#14-Tony Stewart won the 1st Gatorade Duel 150 Qualifying Race for the Daytona 500 Sprint Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway followed by #88-Earnhardt Jr., #9-Ambrose, #31-Burton, #99-Edwards, #98-McDowell, #29-Harvick, #22-Allmendinger, #7-Gordon and #1-McMurray. #98-McDowell and #7-Gordon got the two transfer spots and will race in the Daytona 500. #21-Bayne and #30-Stremme will have to use their qualifying speed to make the race, so Bayne will start 40th and Stremme 42nd. #32-Terry Labonte will probably use the past champions provisional to make the Daytona 500 but could still make the race via speed if #26-Raines and #09-KWallace use the transfer positions in the 2nd Duel, Labonte would be the 3rd fastest qualifier left. There were a few wrecks, the first early in the race when #38-Gilliland got tagged and shot up into #42-Montoya collecting #27-Menard and #2-Keselowski. #40-Waltrip made a late pit stop and came off pit road and got loose coming off the apron, shot up and went head first in to the wall, so Waltrip will not make the 500. On the final lap, #1-McMurray moved down, got in to #43-Almirola who tagged #10-Patrick, sending the #10 Chevy head first in to the SAFER wall. All drivers were reported to be ok. Looks like the #10, #27, #38 and #42 team will all have to go to backup cars.
The average speed was 159.104mph. There were 8 lead changes among 5 drivers and 3 cautions for 8 laps.
See race results on the Gatorade Duel 150 Race 1 Results page (pdf).(2-23-2012)
