DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. --- Despite being soaked by a mixture of rain, tears and champagne, Matt Kenseth didn't want an umbrella in Victory Lane Sunday night.

He chose to celebrate his improbable win in the Daytona 500 amid the natural elements of rain and raw emotion, drenched by the implausible combination of factors that led to the biggest win of his life.

He managed to get to get his DeWalt Ford -- his third car for Daytona after crashing two -- to second place with a fast pit stop on lap 140. With raindrops getting bigger on his windshield, he darted to the bottom of the track with a push from Kevin Harvick to pass Elliott Sadler a few seconds before the caution flag waved.

After riding around for six laps to clean up a spin by Aric Almirola and rain, NASCAR parked the cars on pit road. Seventeen minutes later, they declared Kenseth the winner, 48 laps short of the scheduled finish.

As 200,000 fans ran for cover, Kenseth sat in his race car for a couple minutes and cried. His Roush Fenway Racing team waited in the rain for their conquering hero, a blue collar racer who grew up on the short tracks of the Midwest.

"I used to watch Daytona all the time," Kenseth said. "Yet when you grow up in Wisconsin, Daytona seems a long, long, long ways away.

"Until about an hour ago, I never thought I'd win the Daytona 500 either. It's really going to get wet out here because I'm crying like a baby."

Kenseth passed Sadler in the second turn and the final caution flag came out as Kenseth entered Turn 3. Officially, he never led a green-flag lap.

He earned $1,536,388 for the ride.

Harvick trailed to finish second, while A.J. Allmendinger was third and Clint Bowyer was fourth. Sadler settled for fifth.

"To be a half-lap short from being champion of the Daytona 500 is very emotional for me," Sadler said. "I just made a mistake coming off (Turn) 4. I didn't drag the brake enough.

"Kevin and Matt had a really good run. I thought maybe if I blocked to the outside somebody might come with me. But they had such a good head of steam. You know I could play this back in my head a million times between now and when I leave for California (for next Sunday's race) but it's not really going to change the outcome."

Kenseth, the 2003 series champion, failed to win a race last year. Car owner Jack Roush made several changes on his team to give them a fighting chance.

All the while, Kenseth wondered if he'd ever win again.

"I'm getting fed up with not winning, not being a contender," he said. "It really was weighing on me. We haven't been a serious contender for a long time. We win a race every now and then. To put it all together and finally win a race, it's unbelievable."

The race started under ominous clouds. Few believed the season-opening race would make it to the 500-mile mark. Drivers seemed content with staying in line for the first 250 miles -- the point where the finish is official -- and after that it started to get a little spirited.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had two bad pit stops: once driving through his stall and having to make a second trip to pit road, and once pitting outside his stall to earn a one-lap penalty.

He was racing with Brian Vickers to be the first car one-lap down for a possible free pass to the lead lap when he knocked Vickers around at the end of the back straightaway.

Vickers and Earnhardt blamed each other, but replays showed Earnhardt clipped Vickers' back bumper to start the accident.

Cars driven by Jamie McMurray, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Scott Speed, Kyle Busch and Robby Gordon also were involved.

"After that wreck, I felt like we were the fastest car in the lead group," Kenseth said.

Kenseth waited for the right time to make his move against Sadler. He could see dark clouds forming over the first-turn wall, and he noticed smaller raindrops as started Lap 146. When Sadler went high, he went low. Harvick decided to push Kenseth because Kenseth pushed him to a victory in the 2007 Daytona 500.

"Matt's the one who pushed me to my Daytona 500 win. It's funny how that worked out," Harvick said.

"Everyone was racing hard because we knew the rain was coming. It was time to go.

"In the garage it will be a popular victory. He's a standup driver. A lot of us can relate to Matt kind of being out of the spotlight. He could win seven or eight races in a year and never receive any credit."

Kenseth joked that he planned to "paint the town plaid."

As the winner, Kenseth will embark today on a nationwide media tour after his car is put on display inside the Daytona 500 Experience. Media blitzes have never been a big part of Kenseth's strengths, but he's eager to make himself more personable.

"I'm looking forward to the week," he said. "It's not my favorite thing to do, but I'm actually looking forward to going around and actually people calling me the Daytona 500 champion. It's pretty awesome."

Reach Don Coble at don.coble@morris.com.