NEWTON — In 1992, the first Winston All-Star race was ran under the lights at Charlotte Motor Speedway and was billed as “One Hot Night.” The NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Iowa Speedway on Saturday was the very definition of “One Hot Night.”

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. completed the 2011 sweep of Iowa Speedway, winning the U.S. Cellular 250 in spectacular fashion.

“I was just praying that we’d get to the checkered flag,” Stenhouse said. “It was a close one, but we made it.”

Stenhouse came across the line sideways after being hit hard in the rear by teammate Carl Edwards. The engine of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford expired coming out of turn four, leading to the wreck at the start/finish line as Edwards couldn’t avoid him.

“I was looking in my mirror, and I didn’t really want to wreck two race cars of Jack [Roush]’s, but I definitely wanted to win,” Stenhouse said. “So I was doing all I could to make sure I blocked him, and it paid off.

“And it was a good one for the fans, that’s for sure.”

The announced crowd of 48,271 stood in unison as the two Roush Fenway Fords slid across the line, smoking and on fire. Edwards did his best to sneak past the slowing Stenhouse, but couldn’t quite make it.

“He turned down and I tried to avoid him,” Edwards said. “But at that point there was just too much oil on the track and the front tires just slid.”

“He did his job, he stayed in front of me.”

Stenhouse led the final 22 laps en route to his second win of his career and this season, both coming at Iowa Speedway.

During the middle of the race, it appeared as though some bad blood had arisen between Stenhouse and Edwards, as the two made contact several times while racing for the lead. After the race, television cameras caught Stenhouse’s crew chief Mike Kelley say to Edwards that Stenhouse thought Edwards hated him.

“Ricky and I are fine,” Edwards said. “Jack [Roush] came over and said, ‘This is exactly what’s supposed to be happening.’ [Stenhouse] got a little excited tonight, and he’s just being a little bit overaggressive.”

“In the end, it’s almost better if he doesn’t figure out that he’s too aggressive because that’s gonna make him better.”

Edwards went on to say that he knows that in the business of NASCAR, sometimes drivers have to stand their ground.

“We both race really hard, it doesn’t matter who it is,” Stenhouse said. “We probably raced a little too hard, but I felt like he ran us up the race track there in turn four. After that I was gonna drive as hard as I could to make sure I got back by him.”

The win pads Stenhouse’s point lead over Reed Sorenson, who finished sixth. Stenhouse now leads by 12 points over Sorenson and 17 ahead of Elliot Sadler.

Sadler finished third, leading 38 laps after starting on the pole. It was Sadler’s 10th top-five finish, tied for most in the Nationwide Series with Stenhouse.

Josh Wise and Aric Almirola, teammates at JR Motorsports, rounded out the top five, finishing fourth and fifth.

The Nationwide Series next visits the road course at Watkins Glen on Aug. 13.