William Sawalich scored his first career NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series win at Rockingham Speedway on Saturday evening. Sawalich earned stage points in the first two stages, before a dominate performance in the final stage – leading 80 (of 250) laps.

He drove away from his teammate Brandon Jones on the final restart, and went unchallenged to the checkered flag, which Jones finishing in second. Sawalich and Jones gave Joe Gibbs Racing their first 1-2 sweep of the season, and for Jones, it is his second runn

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.”

William Sawalich, driver of the #18 Soundgear Toyota, Justin Allgaier, driver of the #7 Jarrett Logistics Chevrolet, Brent Crews, driver of the #19 Mobil 1 Toyota, Jesse Love, driver of the #2 Whelen Chevrolet, and Rajah Caruth, driver of the #88 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, race during the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series North Carolina Education Lottery 250 Presented by Black’s Tire at Rockingham Speedway on April 04, 2026 in Rockingham, North Carolina. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)

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).

William Sawalich, driver of the #18 Soundgear Toyota, and crew celebrate in victory lane after winning the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series North Carolina Education Lottery 250 Presented by Black’s Tire at Rockingham Speedway on April 04, 2026 in Rockingham, North Carolina. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Race Results

Fin
Str
No.
Driver
Team
Laps Led
Laps
Status

1
14
18
William Sawalich
Soundgear Toyota
80
250
Running

2
8
20
Brandon Jones
Menards/Pelonis Toyota
0
250
Running

3
4
7
Justin Allgaier
Jarrett Logistics Chevrolet
1
250
Running

4
13
88
Rajah Caruth
HendrickCars.com Chevrolet
0
250
Running

5
5
1
Carson Kvapil
Arby’s Chevrolet
0
250
Running

6
9
0
Sheldon Creed
Ollie’s Chevrolet
0
250
Running

7
6
54
Taylor Gray
Operation 300 Toyota
6
250
Running

8
3
99
Parker Retzlaff
FUNKAWAY Chevrolet
0
250
Running

9
12
39
Ryan Sieg
SciAps/SA Recycling Chevrolet
0
250
Running

10
1
17
Corey Day
HendrickCars.com Chevrolet
118
250
Running

11
11
21
Austin Hill
1-800-PACK-RAT Chevrolet
0
250
Running

12
19
8
Sammy Smith
TruckClub Chevrolet
0
250
Running

13
16
24
Harrison Burton
Elite Rewards Toyota
0
250
Running

14
24
44
Brennan Poole
Frontline Fire Protection Chevrolet
0
250
Running

15
20
45
Lavar Scott #
Sunoco Chevrolet
0
250
Running

16
26
42
Nathan Byrd
Randco Chevrolet
0
250
Running

17
29
27
Jeb Burton
Celsius Chevrolet
0
250
Running

18
30
91
Alex Labbe
eRacing Association Chevrolet
0
250
Running

19
25
92
Josh Williams
Call811.com Chevrolet
0
250
Running

20
28
5
JJ Yeley
Victory Custom Trailers Ford
0
250
Running

21
31
32
Andrew Patterson
WinSupply/SCS Gearbox Chevrolet
0
250
Running

22
32
2
Ryan Ellis
AMC Tablo Chevrolet
0
249
Running

23
27
31
Blaine Perkins
EasyCare/Bommarito.com Chevrolet
0
249
Running

24
15
96
Anthony Alfredo
Dude Wipes MentHOLE Chevrolet
0
249
Running

25
17
51
Jeremy Clements
Allaince Driveway Solutions Chevrolet
0
249
Running

26
10
19
Brent Crews #
Mobil 1 Toyota
30
248
Running

27
2
2
Jesse Love
Whelen Chevrolet
15
248
Running

28
18
26
Dean Thompson
Thompson Pipe Group Toyota
0
248
Running

29
38
0
Garrett Smithley
Easter Chevrolet
0
246
Running

30
37
55
Blake Lothian
The Texas Lawbook Chevrolet
0
245
Running

31
36
35
Joey Gase
Stripes TV Chevrolet
0
245
Running

32
35
33
Cleetus McFarland
Tommy’s Express Car wash Chevrolet
0
244
Running

33
23
87
Austin Green
3-Dimensional Services Chevrolet
0
243
Running

34
22
48
Patrick Staropoli #
Syfovre Chevrolet
0
242
Running

35
34
74
Dawson Cram
Outlaws Sim Series Chevrolet
0
241
Running

36
33
7
Josh Bilicki
Mando Chevrolet
0
241
Running

37
21
28
Kyle Sieg
Night Owl Companies Chevrolet
0
201
Electrical

38
7
41
Sam Mayer
Audibel Chevrolet
0
154
Engine

Average Speed of Race Winner:  98.878 mph.

Time of Race:  2 Hrs, 22 Mins, 36 Secs. Margin of Victory:  0.863 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  7 for 44 laps.

Lead Changes:  8 among 6 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   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.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Corey Day 2 times for 118 laps; William Sawalich 2 times for 80 laps; Brent Crews # 1 time for 30 laps; Jesse Love 2 times for 15 laps; Taylor Gray 1 time for 6 laps; Justin Allgaier 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 17,54,20,7,18,2,8,19,88,99

Stage #2 Top Ten: 17,18,7,19,20,88,99,00,51,1

er-up finish in the last three races this season (Darlington).