Sadler captures victory at Iowa Speedway

NEWTON - It isn't how you start, but how you finish.

After earning three straight poles at Iowa Speedway, Elliott Sadler finally has a finish to match.

Sadler passed Justin Allgaier with 58 laps remaining and pulled away to win the NASCAR Nationwide Series U.S. Cellular 250 Saturday at the 0.875-mile oval. The win was his fourth this season, setting a personal best for wins in a year.

Sadler gave a victory yell on the radio and jogged over to grab the checker flag for his achievement. He talked about redemption after last week's incident at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where he was penalized for beating the leader to the start/finish line during a late restart, which dropped him from contending for a memorable win.

"It's been a rough week," Sadler said. "We felt like we should have won that race last week."

His father underwent knee surgery but provided his son with some motivational words for his race at Iowa. Sadler took the advice to heart and claimed his second win in three weeks. The win highlighted his fourth top-10 finish in four races at Iowa Speedway.

"He said do not let them take this championship away from you," Sadler said. "Go to Iowa and kick their butts."

Sadler, who increased the one-point season points lead over Dillon to 18, led 60 laps, after surrendering the lead to Darrell Wallace Jr. on the opening lap. Wallace, making his second Nationwide start after placing ninth in his series debut at Iowa Speedway in May, led the first 37 laps before Austin Dillon took over.

"I didn't really like not leading the first lap but that's not the one that pays the money," Sadler said. "We learned what we had to learn and we moved on from it. I felt like my restarts the rest of the race was pretty good."

Sadler was able to briefly gain the lead from Dillon, his Richard Childress Racing teammate, off the restart, following a competition caution on lap 50. The second caution when John Blankenship spun out 87 laps in jumbled the leaders. Allgaier benefited from a fast pit, taking the lead, while Dillon dropped to 10th and Sadler dropped to eighth.

Sadler dropped again after a pit during the third caution for debris on the track, but he maneuvered through the field before overtaking Allgaier late.

"I had a hard time passing (Allgaier)," Sadler said. "He knew where my car was fast.

"He just got a little loose off of turn 4 and that particular lap I got a really good by under him. ... Once we got out front I knew we were in really good shape."

The win capped a huge day for RCR. Richard Childress was at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway for Joey Coulter's win in the Pocono Mountains 125 Saturday afternoon. He joined Sadler in victory lane at Iowa Speedway later that night. Adding to the impressive day, Sadler and Dillon hold their top two spots in Nationwide points.

"That was great," Richard Childress said of the day. "You get two wins in one day, let's hope tomorrow we can cap it off and make it a full sweep with a third one."

Childress had faith Sadler would come through with the win, praising his passes of Kurt Busch for second before taking the lead from Allgaier.

"I couldn't be prouder of him," Childress said. "Elliott got up on the wheel when he had to get up on the wheel."

Allgaier recorded his best finish of the season, placing second. He set a personal best, leading 101 laps of a Nationwide race. His previous best was 88.

"To come here and lead most laps, and run as good as we did I was proud of that," Allgaier said. "It's tough to see Elliott out there and know you're catching him and there's not really all you can do,"

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had won three straight Nationwide races at Iowa Speedway, but couldn't make a push for the lead. He suffered problems with tire grip after starting 11th and finished fifth. Stenhouse held his third-place spot in points, falling to 21 back of Sadler but closing within three of Dillon.

Sam Hornish Jr. won the final Dash 4 Cash. he placed third, finishing one spot of Des Moines native Michael Annett.

Annett lead a trio of Iowans at their home track, followed behind Grimes native Brett Moffitt. Annett remained sixth in points, trailing Allgaier by 26. Annett's car was determined to be too low in the front after post-race inspection, and the issue will be discussed in weekly competition meeting Tuesday.

Moffitt made his Nationwide debut Saturday. He started 10th and posted a ninth-place finish. He viewed the night as just another race, but was happy with the performance.

"It was a lot of fun," Moffitt said. "I got a lot of experience racing with the cars. These things racing around other cars, they're really aero dependent, so it's a lot harder racing around other cars.

I learned a lot, so that was good."

Cedar Rapids native Joey Gase earned his best start in 16 Nationwide races. The 19-year-old, who made his series debut in this race last year for Go Green Racing, started 25th. He completed 216 of 250 laps, pulling off the track at one point, and managed 32nd place.