“I didn’t breathe the whole (final) lap,” Allgaier said in victory lane.

Sam Hornish Jr. survived two late-race incidents, one with Michael McDowell and another with Danica Patrick, to finish second.

“Prior to that caution where we got spun out, I thought we had something for them,” Hornish said. “We had a winning race car.”

Villeneuve was relegated to third after leading a race high 43 laps in an event that had a scheduled distance of 74 circuits.

Villeneuve moved into the lead on lap eight and led the way until heading down pit road during a caution that came out on lap 18.

Patrick restarted up front after that caution and led some 20 laps before suffering mechanical issues that seemed to start after she hit a shoe that was thrown out onto the race track around lap 40. The indicent resulted in multiple pit stops during a caution that came out for debris on lap 45 and an eventual trip to the garage.

Villeneuve then took over and led much of the remainder of the race. Villeneuve last pitted on lap 46 and then stretched his fuel mileage the rest of the way with hopes of making it to the end.

He was able to remain under power the remainder of the race, but according to Allgaier, Villeneuve’s car sputtered and slowed on the final lap. It was then that Allgaier made the contact with Villeneuve that allowed himself and Hornish to get by to claim the top-two spots.

“I thought he was out of fuel, because he was so slow,” Allgaier said.

Series points leader Elliott Sadler finished fourth, and Ron Fellows was fifth. Finishing sixth through 10th were McDowell, Mike Wallace, Billy Johnson in the No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch.

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Nobody took a win away from him at Iowa Speedway on Saturday night, as Sadler passed Justin Allgaier on lap 195 of the 250-lap U.S. Cellular 250 and drove on to his fourth win of the season.

“This win means a ton to me,” Sadler said in victory lane.

Allgaier held on to finish second after leading a race-high 101 laps.

“We were good early in a run and late in a run, but he just got out too far in front of me,” Allgaier said. “It’s just frustrating to run second when you can see those guys out in front.”

Sam Hornish finished third and claimed the last of four $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonuses to be handed out by series sponsor Nationwide Insurance this season.

Sadler started on the pole but lost the lead to Darrell Wallace Jr. on lap one. Wallace led for awhile before Austin Dillon got by him to take the top spot on lap 37. The yellow flag waved for a competition caution on lap 50, and Dillon and Sadler got off pit road first and second to restart on the front row.

Sadler took the lead on the restart, but by lap 61, Dillon was back up front. Both drivers lost several positions by taking four tires on pit road during the second caution of the race that came out on lap 90. Allgaier and Hornish, among others, took only two to get off pit road first and second.

Hornish lost a few spots after the restart as Sadler and Dillon worked their ways back toward the front, but Allgaier was able to hold on to the lead. Sadler climbed up to second by lap 107, but at that point, Allgaier had a lead of nearly three seconds.

Dillon worked his way up to third, but a tire issue forced an unscheduled pit stop on lap 138, dropping him off the lead lap.

Allgaier’s lead was erased by the third and final caution of the race that came out for debris on lap 172. But he began to pull away again when the race went back to green. A few laps later, Sadler began to reel Allgaier in and passed him for the lead on lap 195.

Allgaier maintained his spot in second, with Kurt Busch running a close third. But Busch fell off the pace with seven laps to go and headed down pit road, handing the third spot over to Hornish.

Michael Annett, a Des Moines native, finished fourth in his home state. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who won the last three races at Iowa, rounded out the top-five.

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