DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- His ability has been questioned. His team has been scrutinized since last season.

When he started Sunday's Daytona 500, his crew chief was elsewhere, ejected from Daytona International Speedway by NASCAR for a rule infraction discovered after qualifying.

And all Jimmie Johnson and his team did was ignore the comments, the accusations and the distractions and focus on winning.

Interim crew chief and Floyd, Va., native Darian Grubb lifted the team with an even-keel manner that was evident as he spoke to Johnson on the radio Sunday. They sounded as if they were just discussing cars, not trying to win the Daytona 500.

Until after they did. Then, they both screamed.

Without patience and calm, Johnson could not have won the sport's biggest race for the first time and collect his 19th career victory. It's a lesson that goes back to last season, when drivers blamed him for wrecks at Talladega and NASCAR challenged his car's setup after a win at Dover.

The criticism directed at Johnson's driving was among the first few times competitors had complained publicly about him. He triggered a seven-car crash at Talladega last fall. That came after Dale Earnhardt Jr. blamed him for a 25-car wreck there in the spring. Johnson didn't have any such problems Sunday.

"I just really slowed down the pace of the race in my eyes from what I was doing, made sure that I made smart moves that wouldn't have hung me out of the draft,'' Johnson said. "I didn't try as hard to be the guy that led the most laps, made the most aggressive moves. I worked on the handling of our race car so at the end of the race we had the best driving car.''

This time, drivers complained more about each other than Johnson. Tony Stewart and Matt Kenseth traded sheet metal and barbs. Jeff Green criticized Dale Jarrett. Jamie McMurray took the blame for taking out Kurt Busch. Jeff Gordon was unhappy with Stewart and vise versa.

That kept the attention off Johnson, who ran no lower than 11th. He was the only driver to run in the top 15 all 203 laps -- a late caution extended the event three laps.

The extra laps gave Johnson more time to work with Grubb, in his first race as crew chief because of the ejection of Chad Knaus. It helped that Grubb has been the team's engineer since 2003 and been a part of Johnson's huddles with Knaus in the past.

That familiarity was the reason Grubb filled in for Knaus instead of someone else at Hendrick Motorsports with crew chief experience.

In a phone call to his Mooresville, N.C., house the day after qualifying, Grubb was told he would fill in for Knaus. Grubb told his wife, Yolanda, "I'm on board. I'm the crew chief.''

Then it was time to work. Yolanda said she knew by Grubb's voice when they talked on the telephone Tuesday that he was tired. The mood changed Wednesday, the team's first day at the track since the penalty. He sounded upbeat, excited.

She flew on a team plane Saturday to be with him. They shared a quiet dinner at an Italian restaurant near the beach and their hotel.

They were up by 4 a.m. on race day and headed to the track, keeping with the team's goal of being the first to arrive at the track. Yolanda slept in the van as her husband and the team waited for NASCAR to unlock the garage at 7 a.m., nearly eight hours before the green flag fell.

While Grubb maintained Knaus' work ethic, his low-key style is in contrast to Knaus' rah-rah approach. Grubb's demeanor might have best fit with last weekend's situation.

Grubb's style also mirrored what car owner Rick Hendrick said he would like to see from Johnson's team this season. It's a discussion he had with Johnson and Knaus in the offseason.

"We talked about wanting to be more low-key ... so we can make it through the whole stretch without peaking too early,'' Hendrick said of Johnson's team, which was penalized after its Las Vegas win and had its legal shocks outlawed after its Dover victory last year.

Even with those distractions, Johnson finished in the top five for the fourth year in a row, the longest active streak. He has never won a championship, losing the 2004 crown to Kurt Busch by eight points and the 2002 title to Matt Kenseth by 90.

Sunday does not guarantee a title. Last year, Jeff Gordon became the fourth driver in the last five years to win the Daytona 500 and finish outside the top 10 in points.

A new attitude and a new approach could change Johnson's fortunes this year. For now, he'll enjoy being a Daytona 500 champion.

"It's slowly sinking in,'' a sleep-deprived Johnson said Monday morning. "I think over the next few years, it will really sink in what this race means to me and how big it is and what it means to my career.''