This is the greatest day of my life, says Dale Jr.

Daytona International Speedway's victory lane became a stable for Clydesdales on Sunday, as Dale Earnhardt Jr., and the #8 Budweiser team won the Great American Race, the Daytona 500.

Sporting a special red-and-white 'Born-On dating' paint scheme on his Bud car, Dale Jr. made the winning pass with 19 laps to go and held off repeated challenges from Tony Stewart in the waning circuits to earn his 10th career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory.

"This is awesome," said Dale Jr. "This is the greatest race, this is the greatest day of my life, and I can't really describe it. I don't know if I'll ever be able to tell this story to anybody and get it right. This is just a great feeling."

Dale Jr. now has eight career wins here in 26 starts, but this marks his first Daytona 500 victory.

He and his father, Dale Earnhardt, are only the third father/son duo to have their names on the Harley J. Earl Trophy.

"That was the longest 15 laps of my life," he added with regard to the final laps, "The car was awesome all week. I knew I had one of the few cars that could've made the pass I made on Tony. He was strong all day. We helped each other all day, and it was cool that it came down to us racing for the win.

"He's a good friend of mine, and I can't think of many people I'd rather race for a win in the Daytona 500 than Tony. I got a good run on him, went high, he went up to block me, so I swept back down across his bumper and got enough momentum to get a nose out in front of him. I saw he had some drafting help coming, but I just had a really good run and was able to pass him. Once I got out in front, it was just a matter of holding him off. I saw he was trying to use lapped traffic or whatever he could get to get by me. But this Budweiser Chevrolet was haulin' today.

"[Crew chief] Tony Eury Sr., Tony [Eury] Jr., [car chief] and all the guys on the team have worked so hard at winning the Daytona 500. I'm kinda glad to say I put the ongoing strive to win the Daytona 500 to rest."

Stewart finished second followed by Scott Wimmer, Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson.

This marks the first time in his NEXTEL Cup career that Dale Jr. has led the point standings.