Eden Prairie native William Sawalich drives the No. 18 Toyota full-time for Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and he won his first career O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Rockingham Speedway on Saturday.
KSTP Sports caught up with Sawalich, via Zoom, on Monday to hear all about the milestone win. It’s the first by any Minnesota native in NASCAR.
***Click the video box above to watch our conversation with Sawalich***
Grabbing the lead and control of the race after a restart on Lap 172, Sawalich,19, pulled away over the final 79 laps.
The win moved Sawalich to 11th in the series standings, with the top-12 qualifying for the playoffs. While still relatively early in the season, Sawalich noted with us the importance of maintaining good positioning.
Saturday was Sawalich’s 42nd career start. He was a multi-time race winner in the ARCA Menards Series prior to moving to the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series full-time in 2025. He missed out on the playoffs last year.
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