On Thursday (Sept. 19), the ARCA Menards Series and ARCA Menards Series East drivers raced hard at Bristol Motor Speedway.
How hard? A total of 87 of the 200 laps (43.5%) were run under caution. Eighteen of the 34 drivers finished the race. Only 10 finished on the lead lap.
The race served as the East’s season finale, and drama unfolded. Connor Zilisch entered with the points lead, scored the pole, led 23 laps, yet was collected in a lap 64 crash. Second-in-points William Sawalich led a race-high 102 laps and fended off Landen Lewis to win the race and successfully defend his 2023 East title.
In the national series, the top three kept their respective positions, and now only two more races remain in the season.
As such, while many drivers left with damaged racecars, who made the power rankings post-Bristol?
1. William Sawalich
Sawalich had to earn both his Bristol triumphs. He led the final 38 laps but had to deal with an overtime restart. He never waned in his performance, though. He mastered the restart en route to a 0.397-second win.
In the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Bristol later Thursday night, he finished seventh in the first two stages and ultimately wound up 11th, sandwiched between playoff drivers Tyler Ankrum and Taylor Gray.
Sawalich has proven he’s ready for the next level of racing. His Bristol performance earns him the top spot in these power rankings.
2. Andres Perez
Andres Perez started third and finished fourth at Bristol. It’s his third straight top five and fourth straight top 10. He only gave up one point in the driver standings to his Rev Racing teammate Lavar Scott. With a 53-point lead, unless something catastrophic happens to him at Kansas Speedway, all he’ll have to do to win the championship at Toledo Speedway will be start the race.
“Super consistent, that’s the key of the year and what it has been on points and everything,” he told Frontstretch post-race. “Overall like I said, pretty good year. We just need an extra bit to try to get that win which would be important for us.”
3. Lavar Scott
Scott started in 26th and impressively wheeled his No. 6 Chevrolet through the field all the way up to a third-place result. Much like his teammate Perez, Scott now has a five-race top-10 streak, with three of those in the top five.
Head-to-head, the Rev duo have faced each other 24 times in ARCA…
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