William Sawalich cruises to comfortable win at Milwaukee Mile during Sprecher 150
WEST ALLIS, Wis. — Entering the Sprecher 150 at the Milwaukee Mile, William Sawalich had lost every head-to-head matchup with Connor Zilisch in the national ARCA Menards Series.
Sawalich made sure to change the status quo on Sunday with a dominant performance that has become a theme for him and Joe Gibbs Racing over the past two months.
No one could match the pace displayed by Sawalich as he cruised to his seventh ARCA Menards Series victory of 2024 and his ninth overall on the platform. The young prospect has grown use to perfect outings this year, but emphasized the importance of the strenuous work displayed by everyone in the shop.
“We put in a lot of work to be good at places like this,” Sawalich said. “We’ve been good here in the past and had a really good Toyota Camry today, so I can’t thank my guys enough. I think we led everything but one lap maybe, so I’m really proud to do that. I love this team.”
Although Sunday only served as his second appearance at the Milwaukee Mile in an ARCA Menards Series car, Sawalich has seemingly mastered the legendary facility. He led 141 laps there last year before fending off a late charge from Jesse Love for the win.
No such instance occurred for Sawalich on Sunday, who maintained a healthy gap over Zilisch after every restart and through lapped traffic. The next closest competitor to the duo was Lavar Scott, who was 29 seconds behind Sawalich when the checkered flag waved.
With Sawalich enjoying a mistake-free afternoon, Zilisch focused on gaining as much experience as possible during his first trip to the Milwaukee Mile. He was surprised at how dynamic the facility could be and hopes to have another opportunity to turn laps there in the near future.
“If I ever come back here, I’ll have some notes to look back on,” Zilisch said. “This track is really cool, because there’s a lot you can do to move around, change the way you slow the car down and how you exit the corner. I had fun out there for 150 laps trying to learn. There’s just some days where you’re not going to be able to contend for the win.”
Despite seeing his perfect four-race record in the national ARCA Menards Series come to an end on Sunday, Zilisch still had plenty to cherish following the Sprecher 150. Unofficially, Zilisch holds a 16-point lead over Sawalich in the ARCA Menards Series East standings with one race remaining.
Sawalich admitted Zilisch gave him a decent challenge for the lead right after the halfway break, but was not going to let his burgeoning rival see Victory Lane again with him on track.
“[Zilisch] got a good jump on me and was on my door,” Sawalich said. “He had good momentum going down the backstretch, but I just had to fire it off in there and get position off the corner to get a little side draft on him. Then we were clear into one.”
Sawalich may have best Zilisch on Sunday, but plenty more battles remain between the two prospects as the 2024 season begins to wind down.
Rounding out the top five behind Sawalich, Zilisch and Scott were Kris Wright and Lawless Alan, who were also the last two cars on the lead lap. Andres Perez, Dean Thompson, Christian Rose, Gio Ruggiero and Marco Andretti completed the top 10.
The next race up for the national ARCA Menards Series will be the second and final dirt event on the calendar; the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds. Next Sunday’s Southern Illinois 100 will commence at 8:30 p.m. ET and air on both FS1 and FloRacing.
For the ARCA Menards Series East, their final race of the 2024 season will take place at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sept. 19 in a combination event with the national series. FS1 has live coverage of the on-track action that evening starting at 5 p.m. ET.
RESULTS
Milwaukee Mile
Milwaukee, Wis.
Sunday, August 25, 2024
Pos No. Name Sponsor Laps Diff
1 18 William Sawalich * Starkey/Sound Gear Toyota 150 —
2 28 Connor Zilisch * Chevrolet Performance/Silver Hare Development Chevrolet 150 4.675
3 6 Lavar Scott * Max Siegel Inc Chevrolet 150 29.892
4 15 Kris Wright FNB Corportation Toyota 150 31.206
5 33 Lawless Alan AutoParkIt Ford 150 31.668
6 2 Andres Perez Max Siegel Inc Chevrolet 149 1 Lap
7 55 Dean Thompson Thompson Pipe Group Toyota 149 1 Lap
8 32 Christian Rose West Virginia Department of Tourism Ford 149 1 Lap
9 20 Giovanni Ruggiero * JBL Toyota 149 1 Lap
10 17 Marco Andretti * Group 1001 Chevrolet 148 2 Laps
11 25 Toni Breidinger gener8tor Toyota 146 4 Laps
12 11 Zachary Tinkle Racing for Rescues/Fast Track Racing Toyota 145 5 Laps
13 10 Cody Dennison * Timcast.com Toyota 145 5 Laps
14 39 D.L. Wilson Heart O’ Texas Speedway Toyota 144 6 Laps
15 93 Tyler Tomassi * Tomassi Law Ford 144 6 Laps
16 95 Andrew Patterson * SCS Gearbox/Winsupply Toyota 143 7 Laps
17 12 Ryan Roulette * Bellator Recruiting Academy/VFW Ford 142 8 Laps
18 99 Michael Maples * Don Ray Petroleum LLC/Maples Motorsports Chevrolet 141 9 Laps
19 03 Alex Clubb Race Parts Liquidators Ford 136 14 Laps
20 22 Amber Balcaen Icon Toyota 87 63 Laps
21 06 Nate Moeller * Peterson Motorsports Ford 52 98 Laps
22 48 Brad Smith Copraya.com Ford 13 137 Laps
23 31 Rita Goulet NationalPolice.org Chevrolet 1 149 Laps
24 86 Brian Clubb * Race Parts Liquidators Ford 0 150 Laps
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