Johnson’s victory with teammate Jack Roush Jr. in the No. 61 Roush Performance Products/Gary Yeomans Ford Mustang gave Roush’s father, team owner Jack Roush, his first GRAND-AM victory at Daytona International Speedway.

The margin of victory over second-place Charles Espenlaub in the No. 48 Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3 was 1.061 seconds. Espenlaub’s teammate Bryan Sellers was third in the No. 46 BMW.

Twenty-five of the race’s 58 laps were run under a total of six caution flags.

"I think pretty much the first hour and a half was a close moment," Roush Jr. said of the racing. "There’s opportunities to have incidents at any moment in time, especially at the beginning of the race, it was really sketchy."

The race began on a wet surface, which dried as proceedings progressed. And in the end, things played in the Roush team’s favor.

"It’s great to finish this race first, especially after not being able to finish in the last two years," Johnson said. "To come back and have a strong finish and start off the season on a good note rather than a hole with zero points is huge."

The race’s most significant incident occurred on lap 40 when Kyle Gimple in the No. 198 Cruise America Mini Cooper swerved to avoid a car slowing in front of him on the frontstretch and drifted up into the No. 23 Weather Tech BMW of Terry Borcheller. That put both into the wall, bringing out the race’s fourth caution. At the same time, the No. 15 of Gunnar Jeannette cut a tire and wrecked on the backstretch chicane. All three ST drivers were evaluated at the Infield Care Center and released.

Johnson, who had taken the lead on lap 41, held the point through the race’s sixth caution on lap 53, and persevered over the final three laps.

Pierre Kleinubing, whose No. 31 i-Moto/Cybernation.net Mazda started at the rear of the field after missing qualifying with engine issues, won the ST class race with a last-lap frontstretch pass of Nic Jonsson in the No. 10 Kinetic/Kia Racing Kia Forte. The margin of victory was .021 seconds in a side-by-side finish.

The pair had battled with Gregory Liefooghe in the No. 81 BimmerWorld Racing BMW over the final laps. Liefooghe finished third.

"I was the lucky one in the end," Kleinubing said. "Nic gave me a big push and I was able to get by the Bimmer. Once we got side-by-side, we rubbed a bit and slowed his momentum and I was able to get by him again. Lucky to be here. Finally got a win."