Allgaier wins at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photography, Inc.” align=”alignright” width=”223″][/media-credit]Justin Allgaier got redemption!  Allgaier won the 6th Annual NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) NAPA Auto Parts 200 presented by Dodge at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in one of the craziest races but perhaps the best of the season so far.

Allgaier bumped Jacques Villeneuve on the final lap to score his first NNS victory this season and his third career.

Sam Hornish Jr. finished second, Jacques Villeneuve third, Elliott Sadler fourth and Ron Fellows rounded out the top-5.

“Prior to that caution where we got spun out, you know, we were catching the 22 (Jacques Villeneuve) and felt like we had something for it. I felt like we had a winning car today, we just didn’t get the win. All in all, the guys did a great job. Another lap and I think I would have had the 31 (Justin Allgaier). To be able to come back from where we were at and have those kinds of problems I feel pretty good about it.” Hornish Jr. said.

Alex Tagliani started on the pole for the first time in his short career. Tagliani only completes one or two races a year due to racing in Indy full time. Tagliani led the first lap with Hornish Jr. following closely behind him.

Sadler headed to the pits after the first lap so that they could make it on only two pit stops. Everybody had to come in within the next 20-25 laps so that they could also make it a two stop race.  Ricky Stenhouse Jr and Allgaier made their stops on lap 3.

Nobody else pitted until lap 18 when Fellows came in and took four tires and fuel. Danica Patrick and Cole Whitt came in and took four tires but while that was happening, the No.14 of Eric McClure stopped in turn 9 and the No.23 car spun right in front of of Villeneuve, bringing out the caution.

Everybody that did not pit during green, came in.  Hornish Jr. got some tape off so that they would not heat up the brakes.  Villeneuve took four tires and told his team that he is holding his good stuff back for the very end.

Patrick restarted as the race leader on lap 21 and started to pull away from her teammate Fellows and Sadler. Patrick had a 1.067 lead when the No.41 car of Timmy Hill stopped in turn 6, bringing out the second caution of the afternoon. Sadler came in during the yellow and got four tires along with Stenhouse Jr.

Patrick led the field to the restart on lap 27 with everybody scrambling for position behind.  Kyle Busch went three wide into turn 2 and got the second position and almost got the lead from Patrick, but Patrick went hard into the corner and was able to keep the position.

Couple laps after the restart, Busch, who never completed one lap on the track in his career and Allgaier pitted for four tires since they were on different pit strategies than the rest.

The Caution came out for the third time on lap 33 when the No.23 car of Dexter Stacy hit the wall and stopped in turn 6. Fellows came in and got tires but he was the only one to pit.

Patrick was the leader once again and lead them to the green on lap 37.  Partick was starting to pull away but somebody threw a shoe, yes a shoe, out onto the race track and Patrick ran over it.  Patrick told crew chief Tony Eury Jr that she was feeling like the steering wheel was about to fall off and she couldn’t control it. Eury Jr. told her to pit if she could not control it or if she could, hold on for another 9 laps.

Villeneuve took the lead in turn 7 and started to pull away. Patrick said that something is going back and forth in her car. It moves when she turns,brakes,turns everything. The caution came out on lap 46 for debris on the track.

Pit stops happened on lap 47 with the top-5 looking like this, Villeneuve, Patrick, Tagliani, Billy Johnson and Hornish Jr. Patrick got four tires and the crew looked under the car which they found a bar hanging loose. They went behind the wall to fix the problem.

Sadler was in the lead when the race was restarted on lap 49.  Andrew Ranger, Allgaier, Mike Wallace and Kyle Kelley round out the top-5.

Ranger, Sadler and Fellows all went into pit road for their finals stops. They rejoined the field in 25th, 26th and 27th.  Villeneuve retook the lead with 20 laps to go but still did not pit. Allgaier went in a lap later and took four tires and fuel. Cole Whitt went to the garage with a lost cylinder.

Busch came in on lap 58 and got four tires and fuel.

The caution came out with 14 laps to go when the No.81 of Jason Bowles wheel hoped in the turn and spun into the gravel trap, bringing out the 5th caution of the day.  Villeneuve was told by his team to shut the car off to save fuel.  They were planning to go the rest of the way without pitting.

Hornish and Villeneuve restarted the race.  Everyone went into turn 1 beating and banging. Michael McDowell went hard into turn 2 and collected Hornish Jr.  Both drivers drove away but a lap later the No.59 of Kyle Kelley went into turn 1 and spun, collecting Patrick, Wallace and Hornish Jr.

One lap later Tagliani was leading when Villeneuve went for the lead into one, caught his back bumper and kept in the gas until he spun him out. Tagliani slipped back to eighth after the spin.

“I was a little bit on the inside and we tangled a little bit. I thought it would be alright so I didn’t get off the gas, I didn’t want the cars behind me to get to me. I ended up turning him around. That’s a shame. That wasn’t my intention.” Villeneuve said.

Caution came out for the sixth time when Wallace spun in the last turn where he wheel hopped and stopped.

They restarted and it was bombs away! The No.33, 30, 44, 12, 18, 54 and more all spun in turns one and two and caution came out due to the No.30 of Tagliani and the No.51 of Jeremy Clements stopped and couldn’t not get re-fired and there was tons of debris.

Everybody was having to save fuel while the track was being cleaned for debris.

They restarted on lap 76 (2 laps after the scheduled laps) with Villeneuve still leading. Everybody made it thru 1 and 2.  Things were looking good until Stenhouse Jr. tried to get on the back bumper of the No.22 and spun out and backed into the wall.  Derek White also spun from contact from Alex Kennedy.

They final restart of the race was clean.  Allgaier got onto the rear bumper of Villeneuve in turn 6, causing his to go wide into the turn.  Allgaier made the pass for the lead and never looked back.

“Dodge and Penske gave me an amazing car today. We had the car of the field today. We were untouchable. It makes the end result a little frustrating. We were a little bit low on fuel so I was being careful and as often happens (here) it goes a little bit crazy on the last lap.”

Allgaier thought Villeneuve was having fuel issues.

“I got run in to. It (fuel) was no problem. Into Turn 6 I think it was (Justin) Allgaier (who) just hit me really hard and that was it, which is very frustrating because our car was untouchable.” Villeneuve said.

Sadlers fourth place finish extends his lead in the series standings to 22 points over Stenhouse Jr.