William Sawalich wins General Tire 150 at Phoenix under red flag due to rain
For the second time since November, William Sawalich wins an ARCA Menards Series race at Phoenix. This time under a red flag due to rain. There were 35 laps left in this race when the NASCAR development series dropped the red flag due to lightning.
Soon, the rain came in and started to pour. Honestly, you can’t make this up at this point. If you have a NASCAR race in your town, chances are you’re going to get some rain. Even in the desert.
William Sawalich was dominant for most of the night. He battled Gio Ruggerio for much of the race. Once he made an adjustment during the halfway break, Sawalich obviously had the best car.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver wins his second race at Phoenix since the ARCA Menards Series West season finale in November. This race was a national series race, but also the season-opener for the West.
One of the coolest stories in this race was Isabella Robusto. The 19-year-old made her debut in the ARCA Menards Series tonight. She learned a lot and learned quickly, too. On International Women’s Day, Robusto finished P6 and ran a ton of laps in the top-5.
Honestly, she was probably the third or fourth-best car on the track all day. It would not have been a shock to see her finish P2 if the race went the full length.
William Sawalich reminded everyone why he’s in that Joe Gibbs Racing pipeline. He is just running part-time in the series this year, but he’s a threat to win every time he gets into the car.
William Sawalich has big season ahead of him
At just 17 years old, William Sawalich is going to have a big season in 2024. He has the full ARCA East schedule to race. He will make part-time starts in the national and West series as well.
On top of that, Sawalich has Truck Series starts with Tricon Garage and Xfinity Series starts with JGR planned for this season. That is a lot of racing for a driver who hasn’t even turned 18 yet. He is quite the young prospect.
After the race, Sawalich was happy with the win, but wished he had gotten to complete the full race.
“Yeah I mean for sure not the way I wanted to win a race but I knew we had the best car out there,” Sawalich said on FS1 after the win. “Our Starkey Sound Gear Toyota Camry was really good all night. We kinda fell back in that first stint but then the guys made a really good adjustment.
“Super proud of them for doing that, sticking with me. We just ran a good race and I knew we definitely had a chance to win it so I’m definitely proud of that.”
This was probably the best racing you could have hoped for in this race for this series. It was a refreshing change of pace from the Daytona event. We had a Truck Series regular, Grant Enfinger in the race as well who provided great racing.
When it comes to the full-time ARCA Menards Series drivers, Andres Perez and Toni Breidinger battled for much of the night. The two of them will battle for the series championship more than likely this season.