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2012 Gatorade Duels at Daytona: Tony Stewart Wins Race 1, Danica Patrick Crashes On Final Lap

In the first of the two Gatorade Duels at Daytona to determine the rest of the field for Sunday's Daytona 500, defending Nextel Cup Series champion Tony Stewart won when caution was thrown on the final lap when Danica Patrick was involved in a big crash along the backstretch after Eric Almirola made contact with her. Danica was placed at sixteenth and will start from the rear of the field in the Daytona 500.

That victory marks the seventeenth career victory for Tony Stewart at Daytona, however the defending Nextel Cup champion has never won the actual Daytona 500.

Both Robby Gordon and Michael McDowell made the Daytona 500 field after their finishes in the first race. The second duel race is set to start soon with the front row of that race consisting of Greg Biffle and Casey Mears. The race also includes drivers Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin and Joey Lagano.

Photographs by cstreet.us, thelastminute, turtlemom nancy , fesek, kthypryn, justinwright, sue_elias, pointnshoot, and scrapstothefuture used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.