ROCKINGHAM, N.C. — Taking command of Saturday’s North Carolina Education Lottery 250 Presented by Black’s Tire following a lap 172 restart, 19-year-old William Sawalich dominated the remaining 79 circuits to capture his maiden NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series triumph at Rockingham Speedway.
The teenage driver’s breakthrough performance made him the youngest competitor to claim victory at the 0.94-mile facility across NASCAR’s three premier divisions. Sawalich commanded the race for 80 total laps.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver crossed the checkered flag with a 0.863-second margin over teammate Brandon Jones, halting JR Motorsports’ five-race victory streak while extending JGR’s series record to six consecutive wins.
“It means everything,” Sawalich expressed after advancing three spots to 11th in championship standings. “Honestly, it was a tough year last year and a tough start to the year this year. Gosh, it feels good to get it done here at Rockingham in front of an awesome crowd.”
“Our Supra was on rails today, obviously. Good in Stage 1 (fifth), Stage 2 (second) and obviously amazing in clean air. Lapped traffic took me out last year (in a 25th-place finish), so that was running through my head a little bit, but, man, I just studied the race last year, calmed down—and everything’s fine.”
Sawalich’s triumph secures his spot in next Saturday’s inaugural Dash 4 Cash competition at Bristol Motor Speedway. The Rockingham race’s top four finishers—Sawalich, Jones, plus third and fourth-place drivers Justin Allgaier and Rajah Caruth—will battle for a $100,000 bonus, awarded to whichever driver finishes highest among the quartet.
Caruth earned his Dash 4 Cash berth through a dramatic three-wide maneuver past Sheldon Creed and Carson Kvapil with nine circuits remaining. Kvapil claimed fifth position ahead of Creed in sixth, with Taylor Gray, Parker Retzlaff, Ryan Sieg, and pole-sitter Corey Day completing the top 10.
During the race’s opening portion, Day showcased the strongest machine. The 20-year-old paced the field for a race-best 118 of 250 laps while capturing both opening stages—his first career stage victories.
However, Day surrendered five positions during a sluggish pit stop at the second stage break and couldn’t regain his earlier form. A lap 174 unscheduled stop for a loose wheel forced him to rally from 24th position through the final 70 laps, ultimately securing his seventh consecutive top-10 result.
“We had a couple of bad pit stops,” Day reflected. “We got behind there, and it was hard to dig ourselves out of the hole.”
Runner-up Jones viewed his performance as significant improvement from recent struggles.
“I left Martinsville a little frustrated at myself last week (after finishing 18th),” Jones explained. “We weren’t quite aggressive enough at times, so today, I was super adamant on being super aggressive. I am going to take all of the runs I can get. I’m going to put people in bad situations, if I can, and just move forward.”
“I think we did a really good job of it. We kept fighting both sides of it with balance today. Sam (McAuley, crew chief) did a great job taking all of my feedback and making a car, I think, capable of winning. It was just a matter of trying to get some track position, and he (Sawalich) got such a big restart on that last restart (after the seventh caution on Lap 206) that it was hard to catch him.”
Third-place finisher Allgaier departed Rockingham maintaining a commanding 126-point championship advantage over second-place Jesse Love. Love’s title hopes suffered when he contacted the outside barrier following contact from Caruth, necessitating an unscheduled pit visit on lap 153 that relegated him to a 27th-place finish, two laps behind the leaders.
