When the final green-flag pit stops were over, rookie Scott Wimmer of Bill Davis Racing was out in front. The crew had only changed right-side tires, elevating him from a likely seventh or eighth-place finish to a chance to win. Unfortunately, he had no drafting partner and was caught up by the faster Stewart and Earnhardt, Jr. with 25 laps to go. Earnhardt, Jr. passed Stewart on lap 181 and held him off in the remaining laps to win his first Daytona 500. Earnhardt, Jr. won the race exactly three years after his father's fatal crash on the final lap of the 2001 race, where Waltrip had won his first race which itself came three years after Earnhardt's win in the 1998 race.