DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Jeff Gordon was helplessly socked in behind Tony Stewart when along came Dale Earnhardt Jr. with a fresh burst of speed.

By the time the wild battle royale between NASCAR's biggest stars drew a checkered flag Sunday, even Gordon admitted he was "shocked" to be leading en route to his third Daytona 500 win.

If the start of the season was this good, imagine what the ending could be like.

Building on the momentum of last season's closest-ever championship race, NASCAR opened this year with the rivalry everybody in the sport wants to see.

Gordon nosed to the front with the fourth lead change in the last nine laps. The four-time NASCAR champion moved into some very fast company, joining Richard Petty (7), Cale Yarborough (4) and Bobby Allison and Dale Jarrett (3) with three or more Daytona victories.

Gordon first won it in 1997 and again in 1999.

"I don't know how to put that in perspective. It's overwhelming to me," Gordon said. "I was thrilled with the two that I had. Just one is enough to make your career."

But this could be the start of another magical season. Gordon is still chasing Petty and the late Dale Earnhardt's record seven season titles, and NASCAR would like nothing more than to see Gordon and Junior - its two most marketable drivers - go down to the wire week after week.

Gordon refused to get ahead of himself.

"I was wanting to still stay under the radar," Gordon said. "It's great to get the momentum and the season starting off right. But this guarantees nothing as far as the championship is concerned."

The one thing it does is give team owner Rick Hendrick a lift after the tragedy that befell his family last October. His son, Ricky, his only brother, John, and eight others were killed in a plane crash while traveling to a race in Virginia.

Gordon's first words in victory lane were to dedicate the win to the victims of the crash, and he later talked about how the loss has affected the entire team.

"His family is very near and dear to him. That's what made that loss so tragic, because they were not only family members he cared so much about, but other people that were part of an extended family that were just as meaningful to him and all of us," Gordon said.

For Hendrick, who struggled to return to work after the crash, the victory was the reward. His drivers tried so hard to give him one last season, falling short of giving Hendrick a championship when Jimmie Johnson and Gordon finished second and third in the Chase for the Championship.

"There was a lot of fire in our hearts. Every race we come to now, I think about all those people," Hendrick said. "And this is the Super Bowl of racing, so coming down here, you always want to do well. You want to start the year off well.

"We feel like it's a way to honor those that we lost and we love and we miss. And so," he added, "sure, it's a great win."

Three laps from the scheduled end, Gordon said teammate Johnson "came and gave me a big push, and I was able to get a lead, which I was shocked by." Then, after sneaking past Earnhardt, Gordon held off reigning champion Kurt Busch and Earnhardt in extra laps.

It was one of the wilder finishes in the 47-year history of NASCAR's biggest race: There were four lead changes in the last nine laps and two crashes involving a total of 17 cars in the last 20 laps.

Earnhardt, the defending race champion, came from 30th with less than 100 miles to go to grab the late lead. But Gordon passed him seconds before a caution flag waved on the 198th of the scheduled 200 laps.

The race went three extra laps to finish under a green flag, and Gordon hung on to beat Busch by two car lengths.

"He just barely laid on the bumper around (turns) three and four. If he would have been full-throttle, he probably would have got me loose and spun me out," Earnhardt said. "He knows how to do it just right. There are only a couple of other guys who can do that."

Stewart dominated the race for a second straight year, leading 107 laps, and was well on the way to his first 500 win before a rash of late caution flags set up the dramatic ending.

Earnhardt, who struggled with handling through most of the race and had not led a lap, was second, hugging Stewart's rear bumper, when he suddenly dove to the outside, just in front of Gordon and charged past the leader to grab the top spot on the 197th lap.

"I was real, real happy," Earnhardt said. "I'm telling you, man, the car was way, way off. It was hard. It was amazing the difference between the car (at the end) and maybe 50 laps before then. I mean, it was really fast."

When Earnhardt charged to the lead, Gordon thought the race was over.

"When the cautions came out, I would look in my mirror or look on the board to see how far back he was," Gordon said. "I thought maybe Junior was having engine problems or handling problems. Then he flipped a switch there at the end. I was like, 'Oh, here he is.'"

When the race went to overtime and Stewart had a chance to salvage a respectable finish, Johnson began to block him all over the banking. He ended up seventh, gave Johnson a retaliatory bump on the cool-down lap, then the two met at the NASCAR hauler for a makeup session afterward.

"You know, Jimmie and I are really, really good friends and this isn't something that's going to linger," Stewart said. "It's over with."

Scott Riggs finished fourth, followed by Johnson and Mark Martin in his last Daytona 500. Rusty Wallace, also in his finale, was 10th.