Written by Izzy Reed, Edited by Sean McKean
On Thursday night, the ARCA Menards Series combined with the East championship at Bristol Motor Speedway for the championship-deciding East race. At the chequered flag, William Sawalich took the championship for the second year in a row. This win did not come without chaos, as the event had a record-breaking 13 cautions.
The race kicked off with a clean shot between our two championship contenders, Connor Zilisch and Sawalich, with Zilisch taking the lead on the second lap. The first of many cautions came out on Lap 4 out of 200, with the No. 71 of Dawson Sutton spinning off the track and into the inside wall.
Back to green, Zilisch took the outside and led the way, but Sawalich managed to clear him to take the lead. Looking further back, ARCA National championship leader, Andres Perez, fought back and forth with Tyler Reif for the fifth spot, taking it to our first three-wide car battle as Lawless Alan, who qualified 11th, jumped in.
As the race progressed, Jake Finch and Lavar Scott dropped back with tire issues, and then the second caution came out. Logan Misuraca spun from Amber Balcaen, getting in the back of her No. 9 car. Toni Breidinger then got collected..
Clearing out once again, Sawalich led the way but wasn’t able to keep Zilisch at bay, with the Trackhouse phenom coming out on top. Keeping an eye out down the top ten, Lavar Scott has worked his way up the list with only 30 laps, having qualified 26th.
D.L. Wilson brought out the third caution, as he spun off track in Turn 4.
On the next restart, Corey Day, Lavar Scott, and Giovanni Ruggiero took it three-wide at Bristol once again, as Day slid his way up, giving some more worry of yet another caution.
On Lap 65, the championship fight swung wide-open.
Misuraca spun out and hit the Turn 3 wall. Then, second-placed Connor Zilisch couldn’t avoid the crash in time, hitting her car hard and going out of the race. With Zilisch out, Sawalich only had to stay in the race for the remainder, and he would take the East championship title once again.
As the track cleared again, it's now Sawalich versus Landen Lewis, No. 97, who qualified fourth. As Lewis took the lead, the yellow flag waved. After running for quite a few laps in 18th, Amber Balcaen had an issue and went out of the race.
On the restart, the drivers' strategic manoeuvres kept everyone watching. Lewis led Sawalich, while Scott and Ruggiero made some bold moves to push right up beside each other. Perez's skillful slide between the two cars added an extra layer of excitement.
The sixth caution was for No. 99 of Michael Maples went into the outside wall. He managed to rejoin the race at the restart, and where Lewis worked the outside to keep the lead.
And again, the seventh caution of the night came out for the halfway break, as everyone came down the pit lane to make some adjustments and put on those new tires.
After that quick break, slight contact occurred straight away between Perez and Reif. Perez made it slightly sideways but saved it right after Scott slid in sideways, both trying to keep up with those new tires.
Finch picked off cars one by one to make it up to fourth in this fight. As for the leaders, they were on Lap 117 with the biggest gap we have seen between Lewis and Sawalich at nine tenths.
Another caution flag came out on Lap 121 for debris in Turn 3.
With 77 laps to go, the green flag waved again. Sawalich took the lead in clean air, but Lewis was making the time up, but not enough before another caution. This time, one turn away at Turn 4, Marco Andretti hit the wall on the corner exit. After missing the Truck series race, he has to end his ARCA race with 66 laps to go.
Sawalich and Lewis started side by side but they couldn’t even get to the next lap, as the tenth caution of the night from Greg Van Alst, who got spun into the inside wall by Christian Rose.
We see green for a second. The race leaders aren't able to make it far, though. Kris Wright wreaks as he takes a hit from Alan, who is on the inside when he hits Breidinger and sends him spinning into the wall.
Back racing again, Lewis raced back and forth with Sawalich, but Lewis kept the lead as we broke the record of 10 cautions. After being squeezed by Corey Day, Christian Rose spun into the wall and out of the race.
Lewis led with 39 laps to go, and Reif went around the outside National series leader Perez. Finch tried to cut into the mix but couldn't quite compete with Perez, as Perez took back his spot over Reif and Finch. With only 32 laps to go and the cleanest laps we've seen standing at just 16, Sawalich led at Bristol again.
Ruggiero, with issues, slows down as he tries to make it to pit road without making it a caution once again. At the same time, we are seeing Reif and Scott battle it out for fourth. Just a few laps later, Mitch Gibson got ahead of Reif, going around the lapped car of Alex Clubb.
Tim Richmond also went into the wall and slowed down as sparks flew from his car, but he made it into the pit lane.
With 11 laps to go, Sawalich is in the lead with a 1.3-second gap to Lewis. Lewis backed up with traffic, trying to break the lead to Sawalich but didn’t quite manage.
The 13th and final caution of this ARCA Menards East championship race. Came out with five laps to go. Andrew Patterson hit the wall in Turn 3 as the leaders drove past him.
With two laps to go, Sawalich took that inside line he kew so well. William Sawalich led this race for the remaining two laps to come out on top for the second year in a row in both the East championship and Bristol race. The No. 18 driver is the ARCA Menards East champion once again at only 17 years old.
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