It was a storybook night for ARCA Menards Series rookie William Sawalich. He only led 10 laps on the night at Bristol Motor Speedway, but that’s all he needed to take the win and the 2023 ARCA Menards Series East Championship. The East Series champ overcame shifter issues that plagued him and the No. 18 Toyota on the restarts.
“It’s really awesome,” the Eden Prarie, MN native said about winning the title post-race. “We’ve worked all year to get to this point, and this Joe Gibbs Racing team has done an amazing job all year. Been fast everywhere we went,” he added.
In eight races for the 2023 East Series season, the 16-year-old won four of those races. While it was a triumph for Sawalich, the other driver for the title fight ended his night early on the hook.
Luke Fenhaus had damage on the restart after contact with Jesse Love. That would be the downfall for him and the team with a blown right front tire on lap 25. After minor fixes, he had another right front cut, ending his race on lap 40. The Wausau, WI native finished 29th.
“It sucks,” he said at the infield care center. “We had a really good car, capable of winning, I think. To just kind of get taken out of the race that early. I knew there was trouble at the start.It’s hard these guys work so hard behind me…Sucks to come up short, but we’ll be back and better next year,” he added.
FINAL POINTS – #ARCA Menards Series East:
1. William Sawalich 465pts
2. Luke Fenhaus (-53)
3. Lavar Scott (-64)
4. Zachary Tinkle (-89)
5. Tim Monroe (-134)
6. Dale Shearer (-142)
7. Sean Hingorani (-143)
8. Jake Finch (-262)
9. Conner Jones (-277)
10. Brad Smith (-279)— Joseph Srigley (@joe_srigley) September 15, 2023
Jesse Love, Andres Perez de Lara, Jake Finch, and Greg Van Alst rounded out the top five.
The first half of the race was riddled with caution. 83 of the 200 laps were run under the yellow flag for ten cautions. The biggest incidents were around lap 82 when issues on the restart caused Frankie Muniz to run into the back of the No. 55 of Toni Breidinger. ended Frankie’s day ended at 23rd place. Toni ended up 12th.
There were also some tempers between a few drivers. Contact between Landon Pembelton and Kaden Honeycutt sent the No. 17 into the outside wall ending his day. Honeycutt showed his displeasure with the young driver after. He ended up finishing 21st, while Pembelton came home seventh.
Replay of the contact with the 3 and 17.
Honeycutt is not happy tonight.
— old ben (gone and forgotten) (@BrBranscum43) September 14, 2023
Official Results from the Bush’s Beans 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway
| Fin | St | No. | Driver | Team | Laps | Diff | Status | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 18 | William Sawalich | Joe Gibbs Racing Starkey / Sound Gear Toyota | 200 | --- | Running | 48 |
| 2 | 3 | 20 | Jesse Love | Venturini Racing JBL Toyota | 200 | 0.412 | Running | 44 |
| 3 | 9 | 2 | Andres Perez | Rev Racing Max Siegel Inc Chevrolet | 200 | 1.706 | Running | 41 |
| 4 | 6 | 1 | Jake Finch | Phoenix Racing Phoenix Construction Toyota | 200 | 2.854 | Running | 40 |
| 5 | 12 | 35 | Greg Van Alst | Greg Van Alst Motorsports CB Fabricating / Top Choice Fence Ford | 200 | 3.790 | Running | 39 |
| 6 | 5 | 25 | Conner Jones | Venturini Racing Jones Utilities Toyota | 200 | 4.799 | Running | 38 |
| 7 | 14 | 3 | Landon Pembelton | Mullins Racing Pembelton Forest Products Ford | 200 | 5.274 | Running | 37 |
| 8 | 13 | 32 | Christian Rose | AM Racing West Virginia Department of Tourism Ford | 200 | 5.470 | Running | 36 |
| 9 | 8 | 51 | Jack Wood | Rev Racing Max Siegel Inc Chevrolet | 200 | 5.938 | Running | 35 |
| 10 | 16 | 73 | Andy Jankowiak | KLAS Motorsports Mike's Golf Carts Toyota | 200 | 6.938 | Running | 34 |
| 11 | 17 | 95 | Tanner Arms | MAN Motorsports Sunset Park RV Manufacturing Toyota | 200 | 8.060 | Running | 33 |
| 12 | 22 | 55 | Toni Breidinger | Venturini Racing Toyota | 199 | 1 lap | Running | 32 |
| 13 | 18 | 11 | Zachary Tinkle | Fast Track Racing Racing For Rescues / FastTrackRacing.com Toyota | 198 | 2 laps | Running | 31 |
| 14 | 19 | 93 | Caleb Costner | Costner Weaver Motorsports Innovative Tiny Houses / Lickety Lew’s Chevrolet | 198 | 2 laps | Running | 30 |
| 15 | 10 | 15 | Sean Hingorani | Venturini Racing GEARWRENCH Toyota | 196 | 4 laps | Running | 29 |
| 16 | 24 | 10 | D.L. Wilson | Fast Track Racing Heart O’ Texas Speedway Toyota | 192 | 8 laps | Running | 28 |
| 17 | 11 | 6 | Lavar Scott | Rev Racing Max Siegel Inc Chevrolet | 189 | 11 laps | Running | 27 |
| 18 | 21 | 12 | Ryan Roulette | Fast Track Racing Bellator / VFW Ford | 189 | 11 laps | Running | 26 |
| 19 | 32 | 87 | Charles Buchanan | Charles Buchanan Racing Spring Drug Ford | 186 | 14 laps | Running | 25 |
| 20 | 2 | 97 | Landen Lewis | CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet | 182 | 18 laps | Out | 25 |
| 21 | 7 | 17 | Kaden Honeycutt | Cook Racing Technologies MMI / Sunwest Construction Chevrolet | 110 | 90 laps | Out | 23 |
| 22 | 27 | 03 | Alex Clubb | Clubb Racing Inc. Ford | 104 | 96 laps | Running | 22 |
| 23 | 30 | 30 | Frankie Muniz | Rette Jones Racing Ford | 89 | 111 laps | Out | 21 |
| 24 | 25 | 98 | Dale Shearer | Shearer Speed Racing Toyota | 54 | 146 laps | Out | 20 |
| 25 | 23 | 01 | Tim Monroe | Fast Track Racing @AshVandelay / UTI Toyota | 54 | 146 laps | Out | 19 |
| 26 | 20 | 66 | Jon Garrett | Veer Motorsports Fort Worth Screen Printing Chevrolet | 52 | 148 laps | Out | 18 |
| 27 | 29 | 06 | A.J. Moyer | Wayne Peterson Racing River’s Edge Cottages & RV Park / Bucked Up Ford | 52 | 148 laps | Out | 17 |
| 28 | 31 | 31 | Rita Goulet | Rise Motorsports Nationalpolice.org / Inspirerealchange.org Chevrolet | 43 | 157 laps | Out | 16 |
| 29 | 4 | 28 | Luke Fenhaus | Pinnacle Racing Group Chevrolet Performance Chevrolet | 30 | 170 laps | Out | 15 |
| 30 | 26 | 48 | Brad Smith | Brad Smith Motorsports Copraya.com Chevrolet | 24 | 176 laps | Out | 14 |
| 31 | 15 | 42 | Matt Gould | Cook Racing Technologies MMI / Sunwest Construction Chevrolet | 12 | 188 laps | Out | 13 |
| 32 | 28 | 69 | Mike Basham | Kimmel Racing Ford | 9 | 191 laps | Out | 12 |
Up next for the ARCA Menards Series, they travel to the great racing state of Indiana and Salem Speedway for the Atlas 200. You can catch the race live on FS2 and FloRacing on Saturday, September 30th at 7:30 p.m. ET.
