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Gatorade Duel 2012 Results: Tony Stewart Wins No. 1, Danica Patrick Wrecked

Tony Stewart won Gatorade Duel race No. 1, but at the expense of teammate Danica Patrick who crashed heavilly on the final lap.

Stewart was ahead when Patrick's Chevrolet made contact with the Ford of Aric Almirola, sending her nearly full speed into the inside retaining wall on the backstretch. The impact lifted the car off the ground for a moment but it sat back down rather than turning over. Patrick walked away from the car unhurt.

For Stewart, it is his third Gatorade Duel win. The defending Sprint Cup champion also won in 2005 and 2007. He will start third behind pole-sitter Carl Edwards in Sunday's Daytona 500. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Marcos Ambrose, Michael McDowell, and Robby Gordon completed the top-five. McDowell and Gordon each transfer into the Daytona 500 by being the top-two finishing non-locked-in drivers.

Jeff Burton, Edwards, A.J. Allmendinger, Kevin Harvick, and Jamie McMurray rounded out the top-10 finishers.

Photographs by coka_koehler used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.