William Sawalich Breaks Through For First Career O'Reilly Series Win

At one of NASCAR's old-school legacy tracks, it was a pair of young drivers, who stole the show in Saturday's NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series North Carolina Education Lottery 250 at Rockingham Speedway. In the end, it was 19-year-old William Sawalich, who found speed in his car at the right time, and he cruised to his first career win.

Sawalich would have to methodically work his way through lapped traffic over the closing laps, in an effort to hold off Brandon Jones, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, for the win. Sawalich was nervous working through the lapped traffic, knowing that it was what caused his day to end prematurely at the 0.940-mile speedway a season ago.

"Well, funny enough, lapped traffic took me out last year. So, kind of running through my head a little bit," Sawalich admitted. "But man, I just studied the race last year. Calmed down, and everything was fine."

He was able to successfully do just that, and crossed the finish line 0.863 seconds ahead of Jones.

The driver, who suffered through a trying rookie season last year, and missed the final two races of the season after suffering concussion-like symptoms following a hard crash at Talladega Superspeedway, was proud to finally reach victory lane in NASCAR's second-tier series.

"I mean, it means everything. Obviously, it was a tough year last year, and a tough start to the year this year. I mean, these boys mean everything to me, they were with me through everything, and my family," Sawalich said after a warm embrace from his mother after he climbed from his car. "Gosh, it feels good to get it done here in Rockingham in front of an awesome crowd. Thank you everyone for coming out."

Sawalich, who was a 13-time race winner in the ARCA Menards Series prior to moving to the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series full-time in 2025, scored his first O'Reilly win in his 42nd career start.

For Jones, this runner-up effort marks his second runner-up finish through the opening eight races of the 2026 season.

Justin Allgaier, the series points leader who came into the day on a two-race winning streak, would finish third, followed by fellow JR Motorsports drivers Rajah Caruth and Carson Kvapil.

Sheldon Creed, Taylor Gray, Parker Retzlaff, Ryan Sieg, and polesitter Corey Day rounded out the top-10 finishers in the race.

While a 10th-place run would typically be a cause for celebration for the 20-year-old Day, on Saturday, it was a disappointment. The driver led a race-high 118 laps, and after securing his first career pole position, he looked poised to snag his first career win.

Day swept the Stage wins in Stages 1 and 2, but in the final Stage of the race, his No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports team were worried they sent him back onto the track with a loose wheel. That caused them to call the driver back down pit road, so they could tighten the wheel, which lost him too much track position to overcome.

Still, it was a very solid point day for Day, who jumped from seventh to fifth in the championship standings.

Justin Allgaier was able to maintain his series points lead, which grew to 126 points over Jesse Love, who finished 27th.

Taylor Gray remains the final driver inside the 12-driver Chase Grid, and he holds a 30-point advantage over Sam Mayer, who suffered race-ending mechanical issues, which led to a last-place finish on Saturday afternoon.

YouTube personality Cleetus McFarland made his highly anticipated series debut in this event, and despite several close calls, the driver was able to make it to the finish of the race unscathed. McFarland scored a 32nd-place finish, albeit six laps off the pace, behind the wheel of the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

Next up for the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series is a race date at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday, April 11. That race will be televised on The CW, with television coverage set to begin at 7:30 PM ET. The Performance Racing Network (PRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio broadcast of the race.

NC Education Lottery 250 Race Results

1. 18-William Sawalich
2. 20-Brandon Jones
3. 7-Justin Allgaier
4. 88-Rajah Caruth
5. 1-Carson Kvapil
6. 00-Sheldon Creed
7. 54-Taylor Gray
8. 99-Parker Retzlaff
9. 39-Ryan Sieg
10. 17-Corey Day
11. 21-Austin Hill
12. 8-Sammy Smith
13. 24-Harrison Burton
14. 44-Brennan Poole
15. 45-Lavar Scott
16. 42-Nathan Byrd
17. 27-Jeb Burton
18. 91-Alex Labbe
19. 92-Josh Williams
20. 5-JJ Yeley
21. 32-Andrew Patterson
22. 02-Ryan Ellis
23. 31-Blaine Perkins
24. 96-Anthony Alfredo
25. 51-Jeremy Clements
26. 19-Brent Crews
27. 2-Jesse Love
28. 26-Dean Thompson
29. 0-Garrett Smithley
30. 55-Blake Lothian
31. 35-Joey Gase
32. 33-Cleetus McFarland
33. 87-Austin Green
34. 48-Patrick Staropoli
35. 74-Dawson Cram
36. 07-Josh Bilicki
37. 28-Kyle Sieg
38. 41-Sam Mayer