It’s Sawalich From Start To Finish At Springfield

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Seventeen-year-old William Sawalich wrote his own chapter in the ARCA Menards Series history books in winning Sunday afternoon at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.

After starting from the General Tire pole position, Sawalich proceeded to wire the field at the one-mile dirt oval that has been a staple on the ARCA calendar for more than four decades.

Sawalich was out front for every single lap in the first leg of the Performance Seed Dirt Double, and in doing so, became the first driver ever to lead from green to checkered in a full-distance Springfield race.

The only other driver to lead every lap at the Illinois State Fairgrounds was Jesse Love in 2022, but Love did so in a race that was shortened by 30 laps due to time constraints.

In fact, Sawalich extended his Springfield perfection into extra distance, after a turn-four spin by Sean Corr as the teenager was coming toward the checkered flag forced a final-lap caution.

Sawalich was perfect on the overtime restart, however, driving away during a one-lap shootout to secure his sixth ARCA national win of the season and third in a row.

It was a stark contrast to his dirt efforts from a year ago, which only yielded a pair of fifth-place finishes.

“We knew what we had last year and wanted to come back even better,” said Sawalich, who has been victorious from the pole five times this year.

“I felt like we had good speed then; I think I just had to be a little more comfortable with [racing on] the dirt,” he continued. “It’s not my thing, but we had a really fast Starkey/Soundgear Toyota Camry, and I can’t thank all the Joe Gibbs Racing guys enough. They made a really good change at the halfway break to get us a little better there for the end, and we made it happen on that last restart.

Sawalich became the 26th different ARCA Menards Series winner at Springfield with his standout performance, but admitted he had to adapt his driving style as the dirt surface changed throughout the race.

“The only thing I’ve been told [repeatedly] about dirt racing is that more throttle [equals] more turn,” he chuckled. “That’s all I was trying to do … was just trying to gas it up and get the rear [end] to turn.

“I’d say we were pretty good there by the end.”

Sawalich leaves Springfield in position to bank a $20,000 bonus from Performance Seed if he can sweep ARCA’s two annual dirt events by winning at the DuQuoin (Ill.) State Fairgrounds on Labor Day weekend.

Also making history Sunday was the Venturini Motorsports duo of Isabella Robusto and Taylor Reimer, who overhauled Rev Racing’s Lavar Scott on the overtime sprint to finish second and third, respectively.

It marked the first time in ARCA history that two female drivers finished inside the top five, on a day when four of Venturini Motorsports’ five entries had women behind the wheel.

Dirt-track specialist Kelly Kovski finished fourth in the familiar No. 16 that was previously fielded by Allgaier Motorsports for many years in ARCA competition. Scott faded to fifth at the checkered flag.

Toni Breidinger, Kris Wright, and Amber Balcaen were sixth through eighth, with Christian Rose credited in ninth after crashing in turn three during the overtime attempt.

Home-state driver Tim Monroe, from Elmwood, Ill., closed out the top 10 in an Andy Hillenburg-owned Chevrolet.

Factoring in Breidinger and Balcaen’s efforts, all four ladies in Sunday’s field earned top-10 finishes.

In total, six yellow flags slowed the pace, with the race extended to 105 laps due to overtime.

Championship leader Andres Perez lost 10 points of his margin over teammate Scott, after hitting a rut early and losing nearly 40 laps while his team made repairs.

Though he finished 15th, Perez still holds a 49-point edge with six races remaining in the title hunt.

The ARCA Menards Series season continues Sunday, Aug. 25 with the Sprecher 150 from the Milwaukee (Wis.) Mile, part of a doubleheader afternoon with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

Broadcast coverage of that event is slated for 1 p.m. ET, live on FS1.

The finish:

1. 18-William Sawalich, 2. 20-Isabella Robusto, 3. 55-Taylor Reimer, 4. 16-Kelly Kovski, 5. 6-Lavar Scott, 6. 25-Toni Breidinger, 7. 15-Kris Wright, 8. 22-Amber Balcaen, 9. 32-Christian Rose, 10. 12-Tim Monroe, 11. 8-Sean Corr, 12. 11-Cody Dennison, 13. 99-Michael Maples, 14. 31-Brayton Laster, 15. 2-Andres Perez, 16. 03-Alex Clubb, 17. 10-Bryce Haugeberg, 18. 06-Nate Moeller, 19. 48-Brad Smith, 20. 86-Brian Clubb.

Lap Leader(s): Sawalich 1-105.

Margin of Victory: 0.888 seconds