William Sawalich gets breakthrough victory at Rockingham
Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images
ROCKINGHAM, N.C.—Grabbing the lead and control of the race after a restart on Lap 172, William Sawalich pulled away over the final 79 laps to win Saturday’s North Carolina Education Lottery 250 Presented by Black’s Tire at Rockingham Speedway.
The victory was the first in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series for the 19-year-old Sawalich, the youngest driver to win at the 0.94-mile track in any of NASCAR’s top three series.
Sawalich, who led 80 laps, crossed the finish line 0.863 seconds ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Brandon Jones to end the five-race winning streak of JR Motorsports and preserve the series record of six straight victories for JGR.
“It means everything,” said Sawalich, who gained three positions to 11th in the series 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.”
With the win, Sawalich earned eligibility for the first Dash 4 Cash race next Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway. The top four finishers at Rockingham—Sawalich, Jones and third- and fourth-place finishers Justin Allgaier and Rajah Caruth—will compete for a $100,000 bonus in that event, with the top finisher among them claiming the prize.
Caruth, in fact, made a spectacular three-wide pass of both Sheldon Creed and Carson Kvapil with nine laps left to grab the last Dash 4 Cash position. Kvapil finished fifth and Creed sixth, followed by Taylor Gray, Parker Retzlaff, Ryan Sieg and pole winner Corey Day.
For the first half of the race, Day appeared to have the dominant car. The 20-year-old led a race-high 118 of the 250 laps and swept the first two stages—the first stage wins of his career.
But Day lost five positions on a slow pit stop during the second stage break and never recovered. On Lap 174, he pitted out of sequence for a loose lug nut and charged from 24th over the final 70 laps to post his seventh straight top 10.
“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.”
Jones was pleased with the progress his runner-up finish represents.
“I left Martinsville a little frustrated at myself last week (after finishing 18th),” Jones said. “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.”
Allgaier had the consolation of leaving Rockingham with a lead of 126 points over second-place Jesse Love in the O’Reilly Auto Parts standings. Love hit the outside wall after a shove from Caruth, lost track position on a subsequent unscheduled pit stop on Lap 153 and finished 27th, two laps down.
Notes: Sawalich is the first Minnesota-born driver to win a race in any of NASCAR’s top three national series. … Caruth’s fourth-place finish in the No. 88 JRM Chevrolet was a career-best. He’ll be driving the No. 32 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet at Bristol while Kyle Larson takes a turn in the No. 88 Camaro. … JR Motorsports put three drivers (Allgaier, Caruth and Kvapil) in the top 10, extending the organization’s streak of at least one driver in the top 10 to 65 races—second in the series all-time to Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing (79 straight top 10s).
NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Race Number 8
Race Results for the North Carolina Education Lottery 250 Presented by
Black's Tire - Saturday, April 4, 2026
Rockingham Speedway - Rockingham, NC - 0.94 - Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 250 Laps - 235. Miles
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 4/4/2026 @ 05:13 PM Eastern
Stage 1 Stage 2
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Pos Pos Pts Status Tms Laps
1 14 18 William Sawalich Soundgear Toyota 250 5 2 71 Running 2 80
2 8 20 Brandon Jones Menards/Pelonis Toyota 250 3 5 49 Running
3 4 7 Justin Allgaier Jarrett Logistics Chevrolet 250 4 3 49 Running 1 1
4 13 88 Rajah Caruth HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 250 9 6 40 Running
5 5 1 Carson Kvapil Arby's Chevrolet 250 10 33 Running
6 9 00 Sheldon Creed Ollie's Chevrolet 250 8 34 Running
7 6 54 Taylor Gray Operation 300 Toyota 250 2 39 Running 1 6
8 3 99 Parker Retzlaff FUNKAWAY Chevrolet 250 10 7 34 Running
9 12 39 Ryan Sieg SciAps/SA Recycling Chevrolet 250 28 Running
10 1 17 Corey Day HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 250 1 1 47 Running 2 118
11 11 21 Austin Hill 1-800-PACK-RAT Chevrolet 250 26 Running
12 19 8 Sammy Smith TruckClub Chevrolet 250 7 29 Running
13 16 24 Harrison Burton Elite Rewards Toyota 250 24 Running
14 24 44 Brennan Poole Frontline Fire Protection Chevrolet 250 23 Running
15 20 45 Lavar Scott # Sunoco Chevrolet 250 22 Running
16 26 42 Nathan Byrd Randco Chevrolet 250 21 Running
17 29 27 Jeb Burton Celsius Chevrolet 250 20 Running
18 30 91 Alex Labbe eRacing Association Chevrolet 250 19 Running
19 25 92 Josh Williams Call811.com Chevrolet 250 18 Running
20 28 5 JJ Yeley Victory Custom Trailers Ford 250 17 Running
21 31 32 Andrew Patterson WinSupply/SCS Gearbox Chevrolet 250 16 Running
22 32 02 Ryan Ellis AMC Tablo Chevrolet 249 15 Running
23 27 31 Blaine Perkins EasyCare/Bommarito.com Chevrolet 249 14 Running
24 15 96 Anthony Alfredo Dude Wipes MentHOLE Chevrolet 249 13 Running
25 17 51 Jeremy Clements Allaince Driveway Solutions Chevrolet 249 9 14 Running
26 10 19 Brent Crews # Mobil 1 Toyota 248 8 4 21 Running 1 30
27 2 2 Jesse Love Whelen Chevrolet 248 6 15 Running 2 15
28 18 26 Dean Thompson Thompson Pipe Group Toyota 248 9 Running
29 38 0 Garrett Smithley Easter Chevrolet 246 8 Running
30 37 55 Blake Lothian The Texas Lawbook Chevrolet 245 7 Running
31 36 35 Joey Gase Stripes TV Chevrolet 245 6 Running
32 35 33 Cleetus McFarland Tommy's Express Car wash Chevrolet 244 5 Running
33 23 87 Austin Green 3-Dimensional Services Chevrolet 243 4 Running
34 22 48 Patrick Staropoli # Syfovre Chevrolet 242 3 Running
35 34 74 Dawson Cram Outlaws Sim Series Chevrolet 241 2 Running
36 33 07 Josh Bilicki Mando Chevrolet 241 1 Running
37 21 28 Kyle Sieg Night Owl Companies Chevrolet 201 1 Electrical
38 7 41 Sam Mayer Audibel Chevrolet 154 1 Engine
Fastest Lap Bonus: #16 lap 181 / 23.59
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 22 Mins, 36 Secs. Average Speed: 98.878 MPH Margin of Victory: 0.863 Seconds
Stage 1 Top 10: 17, 54, 20, 7, 18, 2, 8, 19, 88, 99
Stage 2 Top 10: 17, 18, 7, 19, 20, 88, 99, 00, 51, 1
Race Comments: William Sawalich won the North Carolina Education Lottery 250 at Rockingham Speedway, his first victory in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series. Prior to the start of the race the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty: Nos. 0, 35, 87 (unapproved adjustments).
Failed to Qualify: None.
Caution Flags: 7 for 44 laps; Laps: 50-54 (#55 Spin Turn 2 [27]); 62-69 (Stage 1 Conclusion [31]); 95-99 (#51 Spin Turn 2 [92]); 122-129 (Stage 2 Conclusion [5]); 166-171 (#96 Spin Turn 2 [42]); 174-179 (#51, 39 Incident Turn 2 [02]); 207-212 (#33 Spin Turn 4 [51]).
Lead Changes: 8 among 6 drivers; C. Day 1-50; T. Gray 51-56; C. Day 57-124; J. Allgaier 125; J. Love 126-129; W. Sawalich 130; J. Love 131-141; B. Crews # 142-171; W. Sawalich 172-250.
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race: April 11, 2026 - Bristol Motor Speedway
NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications @ P.O. Box 2875, Daytona Beach, FL 32120-2875
CURRENT NASCAR O'REILLY AUTO PARTS SERIES STANDINGS
UNOFFICIAL UNOFFICIAL
1. Justin Allgaier 7 8 0 422 0 0 3 3
2. Jesse Love 2 8 0 296 -126 126 0 2
3. Sheldon Creed 00 8 0 291 -131 5 1 0
4. Austin Hill 21 8 0 277 -145 14 1 4
5. Corey Day 17 8 2 272 -150 5 0 2
6. Carson Kvapil 1 8 -1 267 -155 5 0 0
7. Sammy Smith 8 8 -1 260 -162 7 0 1
8. Brandon Jones 20 8 0 247 -175 13 0 0
9. Parker Retzlaff 99 8 0 229 -193 18 0 0
10. Rajah Caruth 88 8 0 215 -207 14 0 1
11. William Sawalich 18 8 3 214 -208 1 1 0
12. Taylor Gray 54 8 0 203 -219 11 0 0
13. Sam Mayer 41 8 -2 173 -249 30 0 1
14. Ryan Sieg 39 8 1 168 -254 5 0 0
15. Brennan Poole 44 8 1 162 -260 6 0 0
16. Anthony Alfredo 96 8 -3 157 -265 5 0 0
17. Jeb Burton 27 8 0 142 -280 15 0 0
18. Blaine Perkins 31 8 1 122 -300 20 0 0
19. Patrick Staropoli # 48 8 -1 119 -303 3 0 0
20. Brent Crews # 19 4 1 114 -308 5 0 0
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