Daytona Beach, Fla. ? Michael Waltrip won. Dale Earnhardt Jr., went for broke. And the Intimidator would have loved the whole show.

At the track the late Dale Earnhardt treasured the most, it was his good friend, Waltrip, holding off a late challenge from his son, Earnhardt Jr., to win the Pepsi 400 on Saturday night.

Michael Waltrip waves from inside the No. 15 car as he hits the finish line under caution. Waltrip clipped Rusty Wallace (2) in Pepsi 400 on Saturday night at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Waltrip earned his second career victory and the first he could really savor. His only other win came last February, in the Daytona 500. Back then, he crossed the finish line a split second after Earnhardt hit the wall in Turn 4 and died.

Thus added yet another poignant chapter to the Earnhardt family saga at the track. Waltrip was Earnhardt’s good friend and employee he was like another son to the Intimidator and he always figured his boss would be there for his biggest successes.

Time has healed some of that hurt, and Waltrip’s second victory Rusty Wallace finished second in a race that ended under caution was as fitting a tribute to The Man in Black as anyone could imagine.

So was the way Earnhardt Jr., went down fighting.

Trailing his friend and Dale Earnhardt Inc., teammate through most of the end of the race, Junior had to decide whether to hang back and protect Waltrip’s lead or go for the victory.

He went for it, got hung out to dry, and wound up finishing sixth.

“It was an awesome move,” Wallace said. “His pop would have tried it the way he tried it.”

Waltrip said he was glad Earnhardt went for the victory instead of protecting him.

“I’m happy he did that, because nobody can say we rode around here in formation,” he said. “I had the fastest car.”

Moments after Earnhardt’s failed attempt, Geoffrey Bodine and Ryan Newman wrecked and brought out the yellow flag.

The final 21/2 laps were run under yellow. Thousands of fans protested, throwing reams of paper onto the backstretch, possibly believing NASCAR should have stopped the race to allow it to finish under green.

“There was no way we could have finished the race anyway,” Wallace insisted. “There were so many beer cans on the track.”

But that disruption didn’t ruin Waltrip’s celebration.

Just like Earnhardt did when he finally broke through at the Daytona 500 in 1998 and like Junior did last year in his emotional victory here Waltrip celebrated by spinning donuts in the infield.

Then he pulled into Victory Lane for a much more jubilant celebration than his last trip there.

Indeed, this is the way the Intimidator always wanted it to be at Daytona, the site of many of his best moments. He won 34 times here including twice in the Pepsi 400 and when he founded DEI, he made dominance at Daytona a priority.

Wallace enjoyed his best finish ever at Daytona. Winston Cup points leader Sterling Marlin raced near the front all day and finished third.

“We didn’t have anything for Junior or Waltrip,” Wallace said. “They were the class of the field.”

Jimmy Spencer finished fourth and Mark Martin was fifth. Polesitter Kevin Harvick suffered damage to the right front of his car and finished 11th.

The finish under yellow was fitting for a race that was run in fits and starts.

The worst wreck of the night came with 16 laps left. It sent flames shooting out of Brett Bodine’s car and sent many competitive cars, including Dale Jarrett, out of the race.

This start of the race was downright strange.

Three yellow flags came out over the first 17 laps the first on lap 2 when Elliott Sadler spun out Tony Stewart on the backstretch, forcing Stewart’s crew to take the car into Victory Lane for an extended attempt to repair the damaged Pontiac.