William Sawalich wins at Toledo Speedway; Andres Perez wins the ARCA Menards Series title on Saturday evening in the Owens Corning 200.
TOLEDO, Ohio — Oct. 5, 2024, was going to be Andres Perez’s day no matter how the Owens Corning 200 played out. The 19-year-old Rev Racing driver became the first Mexican-born ARCA Menards Series champion when he showed up to race Saturday at Toledo Speedway.
The race itself, though, belonged to William Sawalich.
William Sawalich Wins at Toledo; Andres Perez Wins the ARCA Menards Series Title
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver who secured his second consecutive ARCA Menards Series East championship last month, Sawalich won his ninth ARCA Menards Series (national) race of the season when he led all but a few laps on the northwestern Ohio half-mile. The 18-year-old’s nine victories in 2024 are a series-high, a number he accomplished in 14 starts.
Perez was one of the few drivers able to challenge Sawalich with restarts on Saturday. And it was an aggressive move on a restart with 19 laps to go that cost Perez a better starting position.
Perez restarted third on the inside lane behind Sawalich. With second-place Gip Ruggiero giving the No. 18 a fight, Perez took a chance with a dive inside to make it three wide. Perez, though, spun in the third and fourth turns upon making contact with Sawalich.
“We were second most of the race there; I was just trying the best to get that win,” Perez said. “We tried everything we could. Tried to be smart, obviously, But it didn’t work our way. But we worked hard every weekend to be in [this position]. I’m going to enjoy the moment and enjoy the championship. It was a great year. I’m so very thankful.”
The Owens Corning 200 Results
Sawalich only briefly lost the lead to Ruggiero in what was an otherwise complete performance. He started outside of Ruggiero on the final restart of the race with 13 laps to go and stormed back to the front for the closing laps.
“I definitely got a good jump,” Sawalich said of the last restart. “I can’t thank my guys enough. Just a good day overall, a good end of the year for us.”
Ruggiero finished second ahead of his Venturini Motorsports teammates Kris Wright in third and Brent Crews in fourth.
Lavar Scott, Perez’s Rev Racing teammate, finish fifth to close a season that saw him earn the series’ Bounty Rookie of the Year Award. He finished second to Perez in championship points with a similarly stellar season.
Perez finished sixth Saturday at Toledo. Then, it was Toni Breidinger in seventh, Cody Dennison in eighth, Willie Mullins in ninth and Christian Rose in tenth.