Stewart wins again on Duel 1

Stewart led 38 of the 60-lap race, jumping to the lead for the first time on lap 18 when Dale Earnhardt Jr and Michael Waltrip made contact in front of him.

The race started with rookie David Ragan leading his first three laps of the season in the No. 6 Roush Racing Ford, but he was later overtaken by pole-sitter David Gilliland, who replicated his good qualifying pace into the race.

The first caution came out on lap 9 when Stanton Barrett made contact with Jeremy Mayfield and Bobby Labonte. All three drivers suffered some damage to their cars, although they managed to get back to the pits for repairs.

On lap 11, all drivers pitted with the exception of Michael Waltrip, who took a gamble by staying out and jumping to the lead of the race for Toyota.

Waltrip was able to hold on to first until lap 17, when Earnhardt Jr went high on the outside going into Turn 1, overtaking the Toyota out of Turn 2.

As the line of cars behind Earnhardt Jr followed him past Waltrip, the No. 55 Camry driver tried to draft behind Earnhardt Jr following advise from his spotter. As he did so, he tapped the left rear of the No. 8 Bud Chevrolet, sending him spinning into the infield and out of the lead of the race.

On lap 20, the race was restarted for the second time, now with Stewart leading. Four laps later, Robby Gordon moved to the inside in Turn 4 while trying to overtake the Red Bull Toyota car of AJ Allmendinger.

Both cars made contact and then went into the wall, bringing out the third caution of the race. This effectively put an end to Allmendinger's hopes of making the field for his first Daytona 500.

Earnhardt Jr, who had fallen a lap behind the leaders after a lengthy pitstop due to the contact with Waltrip, was allowed to get back on the lead lap by being the "lucky dog" - the first car a lap behind the leaders.

On lap 43, a further caution was caused by debris on track from the No. 6 Ford of Ragan who picked up a puncture. Most drivers pitted for tyres and fuel again, except for Jeff Burton and 72-year-old James Hylton, who lined up first and second for the restart.

Four laps later, Ragan had further problems with his right rear tyre and a puncture sent him to the wall out of Turn 2. Not long after that, when the race had just been restarted, Ganassi's Reed Sorenson blew the engine on his Dodge Charger leaving oil on the track and forcing a sixth caution with only ten laps to go.

As the race was restarted all eyes were on Hylton as he had a clear shot of making the field for the Daytona 500 by running eighth. However his chances quickly evaporated on the restart as several cars overtook him as the green flag waived.

With four laps to go another caution was needed to clean the debris from Ward Burton's car as he made contact with the wall after losing control while trying to avoid hitting the rear of Jimmie Johnson's Chevrolet.

On lap 62, the green flag waved for the last time for a three-lap sprint. Nobody was able to challenge Stewart as a recovered Earnhardt Jr and Burton followed the Home Depot car through the finish line.

Among those cars making the field from their result from the first Gatorade Duel were the Toyota of Michael Waltrip, who finally had reason to smile after a difficult week.

Boris Said and Johnny Sauter also secured a place on the grid, while Dale Jarrett will use the Champions Provisional to make the field as expected.

Gatorade Duel 1 results:

Pos  Driver             Make        Laps
 1.  Tony Stewart       Chevrolet   62
 2.  Dale Earnhardt Jr  Chevrolet   62
 3.  Jeff Burton        Chevrolet   62
 4.  David Gilliland    Ford        62
 5.  Denny Hamlin       Chevrolet   62
 6.  Martin Truex Jr    Chevrolet   62
 7.  Clint Bowyer       Chevrolet   62
 8.  Casey Mears        Chevrolet   62
 9.  Michael Waltrip    Toyota      62
10.  Ken Schrader       Ford        62
11.  Boris Said         Ford        62
12.  Johnny Sauter      Chevrolet   62
13.  Jimmie Johnson     Chevrolet   62
14.  Mike Bliss         Dodge       62
15.  Greg Biffle        Ford        62
16.  Jeremy Mayfield    Toyota      62
17.  Kenny Wallace      Chevrolet   62
18.  Dale Jarrett       Toyota      62
19.  Stanton Barrett    Chevrolet   62
20.  Bill Elliott       Dodge       62
21.  James Hylton       Chevrolet   62
22.  Brandon Whitt      Chevrolet   62
23.  Bobby Labonte      Dodge       62
24.  Kyle Petty         Dodge       62
25.  Jeff Green         Chevrolet   58
26.  Ward Burton        Chevrolet   56
27.  Reed Sorenson      Dodge       50
28.  David Ragan        Ford        44
29.  AJ Allmendinger    Toyota      23
30.  Dave Blaney        Toyota      23
31.  Robby Gordon       Ford        22