After a lengthy battle with William Sawalich, Connor Zilisch proved victorious in the Atlas 150 at Iowa Speedway on Friday (June 14). It was Zilisch’s second victory of the season.
Zilisch’s win also meant another race where another full-time series regular did not find victory lane, with Andres Perez leading the way of those drivers, finishing sixth. He was joined by only Toni Breidinger and Lavar Scott as full-time drivers in the top 10, with those two drivers finishing eighth and ninth, respectively.
How does Iowa’s race stack up in this week’s Frontstretch ARCA Power Rankings?
1. Andres Perez
Perez entered Iowa as the points leader and will head to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in the same position. The difference is that he exits with a 33-point lead over second-place Greg Van Alst, compared to the 16-point gap he had entering the race, thanks in large to an early crash that took Van Alst out of the race.
Perez coasted to a sixth-place finish at Iowa, doing exactly what he’s done so well throughout the season, finishing races, and running consistently. He spent some of the race within the top five but ultimately missed out on finishing there by just one position. His top-10 finish marks his sixth straight this season.
As for Mid-Ohio, Perez has a tall hill to climb. Last season, the 18-year-old finished 15th in the event and averaged a finish of 13.5 on the two road course events the national division ran.
2. Connor Zilisch
In two ARCA national division starts this season, Zilisch has come away a perfect two-for-two, winning at Iowa this past weekend, and at Dover Motor Speedway in April. In fact, he’s never finished outside of the top two in any national division race he’s entered. Further, in all six of his combined ARCA-sanctioned starts, Zilisch has never finished worse than fourth.
Zilisch led 102 of the 150 laps at Iowa Friday evening, holding off Sawalich on a handful of restarts late in the going. Zilisch received a number of bump-and-run attempts from Sawalich but retained the lead en route to victory. He now holds a 17-point lead over Sawalich in the ARCA Menards Series East standings with three races to go.
3. William Sawalich
In just his third ARCA national division start of 2024, Sawalich crossed the line in second place at Iowa, marking the fourth time in 16 starts that he’s finished runner-up. The finish was vastly improved from his last start at Dover, where he…
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