FANTASY NASCAR Racin

Sawalich began racing at the age of nine, running various midget races, including Sr. Animal's and World Formula. William's father, Brandon Sawalich, is the president of Starkey Hearing Technologies, the largest hearing aid manufacturer in the United States. Starkey sponsors his racing efforts. Brandon Sawalich is the stepson of businessman William F. Austin. Austin an American billionaire businessman, philanthropist; founder, principle owner, chairman and CEO of Starkey Hearing Technology. From 2017 to 2019, he won several track championships at Little Elko Speedway. He moved into legends cars in 2020, and started traveling to North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia doing the Summer Shootout, Thursday Thunder. He won the INEX Young Lions State Championship in Minnesota. He scored multiple top fives and podiums during his legends car efforts. He won an INEX sanctioned Legends division feature race at Elko Speedway (MN) on August 22, 2020. Sawalich made the transition to late models in 2021, running nearly a full season in the Carolina Pro Late Model Series. Despite missing two races, he finished fourth in the standings, with one win at Carteret County Speedway, and seven top fives. Along with that, he continued to run in select legend car races. Sawalich took a major step in separating himself from his competition by winning his first Carolina Pro Late Model Series race at Carteret County Speedway on June 19, which he credited to the tutelage of

several people such as Lorin Ranier. Ranier, whose father Harry owned cars for Cale Yarborough, Buddy Baker and Bobby Allison in the Cup Series, knew that Sawalich would need a driving coach that would assist him with discipline as he transitioned from Legends to Late Models. Ranier introduced Sawalich to Ryan Farbo, who previously mentored Sam Mayer in Legends cars before signing a deal with JR Motorsports. He made his CARS Tour debut at Tri-County Motor Speedway in September, in which he started on the pole. He finished 17th after being involved in a late-race accident. With Sawalich making the jump to the Carolina Pro Late Model Series in 2021, Ranier got him

connected with former NASCAR Truck Series driver Dennis Setzer and his son Brandon to prepare Sawalich for competition in full-bodied cars. Sawalich’s efficiency is exactly what Ranier wanted to see in the first Pro Late Model season for Sawalich, comparing him to Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth during their early years in NASCAR. In 2022, Sawalich increased his late model schedule, running in the CARS Tour, the Champion Racing Association, the ARCA Midwest Tour, the Southern Super Series, and the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing. In the CARS Tour, Sawalich ran nine races, earning six wins, four of them in row. His streak came to an end at Tri-County in September, after he got spun on the last lap by Jake Garcia. He nearly won the prestigious super late model All American 400 at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway before his involvement in a nasty crash left him with a

destroyed racecar and a concussion, ending his 2022 racing season. On December 9, 2022, it was announced that Sawalich will join Joe Gibbs Racing to run 20 races in the ARCA Menards Series. This included a full season in the ARCA Menards Series East, along with select races in the main and West Series. Sawalich would make his debut at Phoenix on March 10, 2023, winning the pole and finishing 13th. In his first East Series start at Five Flags Speedway, Sawalich won the pole, and led every lap to earn his first career ARCA win. At Nashville, Sawalich was in contention to win his second race, until the caution came

out on the final lap. He would spin his tires on the final restart, ultimately giving the win to Luke Fenhaus. He earned his second win of the season at ARCA's return to Flat Rock Speedway, leading the final 50 laps of the race. He scored his third win of the season at Berlin Raceway, after passing Jesse Love for the lead with two laps to go. Following the Bristol race, Sawalich clinched the ARCA Menards Series East championship. In the main ARCA Series; Sawalich runthe races he was eligible to run;

making 13 of the series 20 starts. He had an impressive resume for those 13 events. He finished 13th at Phoenix, even though he was on the lead lap. His next start he went to victory lane; then finished second his next three starts. After three more top five finishes, he won at Milwaukee. He was fifth on the dirt at DuQuoin and then won again at Bristol. He finished sixth at Salem before winning his final start at Toledo. In 13 starts he had eleven top five and 12 top ten finishes. In January 2023, it was

announced that Sawalich will join Tricon Garage for six races in the NASCAR Truck Series, making his debut in the series. He made his debut at Martinsville Speedway, finishing ninth after running near the top ten for most of the race. He finished 27th his next race, at Mid-Ohio, running on the lead lap. At Richmond he posted another top ten after starting third. His season best finish came the next week at IRP. He qualified tenth, but brought the #1 Starkey sponsored Chevy home in sixth place. At Milwaukee he finished on the lead lap, albeit in 26th place. His final run in the Trucks came at

Bristol and he fell three laps off the pace to finish 30th. Overall his six starts weren't too bad, posting three top tens, and completing 1012 of 1016 laps. Sawalich and Jesse Love battled the whole season for the ARCA Championship. With Love moving up to run the NASCAR Truck series; Sawalich should offer fierce competition to the rest of the other ARCA drivers. But luckily for them, it was announced he'd only run part-time in ARCA and would also move up and run part-time in NASCAR's Truck series. Longer term plans were to see him run some Xfinity races after he turns 18 (October 2024) and then race Xfinity full time in 2025. So, Sawalich was a busy driver in 2024. He races in the ARCA Series, Truck series and Xfinity series. In the ARCA East series he was in all eight races, and had three wins, and seven top five finishes. He finished second

at Pensacola, and that was followed by the only race he did not finish inside the top three positions. At Dover he led 67 laps, and was leading when he had a tire fail and hit the wall, ending his day. He finished 17th. He won at Nashville, Milwaukee and Bristol; finished second at Flat Rock Speedway in Michigan and at Iowa Speedway. He added a third at IRP. He won the ARCA East Championship. In the ARCA Menards Series he was able to make 14 of the series 20 starts; winning a whopping nine

times. He won at Phoenix (AZ), Mid-Ohio, Berlin (Wi), Salem (In), Elko (Mn), Springfield (Il), Milwaukee (Wi), Bristol (Tn) and Toldeo (Oh). He won on all sorts of tracks; from road courses, to short tracks to dirt tracks. He wasn't able to run the full series because of his ago and being prohibited from racing on super speedways. In the 14 starts he had 13 top three finishes. The only time he didn't have a good finish was in the race mentioned previously at Dover. He made ten starts in the NASCAR Truck Series. He found the competition quite a bit tougher at this level, and

worked to adjust to the new vehicles. Still for the young 17 year old, he had some respectable finishes as he posted runs of 11th (Bristol); 12th (IRP); 14th (Milwaukee and Martinsville), and 17th (Homestead). Five finishes inside the top 17 in just ten starts was better than many series regulars. Only one race he didn't finish, when he was caught up in an accident of someone else's doing. He also made three starts in the Xfinity series. He ran the final three events of that series, the first coming at Homestead. He started 12th with a great qualifying run, but ran well, even scoring stage points in Stage 2. The final run of the race was 73 green flag laps, and the youngster wasn't quite

able to keep pace and finished one lap down in 24th. He qualified well again at Martinsville starting 15th. He had suspension issues and fell out finishing 33rd. As the season closed, he surprised everyone grabbing the pole at Phoenix. He ran a great race; scoring points in both stages, and came home an impressive 13th. Sawalich will be moving up to the Xfinity Series full time in 2025, driving in #18 JGR car vacated by Sheldon Creed, who is moving to the Newly formed #00 car of owner Haas Factory Team. It's impressive he is skipping the truck series and going straight to the Xfinity Series. we'll all see how he does. Some info from Wikipedia.

Fantasy NASCAR Racing

WILLIAM SAWALICH - 10/03/2006