William Sawalich claimed his first career NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series win at Rockingham Speedway, ending JR Motorsports’ five-race winning streak in the process. The 19-year-old’s breakthrough performance also resulted in a frustrating afternoon for pole-sitter Corey Day.
William Sawalich’s First Career Win Disrupts JR Motorsports’ Streak
Sawalich grabbed the lead on lap 172 following a restart and led 80 of the race’s 250 laps. Pulling away cleanly in open air, the teenager delivered a composed performance to secure the checkered flag.
“It means everything,” Sawalich said. “It was a tough year last year and a tough start to the year this year. Our Supra was on rails today. I just studied the race last year, calmed down and everything’s fine.”
With the win, Sawalich earned a spot in the first Dash 4 Cash race, which is set for next Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway. In that race, the top finisher among the four qualifiers wins a $100,000 bonus.
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Day looked like the strongest driver for Rockingham after qualifying on the pole with a lap time of 22.717 seconds at 148.963 mph. His qualifying performance made him a heavy favorite to win on the historic track.
After getting the pole, he said, “No I can’t believe it. Our sway bar was broke there after the contact with the #1 and the #7. I thought we were done after that, but we fired off with with really good pace after that.”
However, a slow pit stop during the second stage break cost Day five positions, and he never fully recovered. On lap 174, Day pitted out of sequence to fix a loose lug nut, dropping him to 24th before he charged back to finish 10th.
“We had a couple of bad pit stops,” Day said. “We got behind there, and it was hard to dig ourselves out of the hole.”
Meanwhile, JR Motorsports arrived at Rockingham with a plan to extend its momentum. The team had won five straight races, and a sixth would have tied Joe Gibbs Racing’s record for the longest consecutive winning streak in series history, which was set during the 2008 season.
Two JRM drivers, Justin Allgaier and Carson Kvapil, qualified in the top five. The team also held a streak of at least one driver finishing in the top 10 for 65 consecutive races.
None of it translated into a sixth win because Sawalich ensured otherwise with his dominant late-race run. Allgaier finished third and Rajah Caruth fourth, with both earning Dash 4 Cash spots alongside Sawalich and Brandon Jones.
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Caruth’s fourth-place run included a bold three-wide pass with nine laps to go. Allgaier now leads the O’Reilly Auto Parts standings by 126 points over Jesse Love, who finished 27th after contact with Caruth sent him into the wall.
“I was super adamant on being super aggressive today,” Sawalich said. “Sam did a great job. It was just a matter of trying to get some track position, and he got such a big restart that it was hard to catch him.”
Jones finished second and was pleased with his own progress. The podium finish follows a frustrating 18th-place result at Martinsville the week before.
