Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race ended with a first-time winner as William Sawalich captured the checkered flag in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
The win came in Sawalich’s 42nd career start, and ended JR Motorsports’ five-race win streak. His Rockingham win came in a Joe Gibbs Racing 1-2, beating teammate Brandon Jones to the win.
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“It means everything,” said Sawalich. “Honestly, tough year last year and tough start to the year this year. These boys mean everything to me. They were here with me through everything and my family. Gosh, it feels good to get it done here in Rockingham, in front of an awesome crowd. Thank you to everyone for coming out. Our Supra was on rails today. Good in stage one and stage two, and obviously amazing in clean air.”
Justin Allgaier finished third, extending his championship lead to 126 points over Jesse Love. Rajah Caruth finished fourth, Carson Kvapil fifth, Sheldon Creed sixth, Taylor Gray seventh, Parker Retzlaff eighth, Ryan Sieg ninth, and Corey Day tenth.
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Making his NASCAR O’Reilly debut, Cleetus McFarland finished 32nd for RCR, following a top five result in the ARCA East race earlier the same day.
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Stage 1
Day led the race from the green flag, and Retzlaff nearly lost it on the opening lap from third on the grid. Back in the pack, Cleetus tried to go three-wide early for 30th, and spun sideways, dropping him to the back of the field.
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Up front, Day remained in complete control of the race as Allgaier made an aggressive three-wide pass in traffic to take second from Love.
The first caution flew for Blake Lothian spinning out. He slid back down the track, and Cleetus narrowly avoided plowing into the side of the No. 55 car. At that point, he had fallen one lap down.
During the caution, Gray and three others stayed out, prevented drivers like Cleetus from taking the wave-around.
It was a hectic restart with Love and S. Smith nearly crashing at the exit of Turn 2 while trying to make headway. Day still made it back to the lead, winning Stage 1 over
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Elsewhere in the field, Mayer fell several laps down due to mechanical gremlins impacting his No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet.
Stage 2
Day continued to lead the race. In the middle of the field, Love touched the wall after contact from Caruth, just one week after they had a run-in at Martinsville.
Dean Thompson made an unscheduled pit stop for a flat tire, but the race remained green until Jeremy Clements spun from inside the top ten.
Love decided to pit during this caution due to a loose wheel and rode around at the back, conserving his tires for the final 20 laps of the stage.
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Day went on to sweep the stages, winning Stage 2 over
Stage 3
Love inherited the race lead, staying out. Due to some two-tire calls, Day restarted back in seventh for the restart. R. Sieg restarted on the front row with Love.
On the restart, JGR teammates Crews and Sawalich made door-to-door contact, and Crews went on to take the lead from Love. Allgaier followed him through, taking second.
Back in the pack, Cleetus came down on another car and got spun sideways, but he straightened it out and avoided a caution.
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Love slowed and made an unscheduled stop due to an issue with the right-front. He lost three laps on pit road.
Despite dominating the first two stages, Day was unable to make much headway from the restart.
With 85 laps to go, Alfredo spun and triggered a caution. He had a flat tire that proceeded to tear the right-front fender apart.
The entire field came down pit road, with Crews holding the lead over Allgaier as Day lost even more positions. Sawalich took the lead on the ensuing restart, but the caution quickly flew for Clements backing into the outside wall. He then dragged an entire roll of tape out onto the track, leaving the box before the team was done with repairs.
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The seventh caution of the race flew when Cleetus spun around at the exit of Turn 4, but escaped without any significant damage.
The stalled car of Kyle Sieg delayed the next restart, with the green flag finally waving with 38 laps to go. Austin Green made a fantastic save, but then got up into the marbles and slammed the wall, forcing him to make an unscheduled pit stop.
Up front, Crews started to fall back from third, and had to pit with a potential tire issue. Sawalich continued to lead, about two seconds clear of Jones.
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He maintained that advantage, and never had to deal with real pressure from behind as he captured the win for JGR.
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