Earnhardt Jr. wins the Shootout

Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Bud Shootout with his new number and team, but is it really that surprising?  Not to me, but I've been in a few discussions already that I don't give him enough credit for winning.  Yes, he won, but it's at Daytona and he was in "better equipment" according to his fans.  Dale Jr. was expected to win Daytona, he has always had good runs and wins at the restrictor plate tracks of Daytona and Dega, so it wasn't a surprise that he won the Shootout.  He ran a good race, yes, I'll give him that and I've never said he was a bad driver, but this was Daytona. 

Dale Jr. led the most laps , 47 I believe, and Tony Stewart, who finished second, led laps, which was the second most laps led.  There were only 4 cautions and 5 drivers finished out of the race.

It seems as if Denny Hamlin was his usual aggressive self, taking a bit more chances than he should, almost causing a couple more cautions, especially when he ran Bowyer down the track and below the yellow line. 

Your thoughts?