MONTREAL — Justin Allgaier bumped past Jacques Villeneuve on the final lap during a green-white-checkered finish and won the Nationwide race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, depriving the French Canadian of his first victory at any level in NASCAR.
Villeneuve, who started third on the track named in honor of his late father, survived three late restarts in a wild race that went six extra laps and saw Danica Patrick lead 20 laps. But Villeneuve, who had been saving fuel, seemed to slow briefly on the final one and Allgaier bumped him and slid past for his second win of the season and third of his career.
Sam Hornish Jr. finished second, and Villeneuve was third, giving Dodge two in the top three. Elliott Sadler and Ron Fellows rounded out the top five. Hornish’s finish put him in a tie for second in the points with Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who was strong with the laps winding down but spun out challenging for the lead and finished 12th.
Kyle Busch, who flew in from the Cup race in Michigan to drive his No. 54 Toyota, arrived about 2 hours before the green flag, started at the back of the field because of a driver change, and finished 10th after briefly challenging Villeneuve for the lead with 20 laps left around the tricky, 2.7-mile 14-turn layout.
Patrick also ran second to Villeneuve for another 12 laps before she suffered track bar issues in her No. 7 Chevy after hitting a shoe thrown on the track. She finished 27th.
Villeneuve had regained the lead by bumping hometown hero Alex Tagliani, spinning him around on lap 67 of the race, which was scheduled to go 74 laps. Tagliani, who started from pole, finished 22nd.
Tagliani had passed both Villeneuve and Hornish for the lead with an aggressive move in the first turn, with Hornish sliding off course after heavy contact with Michael McDowell. After Hornish recovered, he and Patrick collided after Kyle Kelley spun Patrick.
Villeneuve built a lead that seemed insurmountable but was done in by the flurry of cautions.
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