Sadler comes through for fourth win of season, first at Iowa

One week after seeing the race win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway be taken away from him because of a restart, it was another restart that gave Elliott Sadler the win at Iowa Speedway.

Sadler started on the pole position, but he didn’t stay there long as Darrell Wallace Jr. took the lead in the opening laps. A competition caution at lap 50 would hand the lead over to Justin Allgaier, who took control of the race for much of the night.

It turned out that clean air was the key advantage point at Iowa all night long as whoever was able to get out front was able to take the lead.

After a final caution for debris in turn three, Allgaier was once again able to lead the pack off the field, but Sadler, who had stayed in and around the top-five all night long, was able to run down the No. 31 and eventually make the pass coming down the front stretch.

That pass came with 58 laps to go and from then on, Sadler used the clean air and pulled away from Allgaier and the rest of the field. Allgaier pulled within a second of the No.2 car, but Sadler claimed his fourth victory of the year.

U.S. Cellular 250 Results: 

1. Elliott Sadler– He only led 60 laps despite starting from the pole position, they were able to make adjustments to the car all night and kept Sadler in the top-five and in contention to make the run to the end that he did.
2. Justin Allgaier-Allgaier had a strong car much of the night, and despite taking a little damage from the No. 44 of John Blankenship when he spun, Allgaier still led most of the laps.
3. Sam Hornish Jr.- A quiet contender in the top-five for most of the night. He never was able to get out front, but he did win the fourth and final segment of the NASCAR Nationwide Dash for Cash segment.
4. Michael Annett– The Des Moines native racing just east of his hometown had a quiet, but very strong top-five run.
5. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.– The pre-race favorite, the speed just wasn’t there for Stenhouse as he qualified outside of the top-ten and never led a lap.
6. Michael McDowell– After finishing third in May, McDowell hoped for the same success on his return trip to Iowa, he didn’t get it but was able to stay in the top-ten most of the night.
7. Darrell Wallace Jr.- Wallace Jr. making just his second Nationwide Series start was able to pace the field early on, but he fell back and was able to finish in the top-10.
8. Jason Leffler– His car wasn’t as fast as his teammate, Allgaier, but Leffler and crew worked on the car and kept him in the top-10.
9. Brett Moffitt-A very strong run for Moffitt, making his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut. He qualified in and stayed in the top-ten all night.
10. Ryan Blaney– Blaney was able to make his debut in the No. 22 Penske Dodge a strong one, finishing in the top-10 after starting 13th.
11. Danica Patrick– Iowa has never been a really good track for Patrick, but after starting 18th an 11th place finish will do especially after wrecking in here in May.
12. Brad Sweet– Sweet’s car was the only Turner Motorsports car that was lacking in speed, and because of that he was relegated to a 12th place finish.
13. Johanna Long– Long had battled most of the night with Patrick, and radio problems as an unknown keyed-up microphone led to some communication problems.
14. Brendan Gaughan– Gaughan had a fast qualifying lap and was able to start sixth, but he stayed in the bottom half of the top-ten most of the night, but faded to 14th late.
15. Austin Dillon-It looked like Dillon had a fast enough car to win the race, but he had to make an unscheduled pit stop that took him out of contention to win.
16. Joe Nemechek– Nemecheck started 20th and stayed on the lead lap for most of the night before the final run, but he capitalized on other drivers’ bad luck to finish 16th.
17. Kurt Busch– It looked like Busch was going to silently work his way through the field and contend for the win, but he faded and finished one lap down.
18. Brian Scott– Scott had a top-10 run going until he had to make an unscheduled pit stop and he finished one lap down.
19. Cole Whitt- Whitt had a fast qualifying lap, but ultimately his car would not stay fast in the pack and he wasn’t able to pass like he wanted to.
20. Mike Bliss– Bliss stayed at or near the 20th position all night and that’s where he finished after qualifying 21st.
21. Jeremy Clements-At times it looked like Clements was going to be able to make a run into the top-15, but the speed faded and he finished in 21st.
22. Tayler Malsam– He battled with Bliss and Clements most of the night, but wasn’t able to pass either of them at the end.
23. John Blankenship– Blankenship brought out the only caution for a car when he spun coming off turn four, he stayed in the mid-20’s for most of the night.
24. Jamie Dick– After a fast qualifying run, the No. 23 was poised to potentially make a strong run, but the night didn’t turn out that way as he ultimately finished in the mid-20’s.
25. Mike Wallace– Wallace was able to make up for his 32nd place qualifying run, but most of his night was spent trying to pass the cars in front of him.
26. Justin Jennings– He was able to pass several cars after starting 34th, but he wouldn’t get any further than the lower-20’s.
27. Erik Darnell– Darnell stayed out on track the longest of the Key Motorsports group cars.
28. Scott Saunders– The Australian had a fast car at times, but handling issues made hampered his finish.
29. Jason Bowles– Bowles was looking like he would have a strong run, but they had to bring the car down pit road when the engine started to sound sour.
30. Timmy Hill– Hill battled adversity most of the night as a pre-qualifying tech problem didn’t allow him to make a qualifying attempt. His engine went sour late, and he ended up with a DNF.
31. Eric McClure-A fuel pump caused McClure to pull his car behind the garage early on as he finished the race behind the wall.
32. Joey Gase– Gase’s car showed it was fast in qualifying, but it wasn’t during the latter parts of the race when he pitted for several adjustments late.
33. Daryl Harr– Harr was black flagged at least once in the race and he lost several laps while on pit road.
34. Josh Richards– Richards only completed 74 laps before pulling his car behind the wall for the night.
35. Morgan Shepherd– After 25 circuits around the 3/8ths mile Iowa Speedway, Shepherd’s night was done.
36. T.J. Bell– He completed 20 laps around Iowa before parking his No. 50 for the night.
37. Mike Harmon– 19 laps was all the team completed before taking the car behind the wall for the night.
38. Carl Long– The No. 71 stayed on track for 16 laps and then parked it for the night.
39. Tim Shendel-Stayed on track for 15 laps and then pulled their car into the garage for the night.
40. Dusty Davis– Raced for 12 laps before making the left-hand turn into the garaged where he stayed for the night.
41. Matt DiBenedetto– Stayed out and completed six laps before parking it for the night.
42. Chase Miller– Raced for four laps and then pulled into the garage.
43. Jeff Green– After four laps on track, Green was the first car to leave the race.