Daytona Beach, Fla. ? It took a fast pit stop to get Jimmie Johnson into the lead. Once he got there, Johnson knew the Budweiser Shootout was his.

Johnson, the odds-on favorite to win the NASCAR Nextel Cup championship in 2005, did nothing to dispel that notion in Saturday night’s exhibition race at Daytona International Speedway.

The driver who finished second to Kurt Busch by just eight points last year — the closest margin in stock-car history — took the lead 16 laps from the end of the 70-lap Shootout and held off a pack of charging challengers to the end.

Ryan Newman grabbed a big lead when he took only two fresh tires on the required pit stop in the second segment of the made-for-TV race. But Johnson, with four new tires, was the next fastest driver out of the pits, getting out ahead of early leader Greg Biffle, who appeared to have the fastest car on the track most of the night.

But it was Johnson who tracked down Newman in just eight laps on the 21/2-mile oval. He charged past Newman’s Dodge on lap 55, pulling Biffle, Busch and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon along with him.

“Really, at the end, it mattered most who came out first on that pit stop, and my guys got it done on pit road and got us out ahead of (Biffle),” Johnson said. “He had a great car and when he was leading I really couldn’t get a run on him. I knew that once I got into the lead he wasn’t going to be able to get around me. It’s just too hard to pass the leader.”

While Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet held the lead, the action behind him was furious in the closing laps, with Newman making a great move, diving low into the first turn three laps from the end to pass Biffle and Gordon and grab second place.

Newman credited the two-tire call to crew chief Matt Borland and said that despite the fact it didn’t earn him a win it was the reason he wound up second.

“I think it was a good call. It put us a situation in which we could have won and it turned out pretty good for us,” the Penske Racing South driver said. “We’re just happy to come home second and it was a great debut for the brand new Dodge Charger.”

Gordon, who had taken second place away from Biffle on lap 66, was shunted back to sixth on the next lap, but came back to finish third. Tony Stewart wound up fourth, followed by Biffle, Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mark Martin.

The victory came in Johnson’s third start in the non-points race for last year’s pole winners and former Shootout champions.

Johnson took home the winner’s share of $212,945.

Defending Shootout champ Dale Jarrett, who picked the pole position in a blind draw, led the first lap before Biffle moved into the top spot, where he remained until the scheduled 10-minute break after the first 20 laps.

Gerhart wins ARCA race

Daytona Beach, Fla. — Bobby Gerhart raced to his third career victory Saturday at Daytona International Speedway, winning the accident-filled ARCA event that was shortened because of numerous wrecks.

Four photographers were injured early in the race when they were struck by a car, a fan was hit by debris in an accident that ripped a hole in the fencing and required a 45-minute delay while it was repaired, and two drivers were sent to the hospital following a 13-car accident at the end of the event.