ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – Showing glimpses of the talent that made his father a three-time Formula One champion gave Nelson Piquet Jr. the chance to race all over the world on some of the biggest stages in the sport. Now he wants to make it in NASCAR.

And he’s hoping Saturday’s Nationwide Series victory at Road America will help him catch the eye of a team owner willing to give his stock car racing career a boost.

“I think the best thing that could come out of this was to show team owners and bosses that I’m capable of doing it, if I just get the right car and the right team,” Piquet said.

The win makes Piquet the first Brazilian to win a race in a NASCAR national series.

Michael McDowell was second, followed by Ron Fellows, Max Papis and Sam Hornish Jr.

Things didn’t work out so well for Danica Patrick after she ran with the leaders almost all afternoon.

Jacques Villeneuve collided with Patrick on the last lap as the two drivers were battling for a top-five finish, causing Patrick’s car to spin out. Villeneuve finished sixth, while Patrick recovered and finished 12th.

“Where Villeneuve goes, there tends to be cars that have problems, whether it’s his fault or the other car’s fault or (just) stock car racing at the end of the race,” Patrick said. “You all can make a decision for yourself, what you think happened there.”

Piquet’s extensive road racing experience paid off at the four-mile, 14-turn road course that winds through the hills of central Wisconsin.

But as much as he enjoyed winning, he knows he still has to prove he can consistently run well on oval tracks — something he’s trying to do in the Trucks Series, where he is sixth in the points standings.

“I’m going to be here for a long time, hopefully,” Piquet said.

And while NASCAR might not be a big deal back in Brazil, Piquet’s success already was having a measurable effect. After he won the pole position during Saturday morning’s qualifying, Piquet said fans in Brazil used social media to pressure a Brazilian television network to take a soccer game off the air and show the NASCAR race live.

“Hopefully, in a few years, I’ll be opening a path for all those Brazilian fans who mostly go to Europe, they can come to America, too,” Piquet said.

And Piquet got a phone call from his famous father right after the race.

“He was laughing,” Piquet said. “I don’t know if he had a beer or not. But he was very, very excited.”

McDowell said he couldn’t chase down Piquet at the end.

“His car was fast,” McDowell said. “I don’t know if we would have had anything for him if we could have just stayed with him on that restart.”

SPRINT CUP: Robby Gordon believes today’s race at Sonoma (Calif.) will be his last of the NASCAR season.

Gordon has no sponsorship lined up beyond this week. He’s raced only twice this season — the Daytona 500 and at Phoenix. After failing to qualify at Las Vegas and California, Gordon had not attempted to make a NASCAR race since March.

“For 2012, this is probably my last event,” Gordon said. “Right now, today, we don’t have anything planned.”

Gordon will start 34th at Sonoma, where in 2003 he picked up one of his three career victories. He has no plans to race this summer at Watkins Glen, where he also won in 2003.

NO OBAMA: President Barack Obama has declined an offer from New Hampshire Motor Speedway to attend its July 15 race.

Obama plans to campaign in New Hampshire on Monday and Jerry Gappens, the track president, planned to leave him tickets in case Obama wanted to make a return trip to the state for the NASCAR race. The track announced Friday night that Obama declined.

Gappens said the track will raffle Obama’s unused tickets, with the proceeds going to the Speedway Children’s Charities.