For the second season in a row, the Pinnacle Racing Group has won at Iowa Speedway, this time with Connor Zilisch behind the wheel, winning his second race of the 2024 ARCA Menards Series season.
Zilisch held off three late-race restarts with heavy contact from William Sawalich en route to victory.
“I don’t know what I could’ve done differently, I feel like he just drove up the track and tried wrecking me, and he about tried right hooking me down the back straightaway,” Zilisch told FOX Sports, discussing Sawalich. “Anyway, I can’t say enough about my entire Pinnacle Racing Group team, it’s just a true team effort to get these wins.”
Sawalich ended up finishing second, doing so for the second consecutive season at Iowa. Gio Ruggiero, who battled a spin and a flat tire during the race, rallied to a third-place finish.
“Definitely a lot of effort, especially from the team,” Sawalich said to FOX Sports. “[Zilisch] jumped the start on one restart, lost a little bit of respect for him right there, but I tried everything I could.”
2014 ARCA champion Mason Mitchell, who returned to the series for the first time since 2018, crossed the line in fourth, with Andy Jankowiak finishing fifth, marking his best finish of the 2024 season to date.
Championship leader Andres Perez finished sixth, with Venturini Motorsports teammates Gus Dean and Toni Breidinger finishing seventh and eighth, respectively. To round out the top 10, Lavar Scott finished ninth, and Chris Tate finished 10th in his ARCA debut.
It didn’t take long for drama to start in the race. On the opening lap, pole sitter Ruggiero and Zilisch collided, sliding up the track in turn three, opening up the door for Sawalich, who snuck through to lead the first circuit. Ruggiero and Zilisch quickly recovered into the second and third positions, respectively.
Zilisch would soon chase Sawalich back down, getting side by side with the Joe Gibbs Racing driver for the lead in lapped traffic, but the first caution of the race would end the battle prematurely. That caution was due to Ryan Roulette, who went for a spin in turn four, making contact with the inside wall.
The second restart of the race wasn’t any less dramatic than the first. After a slow restart by Sawalich, he and Zilisch made contact heading into turn one, but Sawalich was able to retain the lead. However, another quick caution flew on lap 24, this time collecting championship…
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