TOLEDO, Ohio – The checkered flag has flown on the ARCA Menards Series’ season.
History was made in a couple of different ways.
Mexican Andres Perez won the title, becoming the first foreign-born driver to do so. Moreover, he became the second-ever winless champion.
Likewise, his Rev Racing teammate Lavar Scott made history with his Rookie of the Year Award, becoming the first minority driver to capture such honors.
Yes, William Sawalich won the race for his ninth win of the season en route to being the main contributor to Joe Gibbs Racing’s owner’s championship.
With all 20 races completed, where do drivers stand in the final power rankings of 2024?
1. William Sawalich
If, and no official announcement has been made, Toledo Speedway was Sawalich’s final career ARCA race, he went out with a bang.
He posted the fastest time in practice, won the pole, led 192 of the 200 laps and won by 2.1 seconds. Even though his competitors certainly tried to best him, he was not deterred.
“Yeah for sure, that was an interesting restart,” Sawalich told Frontstretch post-race about the last two restarts. “I got a shot in the back. We had an even launch but I got a shot in the back in turn 1, so kind of got me up the racetrack and the No. 2 [Perez] thought he could sneak down to my inside on the rumbles. Definitely didn’t think it would work. Then he just ran out of room and kind of lost it and Gio [Ruggiero] did a good job. He held it on the top cleanly. I like racing with him, he’s a good clean racer. It was a good last restart.
“On the initial last restart, I got a good jump on the No. 20. Just had momentum. Got through [turns] 1 and 2 and had a good drive down the backstretch and was able to clear myself in [turn] 3.”
Sawalich topped the series in wins, poles and laps led en route to a 10th-place finish in the standings, despite missing six races due to being under age 18. For all those accolades this season including his Toledo triumph, Sawalich finishes the season atop the power rankings.
2. Andres Perez
Blame the system, not the player.
Perez did everything he needed to do to win the championship. He was remarkably consistent with the most top 10s, he had the most lead-lap finishes and he had the best average finish of all series regulars.
No, he did not win a race. At Toledo, it was obvious he wanted to win badly. He…
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