As crew chief of Jimmie Johnson's winning Daytona 500 run, Darian Grubb can toil in anonymity no longer. Credit: Autostock

The Real Deal: Daytona

Crew chief stand-in Grubb steps to the forefront in biggest race

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Darian Grubb was bored, treading water professionally at Volvo in Greensboro, N.C. It was 1999 and as good a time as any to chase a dream.

He was in his mid-20s, a graduate of the Virginia Tech engineering school and always wanted to work in racing. So he posted a resume on an Internet site designated for racing jobs. It was a one-in-a-million chance, but at least the site was free.

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Somehow Kyle Petty found that resume, and hired the young engineer to help develop the Dodge Intrepid. Then, in 2001 when Hendrick Motorsports expanded to four teams, Chad Knaus was hired as crew chief and Grubb as lead engineer.

He has been on the No. 48 team since, the yin to Knaus' yang. Knaus has an authoritative leadership style. Grubb hangs back, soaks it in. You wonder sometimes if the guy has a pulse.

He goes about his business quietly, negotiates the garage almost anonymously.

He will never again be anonymous. In the wake of Knaus' ejection from Daytona, he is Darian Grubb, Daytona 500 champion crew chief.

The last time one man raised his stock this much in one race? Jamie McMurray, Charlotte, 2002.

The last time one man raised his stock this much in the Daytona 500? Derrike Cope, 1990.

Big Fish: Jimmie Johnson, Casey Mears, Penske Racing South

Credit: Autostock

Daytona 500 Results Pos. Driver Make 1. J. Johnson Chevrolet 2. C. Mears Dodge 3. R. Newman Dodge 4. E. Sadler Ford 5. T. Stewart Chevrolet Complete results, click here Victory LaneJimmie Johnson celebrates a Daytona 500 victory Top finishersNewman, Kenseth, Stewart, and Junior talk about their day Rough racingStewart slides into Kenseth and is sent to the back of the field Multi-car wreckJeff Green spins in Turn 3 and collects several others Gordon and Stewart brush wallGordon and Stewart make contact and brush the wall Early cautionRacing is clean until Truex Jr. finds the wall Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

• Johnson was a pinball on restrictor-plate tracks in 2005, hit everything but the Powerball jackpot. So it stands to reason the stealthy manner in which he prevailed in the 48th Daytona 500 was that much more satisfying.

Make no noise. Upset no one. Hang out until go time.

"I've tried to learn from my mistakes," Johnson said. "[Sunday] I drove a much different plate race than I've driven before. I took a different approach."

Now the sights are set on reversing a title trend: Just once since 1979 has the same man won the Daytona 500 and the championship in the same season.

• Johnson may have taken the checkered flag, but Mears had the most impressive run in the 500. His split-second decision to draft with Johnson instead of Newman was the deciding factor in the race.

"It was pretty wild there at the end," Mears said. "I wanted to go with Newman, but as soon as he pulled out, [Elliott Sadler] had a big run on me and I had to block the bottom."

• Legendary car owner Roger Penske has never won the Daytona 500, but Newman and Kurt Busch made it clear the Penske Racing plate program is stout. Had Busch not been taken out by Jamie McMurray, we might be talking about Newman this morning.

"I feel really bad because he had a car capable of winning [Sunday], and I kind of screw that up for him," McMurray said.

LL Cool J: Tony Stewart

It is ridiculous that Stewart finished fifth Sunday. He hit the wall after a run-in with Jeff Gordon on Lap 47, and poked a hole in the nose of the No. 20 Chevrolet. Restarted 38th. Thirty laps later, following a caution, he restarted sixth.

Then, on Lap 106 he body-slammed Matt Kenseth, leading to a NASCAR penalty that sent him to the end of the longest line. He later pitted too close to the pit wall and subsequently ran over the jack. That's a penalty, too. Again, he went to the rear.

But come trophy time there he was, top-five. And top-five on a day like that sniffs of the luck required to win a title come November.

The Biggest Loser: Matt Kenseth

By the halfway point of the Daytona 500, Kenseth had established himself as the man to beat. But on Lap 106, he was battling Tony Stewart for position in the top five when Stewart purposely veered left into the side of Kenseth's Ford.

Kenseth slid wildly through the infield grass, spun around backward then shot back up the banking into oncoming traffic. Amazingly no one hit him. NASCAR sent Stewart to the end of the longest line for aggressive driving, but it was of little solace to Kenseth.

"Tony took me out intentionally, there's no two ways about that," Kenseth said. "Tony went out and said all that stuff earlier in the week. If he's worried about people's lives and everything and he's gonna wreck you on purpose at 190 [mph], I wasn't too happy."

Adding insult to injury, Kenseth was penalized for pitting too soon. Then, as both drivers exited pit lane, Kenseth sped up to Stewart's outside. He was black-flagged by NASCAR, technically for violating the blend-in rule exiting pit road.

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Crew chief Robbie Reiser was none-too-pleased, and openly questioned NASCAR's officiating.

"We didn't cause the wreck, I don't understand any of it, at all," Reiser said. "I don't think there is a blend line with the way they're calling this race."

Roush Racing has never won the Daytona 500, and Kenseth has never finished better than 10th in the Great American Race. At the time of the accident, Kenseth had led 29 laps.

Honorable Mention Biggest Losers: Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon

Carl Edwards didn't finish the Daytona 500, and was rewarded with last place. Credit: CIA Stock Photo

Edwards, whom many experts tabbed as the preseason championship favorite, wrecked out of the 500 early. Gordon, the world's Daytona 500 pick, got together with Stewart on Lap 47 while battling for position. Both drivers brushed the outside wall. Gordon made multiple pit stops to survey and remedy the damage.

"I put blame on both of us. I went underneath there and got tight, and he didn't want to give it up, either."

On the restart, Gordon ensured his crew he'd make it up to them. He nearly did. He battled back into the top 10 before McMurray wrecked Busch with 14 laps to go, triggering a melee that tore the right-side from Gordon's Chevrolet. He finished 26th.

Random note from the Daytona 500

Prior to leading the Daytona 500 field to the green flag as pace-car driver, Jay Leno graced the media center to lament on the intricacies of NASCAR. His estimation of race-car driving:

"Race-car driving is a little like sex -- all men think they're good at it. When you are out there by yourself, you actually are good at it -- until somebody else comes out on the track."