Young racer Sawalich delivers on home turf, drives closer to NASCAR dream

Race car driver and Eden Prairie native William Sawalich had a lot on his agenda when he returned to his home state to race at Elko Speedway in Elko New Market. There was the event at Starkey, his main sponsor, where he met Starkey employees and unveiled his new car for when he moves up to a bigger racing series this fall. (Sawalich’s father, Brandon, is Starkey’s president and CEO.) There was the meet-and-greet and autograph signing with fans at the Eden Prairie Menards. Then there was the main reason he was back home: to race in the ARCA Menards Series Shore Lunch 250 on Saturday night, August 3.

He had redemption on his mind.

In last year’s race at Elko Speedway, Sawalich was spun out by another car. He recovered to finish the race, but managed to only finish second. That was a disappointment, he said. He did go on to win the ARCA Menards Series East season championship last year, but still, he wanted that win at the track where he started.

When asked the night before this year’s race what winning there would mean, Sawalich was clear.

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“Absolutely, it’s more special, and obviously getting the win for the home crowd. That’s probably the coolest thing,” he said.

A photo finish

Sawalich got the win this year, but that doesn’t mean it was an easy ride. 

He was spun out again, this time on lap 150 of the 250-lap race. He had led almost the entire race to that point. He got to the front again, was bumped (but not spun out) with about a lap to go and crossed the finish line as part of a three-wide photo finish, his car turned about 45 degrees to the left.

Sawalich beat the runner-up by about one-hundredth of a second, the third-place finisher by about four-hundredths of a second in one of the closest finishes in ARCA Series history.

“That was as close as you could get, for sure,” he said by phone after the race.

“That was honestly one of the bigger goals of the year, to win that race in my home state,” he continued.

Sawalich started his racing career driving quarter midget cars at nine years old at Little Elko, the shorter track that is on the grounds of the longer Elko Speedway. He moved to the bigger track after a few years. 

And in a couple of months, he’ll be on even bigger tracks.

New series, tougher test

The day before this year’s race at his home track, Sawalich had another piece of business that needed his attention. He met with employees at Starkey’s Eden Prairie campus and unveiled his car for the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Sawalich will race at the last three 2024 stops of that series, starting the last week of October. That’s just one step below stock car racing’s top tier, the NASCAR Cup Series. That means racing against better competition on longer tracks. (One lap around Elko Speedway is three-eighths of a mile; one lap around Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida, where Sawalich will race on October 26, is about a mile and a half.)

He’s looking forward to it — and he’s been getting ready.

“I’ve been preparing for it pretty much this whole year and done simulator time (and) sitting in on the post-race meetings and just doing a lot of prep just for those three races,” Sawalich said.

“The fields are a lot denser,” Sawalich continued, talking about the competition in the Xfinity Series. “Fifteen cars could probably win that race, so I mean that’s definitely going to be a big change. Everyone’s going to be aggressive through the field, everyone’s going to want every little spot.”

In addition to Homestead-Miami, he will also race in the Xfinity Series at Martinsville, Virginia and Phoenix, Arizona.