Dan Wheldon made a fuel gamble in the late stages of the Iowa Corn 250 pay off handsomely as he celebrated his 30th birthday with a second victory of the 2008 IndyCar Series season.

The Briton, who had survived a heavy practice crash with Bruno Junqueira on Saturday, was never a factor at the very front until his Target Chip Ganassi team took the risk of leaving him out on the penultimate yellow of the afternoon, leaving fate to fall his way.

Up to that point, that race appeared to be between the series' two leading Brazilians, as Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan took it in turns to lead, and Marco Andretti, who caught and eventually passed the pair halfway through the game.

Castroneves had taken the early advantage, jumping appointed polesitter Scott Dixon on the opening lap, but Kanaan was never far behind, having also passed the Kiwi in the opening couple of laps. By lap eight, the pair were running side-by-side, demonstrating two usable grooves on the short Iowa Speedway oval.

The duel lasted for five full laps before Kanaan edged ahead, but Helio was quick to retaliate, both men aware of the three bonus points on offer for leading the greatest distance.

Kanaan was back in front three laps later, and remained there when the first caution of the day came out for Ed Carpenter's heavy contact with the wall. The Vision Racing driver appeared to have suffered the same sort of suspension failure that had left both Marty Roth and Bruno Junqueira as spectators on race day, but his misfortune presented the first opportunity for the field to pit.

The cars returned to the track with the top of the order looking much the same, with Kanaan heading Castroneves and Andretti up to third, the vilified youngster having despatched an off-colour Dixon just as his AGR team-mate was taking the lead.

The leading trio remained unchanged through 50 laps, but Wheldon had popped back into fourth after losing ground early on and Ryan Briscoe was underlining Penske's potential by also passing Dixon. Indeed, the Kiwi was coming under pressure form Ryan Hunter-Reay, who appeared to be on the verge of another break-out performance, while Danica Patrick, AJ Foyt IV and Will Power completing the top ten.

Keen not to see his countryman racking up too many laps, Castroneves was back in front on lap 52, as Wheldon moved into third, and led to the next caution, on lap 103, when Jaime Camara coasted to a halt on the high line.