Joe Gibbs Racing’s William Sawalich Paces Day One of ARCA Test at Daytona

Day one of the two-day ARCA Menards Series pre-race practice session at Daytona International Speedway is in the books and William Sawalich, the 16-year-old phenom driver for Joe Gibbs Racing, led the way with the top speed.

Sawalich’s best lap time was a 49.155 sec. circuit around the 2.5-mile superspeedway, which equates to a 183.094 mph speed.

Andy Jankowiak clocked in second-fastest in the session in the No. 73 KLAS Motorsports entry, 0.394-sec. off the pace of Sawalich, while Brayton Laster was third-quick in the No. 3B Mullins Racing entry.

Nick Sanchez, the 2022 ARCA Menards Series champion who is set to compete full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for Rev Racing was fourth-fastest in the No. 2 Rev machine, and Jacob Perry rounded out the top-five fastest in the session, driving the No. 44 McClure Racing car.

In all, 45 of the 60 drivers on the entry list clocked in a lap on Friday. And while the session, which featured pack drafting on the track, was relatively clean, there were a few close calls on track on the day.

One of the close calls occurred with 2022 Hickory Motor Speedway track champion Landon Huffman, who blew a tire in the No. 3H Mullins Racing car entering turn one on his first attempt at a fast lap. The North Carolina native would only muster the 38th-fastest lap time with the issues.

However, Huffman was just glad to save the race car.

Here is one for ya!

first laps on Daytona, come to speed lap is great, start my flying lap, blow RR tire entering 1 at 175?

SAVED THAT B*TCH THO

— Landon Huffman (@LandonHuffman) January 13, 2023

Actor-turned-race car driver Frankie Muniz clocked in sixth-fastest in the No. 30 Rette Jones Racing entry. Muniz announced on Wednesday that he will run the full 2023 ARCA Menards Series schedule in the No. 30 car.

Other notable drivers on the scoring sheet included Amber Balcaen in 10th in the No. 15 Venturini Motorsports car, Jesse Love in 12th in the No. 20 Venturini Motorsports Toyota, Connor Mosack in 13th in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing entry, Christian Rose in 22nd in the No. 32 AM Racing car and Brad Perez in 23rd in the No. 3P Mullins Racing machine.

Love and Rose were announced as full-time competitors in the ARCA Menards Series for 2023 earlier this week.

Perez, who ran two NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races and two NASCAR Xfinity Series races in 2022, shared some hilarious moments from his Willie Mullins Racing team at the test on Twitter.

Perez showcased that the Mullins Racing team had come equipped with decals that made their race cars look like Ford Mustang Mach-e’s.

big power pic.twitter.com/ghpXvrJ42V

— bread perez (@bradxperez) January 13, 2023

Perez also shared a hilarious photo of the underside of the Mullins Racing car in the garage. The decals on the underside of the hood read, “Built Ford Tough with Chevrolet Stuff.

oh my god @mullins_racing pic.twitter.com/MK8olTzU5h

— bread perez (@bradxperez) January 13, 2023

Here are the full results from Friday’s ARCA Menards Series test at Daytona International Speedway