On a weekend that looked like it was set up perfectly for Corey Day’s first career NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series win, it was another young up-and-coming driver, William Sawalich, who stole the show.
Sawalich got track position late in the race and was able to capitalize on it as he led the final 79 laps on his march to his first career O’Reilly Auto Parts Series win in Saturday’s North Carolina Education Lottery 250 at Rockingham Speedway.
Race Results: North Carolina Education Lottery 250 at Rockingham Speedway
Over the stretch, Sawalich had to maintain the gap to Brandon Jones, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, who was attempting to steal the win away. But Sawalich was able to get through lapped traffic well, and crossed the finish line nearly a second ahead of Jones for the win, which came in his 42nd career series start.
Sawalich, who clicked off 13 victories in the ARCA Menards Series on his path to the NASCAR National Series ranks, suffered through a trying rookie season last year in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, which included missing the final couple of races due to an injury sustained at Talladega Superspeedway.
Through it all, Sawalich says his JGR team kept their faith in him, and on Saturday, he rewarded that faith with a victory.
“I mean, it means everything. Obviously, it was a tough year last year, and a tough start to the year this year. I mean, these boys mean everything to me, they were with me through everything, and my family,” Sawalich said. “Gosh, it feels good to get it done here in Rockingham in front of an awesome crowd. Thank you everyone for coming out.”
While he snagged the win, Sawalich admits that he was a bit anxious navigating lapped traffic in the closing laps.
“Well, funny enough, lapped traffic took me out last year. So, kind of running through my head a little bit,” Sawalich admitted. “But man, I just studied the race last year. Calmed down, and everything was fine.”
Everything was fine, and at the end of the day, it was a 1-2 finish for Joe Gibbs Racing. For Jones, the driver of the team’s No. 20 Toyota, this was his second runner-up finish of the season.
The Joe Gibbs Racing duo was followed across the finish line by the JR Motorsports trio of Justin Allgaier, Rajah Caruth, and Carson Kvapil.
Allgaier, who was attempting to extend his winning streak to three races, came up shy of that milestone, but he was able to extend his already impressive series points lead with the third-place result. Allgaier now holds a 126-point advantage over Jesse Love, who finished 27th on Saturday.
Corey Day led a race-high 118 laps from the pole position, and won Stages 1 and 2, but pit road miscues late in the race derailed his would-be race-winning day. Day would collect a 10th-place finish.
Cleetus McFarland, who was making his series debut, was credited with a 32nd-place finish in a wild day, where he was nearly swept up in multiple crashes. McFarland, who was heavily criticized going into the race, was able to make it to the end of the event, but was six laps off the pace of the winner.
