William Sawalich breaks the ice to win Rockingham

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. — After a winless rookie campaign a season ago, William Sawalich earns his first career NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series win at Rockingham Speedway.

Every first win carries weight, but for William Sawalich, Saturday’s victory at Rockingham Speedway meant something deeper than a checkered flag.

“It means everything,” the Joe Gibbs Racing driver said after climbing from his No. 18 Toyota Supra.”[We] obviously a tough year last year and a tough start to the season this year. It feels good to get it done here at Rockingham.”

After his final stage domination, his first win at Rockingham in the series foretells a steady NASCAR career.

It was a performance that put his name in distinguished company — joining Matt Kenseth, Ernie Irvan, Ward Burton, and David Pearson as drivers who earned their first series win at The Rock.

Still, it did not come without a few anxious moments.

What had been a comfortable gap of nearly three seconds over teammate Brandon Jones with 30 laps to go had shrunk to just eight tenths by the time Sawalich crossed the stripe which served as a reminder that nothing is guaranteed at this track.

After finishing third at Rockingham in 2025, the memory of what went wrong a year earlier was never far from his mind as the laps wound down.

“Funny enough, lap traffic took me out last year, so it was kind of running through my head a little bit,” he said.

But rather than let the nerves get to him, Sawalich leaned on the lessons he had studied. “I studied that race and calmed down…everything was fine.”

Second-placed Brandon Jones completed the first one-two of the season for JGR at the track as well.

Notable Results

Justin Allgaier failed to make it three consecutive wins in the O’Reilly Series but did extend his points lead to second to over 125 points after his third-placed finish.

Rajah Caruth put together a solid run to the finish and delivered a memorable moment with his daring three-wide pass for fourth.

In doing so, he punched his ticket as the final O’Reilly Series regular to qualify for the Dash 4 Cash bonus at Bristol next week.

Carson Kvapil kept his quietly impressive season rolling, he added another top-five to his ledger with a fifth-place finish for JR Motorsports.

Sheldon Creed brought home a solid sixth, though the race was far less kind to his teammate Sam Mayer. He was forced out early with engine trouble resulting in last which dropped him outside the top twelve in the standings.

Taylor Gray collected another top ten finish in seventh while rookie teammate Brent Crews ran inside the top-five for most of the event but came down pit road late under green with a tire issue to finish a disappointing 26th.

Parker Retzlaff further flexed his muscle at Rockingham after qualifying fourth, a career-best for his Viking Motorsports team. He finished the race in eighth after contending inside the top-ten the whole race.

Ryan Sieg finished ninth to aid in his Chase bid. He moved up to 14th in the standings, just two spots below the cutline.

Finally, Corey Day finished his career weekend in tenth. He came up short of the win but captured his first pole, first stage wins, and led a race-high 118 laps.

The full results of the NC Education Lottery 250 at Rockingham Speedway and where Cleetus McFarland finished is below.

Full Results