Tony Stewart won Thursday’s first Gatorade Duel under caution, earning the right to start Sunday’s Daytona 500 in the third position behind pole-sitter Carl Edwards.
Gatorade Duel 2012: Results And Recap Of Daytona 500 Qualifying Race No. 1
It was Stewart’s third Gatorade Duel win, following up victories in 2005 and 2007. The defending Sprint Cup Series champion led for 21 of the 60 laps.
Stewart’s win did come at the expense of teammate Danica Patrick, who crashed out on the final lap. Patrick is already in the Daytona 500, so she’ll simply have to start in the back of the field on Sunday.
Patrick made contact with Aric Almirola after her former JR Motorsports teammate was shoved down the track by Jamie McMurray. She crashed nearly full speed into the inside retaining wall on the backstretch, but was able to walk away from the unhurt.
Michael McDowell and Robby Gordon both earned spots in the Daytona 500 by virtue of being the top two finishers who hadn’t already qualified. McDowell finished fourth and Gordon was fifth. Rounding out the top five were Dale Earnhardt Jr. (second) and Marcos Ambrose (third).
Here are the results from the first Gatorade Duel:
- Tony Stewart
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Marcos Ambrose
- Michael McDowell (gets transfer spot for Daytona 500)
- Robby Gordon (gets transfer spot for Daytona 500)
- Jeff Burton
- Carl Edwards
- AJ Allmendinger
- Kevin Harvick
- Jamie McMurray
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Trevor Bayne
- Brad Keselowski
- David Ragan
- Aric Almirola
- Danica Patrick
- Denny Hamlin
- Michael Waltrip
- David Stremme
- Mike Wallace
- Terry Labonte
- David Gilliland
- Juan Pablo Montoya
- Paul Menard
- Landon Cassill
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