Rookie Scott Wimmer held on for a surprising third-place finish. He briefly held the lead after gambling on his final pit stop _ taking only two tires -- but he didn't have enough grip to hold on.

Wimmer still faces drunken-driving charges after crashing a team truck last month. NASCAR, which has a zero-tolerance policy on substance abuse, hasn't decided whether to punish the driver.

"I understand what I did was wrong," Wimmer said. "But we'll make it through."  Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top five.

Pole-winner Greg Biffle had to start from the back of the 43-car field after changing an engine Saturday. That allowed Earnhardt to take the green flag from the pole.  Biffle made up a lot of ground in an overheating car, running near the front late in the race. But he faded to 12th.

Waltrip was running three-wide when rookie Johnny Sauter got loose coming off turn two and sparked a chain-reaction wreck that took out 12 cars.

Waltrip got smashed in the side by Robby Gordon, a tire shredded and the No. 15 car burrowed into the grass on the inside of the track, softened by rain that washed out Saturday's Busch Series race.

With dirt flying everywhere, Waltrip's car came to a stop upside down. Rescue workers spent nearly 10 minutes making sure he was OK, then flipped the car over to let the 6-foot-4 Waltrip climb out. He waved to the cheering crowd and then went to the infield care center for a quick check.

Mark Martin was the first driver to go out, his Roush Racing Ford spewing smoke just eight laps into the race. Another Roush driver, Jeff Burton, was doomed by engine problems, too -- not a promising debut for the team that joined up with Robert Yates Racing during the offseason to give Ford a greater edge.

Results: Finish -  Start -  Car - Driver - Make - Sponsor Pts/Bonus - Laps - Status 1 3 #8 Dale Earnhardt Jr.  Chevrolet Budweiser 185/5 200 Running 2 5 #20 Tony Stewart  Chevrolet Home Depot 180/10 200 Running 3 26 #22 Scott Wimmer * Dodge Caterpillar 170/5 200 Running 4 10 #29 Kevin Harvick  Chevrolet GM Goodwrench 165/5 200 Running 5 6 #48 Jimmie Johnson  Chevrolet Lowe's 160/5 200 Running 6 14 #01 Joe Nemechek  Chevrolet U.S. Army 150/0 200 Running 7 2 #38 Elliott Sadler  Ford M&M's 146/0 200 Running 8 39 #24 Jeff Gordon  Chevrolet DuPont 147/5 200 Running 9 12 #17 Matt Kenseth  Ford DeWalt Power Tools 143/5 200 Running 10 31 #88 Dale Jarrett  Ford UPS 134/0 200 Running 11 13 #18 Bobby Labonte  Chevrolet Interstate Batteries 130/0 200 Running 12 1 #16 Greg Biffle  Ford National Guard 127/0 200 Running 13 29 #1 John Andretti  Chevrolet Kraft Foods 129/5 200 Running 14 25 #41 Casey Mears  Dodge Target 121/0 200 Running 15 23 #23 Dave Blaney  Dodge Whelen Engineering 118/0 200 Running 16 15 #97 Kurt Busch  Ford Sharpie 115/0 199 Running 17 19 #0 Ward Burton  Chevrolet NetZero HiSpeed 112/0 199 Running 18 16 #21 Ricky Rudd  Ford Motorcraft Quality Parts 109/0 199 Running 19 17 #77 Brendan Gaughan * Dodge Kodak/Jasper Engines 106/0 199 Running 20 38 #5 Terry Labonte  Chevrolet Kellogg's 108/5 199 Running 21 33 #45 Kyle Petty  Dodge Georgia Pacific/Brawny 105/5 198 Running 22 43 #133 Mike Skinner  Chevrolet RCR 97/0 198 Running 23 28 #32 Ricky Craven  Chevrolet Tide 94/0 198 Running 24 40 #7 Jimmy Spencer  Dodge Ultra Motorsports 91/0 198 Running 25 22 #19 Jeremy Mayfield  Dodge Dodge Dealers/UAW 88/0 195 Running 26 21 #30 Johnny Sauter * Chevrolet America Online 85/0 193 Running 27 24 #09 Johnny Benson  Dodge Miccosukee Gaming & Resorts 82/0 177 Out of Race 28 41 #14 Larry Foyt  Dodge A.J. Foyt Racing 79/0 176 Running 29 18 #2 Rusty Wallace  Dodge Miller Lite 76/0 154 Running 30 42 #50 Derrike Cope  Dodge Thrifty Rent-a-Car/Melling 73/0 153 Running 31 20 #12 Ryan Newman  Dodge ALLTEL 70/0 149 Running 32 32 #4 Kevin Lepage  Chevrolet YokeTV.com 67/0 132 Running 33 34 #43 Jeff Green  Dodge Cheerios 64/0 110 Out of Race 34 36 #10 Scott Riggs * Chevrolet Valvoline 61/0 109 Out of Race 35 30 #31 Robby Gordon  Chevrolet Cingular Wireless 58/0 78 Out of Race 36 7 #42 Jamie McMurray  Dodge Texaco/Havoline 55/0 75 Out of Race 37 4 #40 Sterling Marlin  Dodge Coors Light 52/0 75 Out of Race 38 9 #15 Michael Waltrip  Chevrolet NAPA Auto Parts 49/0 70 Out of Race 39 35 #25 Brian Vickers * Chevrolet GMAC Financial Services 46/0 70 Out of Race 40 37 #49 Ken Schrader  Dodge Schwan's Home Service 43/0 59 Out of Race 41 27 #9 Kasey Kahne * Dodge Dodge Dealers/UAW 40/0 42 Out of Race 42 11 #99 Jeff Burton  Ford NBA All-Star Game on TNT 37/0 25 Out of Race 43 8 #6 Mark Martin  Ford Viagra 34/0 7 Out of Race *  Rookie