William Sawalich won his first career NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race this past Saturday at Rockingham Speedway. Sawalich, 19, finally broke through after struggling up to that point in the NOAPS.

His victory got Dale Earnhardt Jr. thinking about how many top prospects are written off when they fail to immediately meet the hype. Earnhardt reminded everyone that some drivers are “not even taking out their own trash yet,” which shows just how far away they are from becoming their best.

“When he comes in and struggles, there’s a couple things that I think. You go, ‘Alright, that’s to be expected.’ Will he get the time to develop is the next thing. He’s 19, he’s raced a long time and got a lot of laps, but he doesn’t have a lot of laps, right? He’s still very young,” Earnhardt said on Tuesday’s Dale Jr. Download. “… This is the easiest thing for me to do is look back at myself when I was 19 — was I ready for that? No. Would I have failed? Yes. Not at that age, I was not prepared for anything like that. We’re putting these guys through these situations and really forcing these guys to mature at a rapid rate. I really didn’t get to going in the O’Reilly Series until I was 24, 25 years old. … I was just starting to race cars.

“… It’s pretty remarkable. I think we expect these guys to just go out there and do things, and they’re still living at home, you know what I mean? They’re not even taking out their own trash yet. They don’t even have the responsibility of traditional, normal everyday things.”

Sawalich is one of several young drivers competing in the NOAPS and Truck Series. But success isn’t immediate for everyone and that’s OK, Earnhardt said. He said that if he came into NASCAR when he was 19, he likely wouldn’t have had the Hall of Fame career he did.

Unfortunately, Earnhardt said, drivers such as Sawalich can’t control the timing of both the opportunity and the funding that comes with it. Essentially, it becomes sink or swim.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. concerned about lack of patience given to young drivers in NASCAR

“It’s a lot like these athletes in college that are getting that sixth, seventh year of eligibility, they’re like 23, 24 years old playing quarterback. They’re just better mentally for the tough moments,” Earnhardt said. “… I didn’t have that at 19. I was gonna get in the car and wreck the hell out of the thing at 19 years old, and I would have done that a lot, and I would have probably have been sh*tcanned before I was 23 years old. Luckily, my path happened the way it happened because I don’t know if I would have netted out.

“The tough part for these guys is their opportunity and the funding that they need and has to be there for them to get chances is there now. It might not be there if they wanted to wait for themselves to get better at the lower ranks or grass root ranks, well this money that can afford them this opportunity in the O’Reilly Series, it may not be there in three to four years when they’re more mentally prepared for the moment.”

Of course, there are examples of drivers who come right in and win in NASCAR. Connor Zilisch did just that as an 18-year-old rookie in the NOAPS, winning 10 races in 2025. But Zilisch, Earnhardt said, is one of the very few.

“If they can come in at 19 and win races, awesome. If they can’t, I think we have to be patient,” Earnhardt said. “I have to remind myself don’t write this dude off. ‘He’s 19, don’t write him off. He still might have it.’ We give up on them as an industry, maybe if we waited another year or two, he’s a future Cup champion. Who knows?”