Johnson passed teammate Brian Vickers for the lead on Lap 187 and stayed there to score a Daytona 500 victory Sunday that he felt provided vindication for a team that made headlines for the wrong reason during Speedweeks.

One week earlier, NASCAR disallowed Johnson's lap after finding a rules violation on the No. 48 Chevrolet in inspections after qualifying for the season's first race. Crew chief Chad Knaus was ''ejected'' from activities leading up to the 500, and faces potential further penalties this week for that infraction.

So with team engineer Darian Grubb calling the shots in Knaus' place, Johnson went out and made what he called a ''statement'' by picking up the 19th - and biggest - Nextel Cup victory of his career.

''I just have so much pride in my team with the circumstances that we've faced this week,'' Johnson said.

''Chad made a mistake and we're dealing with the consequences that come with that. But I think this shows how hard we work to be successful, and nobody can deny the fact that we worked out butts off and won the sport's biggest race.''

That's true, but that doesn't mean everybody has to like it.

''It's just disappointing,'' Ryan Newman said after finishing third behind Johnson and Casey Mears. ''I think a lot of Jimmie Johnson and his talent, but I'm pretty sure that three of his past four wins have had conflict with the cars being illegal. It's not necessarily good for the sport.''

Since becoming Johnson's crew chief in 2002, Knaus has now been penalized at least seven times.

''The point that should be driven home,'' Newman said, ''is if the situation happens time and time again with a certain individual, there's something more that should be done other than suspension. I think that's important to the sport.''

Johnson and Rick Hendrick, who got a sixth career Daytona 500 as a car owner, brushed aside such criticism.

''I think [Newman] is jealous he doesn't have a crew chief in there working as hard as I do to make his cars as good,'' Johnson said.

Hendrick said the No. 48 Chevrolet, the same one that had an unapproved device that pushed the right side of its rear window out to deflect air off the rear spoiler in qualifying, had been inspected several times during the week since that violation was discovered.

Johnson faced criticism in restrictor-plate races last season. While he felt some of that was unfair, he admitted to mistakes that he said helped him understand he needed more patience in the close-quarters racing seen here and at Talladega where plates are used.

That certainly came in handy Sunday.

Moments after Johnson went high around Vickers in Turn 2 on lap 187 to take the lead, Kurt Busch got turned from behind by Jamie McMurray and added to the list of drivers who had strong runs ruined by such incidents.

Tony Stewart, a prerace favorite who had spurred the other big storyline of Speedweeks by complaining about aggressive driving in the Budweiser Shootout, bumped into Jeff Gordon as they went for the same territory off Turn 2 on lap 48. Later, on lap 107, Stewart rapped Matt Kenseth's Ford at the end of the backstretch, sending Kenseth into a spin and making Stewart the first Cup driver to be penalized for rough driving under a rule made this week in answer to the complaints he'd leveled after the Shootout.

''Today was hard for me mentally because the racer in me wanted to be aggressive out there,'' Johnson said. ''There were so many times out there I just told myself to stop.

''I said, 'Don't get caught up in this. Sit here on the bottom and let these guys pass you. You have a good enough race car. You'll work your way back through there.' I really did a lot talking to myself and learned some lessons today.''

Eighteen different drivers led Sunday, but Johnson was the last one. He had Vickers on his rear flank immediately after getting there, but Newman and Mears got by Vickers on Lap 195 and were there for the green-white-checkered finish after McMurray got into the Turn 2 wall himself.