ARCA doubleheader weekend sees familiar faces in victory lane

The ARCA Menards Series concluded its doubleheader race weekend Sunday at The Springfield Mile dirt track.

It started Friday at Michigan International Speedway with No. 28 Connor Zilisch winning. It ended Sunday with No. 18 William Sawalich winning.

Commonly known as the ARCA Hell Tour in the garage, it’s not a weekend that many look forward to in the series.

The Michigan race saw its biggest field since 2018, with 24 cars. A notable entry making his big track debut was Connor Zilisch, who recently turned 18 years old, making him eligible to compete on bigger race tracks.

The current East Series points leader showed that it didn’t take him long to adjust to big tracks. Zilisch was third-quickest in practice.

The Michigan race saw three different leaders and four lead changes, between the No. 2 of Andres Perez de Lara, No. 18 Tanner Gray and Zilisch. The race didn’t see much attrition as the only two cautions were for the mandatory pit breaks.

Outside of the leaders, the only real big moment was when the No. 6 of Lavar Scott sustained heavy front-end damage after a left-front tire went down. He lost several laps and finished a disappointing 15th.

Zilisch led 39 laps and held off Perez for the final 15 laps to win his fourth ARCA Menards Series race of 2024.

Though Perez had yet to win, he extended his championship lead to over 50 points after Michigan.

Springfield wasn’t so nice, though.

Coming into Sunday’s Springfield 100, a couple of new and returning faces emerged in the field. Most notably the No. 18 was now William Sawalich. The No. 12 was now Tim Monrow, the No. 16 was Kelly Kovski and the No. 31 was Brayton Laster.

Venturini Motorsports’ five entries featured four women. Full-time drivers No. 22 Amber Balcaen and No. 25 Toni Breidinger and part-time drivers No. 20 Isabella Robusto and No. 55 Taylor Reimer wheeled their entries.

Joe Gibbs Racing had never won at a dirt track race coming into Sunday. It was clear the team was determined to get one.

Sawalich was quickest in both practice and qualifying by considerable margins.

Big championship implications played out with Andres Perez getting a hole in the radiator. That forced the team to change it, finishing 40 laps down in 15th place. He lost 10 points of his title lead.

Unlike Michigan, the attrition rate was high.

Five cautions coming out, most notably for the No. 03 of Alex Clubb getting wrecked by the No. 15 of Kris Wright going into turn one. And the No. 8 of Sean Corr spun on the last lap, sending the race into overtime.

In overtime, Sawalich cruised to his sixth win of 2024.

On the final restart, Isabella Robusto climbed to second with Taylor Reimer in 3rd. That marked the first time in ARCA history that two women finished in the top-3.

The ARCA Menards Series returns next weekend with the ARCA/ARCA East Combo race Sunday at the Milwaukee Mile.