Sawalich, a 17-year-old development driver with Joe Gibbs Racing, had led the race early but his involvement in an incident with a lapped car sent him to the rear.
Lavar Scott led on a late restart before Sawalich regained the lead with three laps to go, only to see Scott come right back and battle side-by-side with Sawalich.
The tight battle for the lead allowed Kris Wright to sneak up on the inside of Scott as the trio exited Turn 4 on the final lap to make it three-wide. The three bounced off each other and crossed the finish line sideways in dramatic fashion.
Race winner William Sawalich
Photo by: NASCAR Media
Sawalich was declared the winner after a review and posts of the replays of the finish soon dominated social media sites. Sawalich, on the outside and focused on the battle with Scott, said he didn’t even realize there was a third driver involved until after the Victory Lane celebration.
“I thought me and Lavar raced really well. I mean, I love racing like that. It’s just elbows up, do what you got to do kind of thing and that obviously slowed our pace down,” Sawalich said in an interview with Motorsport.com.
“I mean, I wasn’t really surprised (Wright) came on because he wasn’t too far back when I left him (on the last restart) and he was doing the right thing. He was trying to win as well. So, I mean we all three of us thought we had a shot at it and only one of us got it.”
“I had no idea” it was a three-wide finish
Told in Victory Lane there was another driver involved in the finish besides Scott, Sawalich said he asked to see a photo.
“I’m like, ‘Wait a second, who’s that other guy?’ I had no idea,” Sawalich said. “Just kind of how we were all angled coming across the line, I think if I was pointed straight, I think (Scott) would have had it.
“I was actually just watching the finish again like an hour ago. Still watching and it’s still pretty freaking cool.”
The win was significant for another reason as the victory came at the Minnesota native’s home track in front of hundreds of family members and friends.
“For all of this to happen at that track is unbelievable because that’s where I grew up,” Sawalich said. “When I was racing Legend cars, I dreamed of just racing a late model at Elko and then to do that in an ARCA car, it’s just really special.”
Race winner William Sawalich
Photo by: NASCAR Media
The victory was another milestone in a stellar…
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