William Sawalich and Corey Heim led two Toyota top-two sweeps at Rockingham Speedway this weekend.
NASCAR
William Sawalich had a strong Toyota GR Supra in the first two stages but that really came to life during the final 79 laps as the Toyota driver drove away from the pack and earned his first NASCAR O’Reilly Series victory in his 42nd series start. Sawalich, who became the first driver from Minnesota to win a NASCAR race, led his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Brandon Jones to the line – the second straight Toyota 1-2 finish at Rockingham over the weekend. Taylor Gray (seventh) made it three Supras in the top-10.
“It means everything,” said Sawalich. “Honestly, tough year last year and tough start to the year this year. These boys mean everything to me. They were here with me through everything and my family. Gosh, it feels good to get it done here in Rockingham, in front of an awesome crowd. Thank you to everyone for coming out. Our SoundGear GR Supra was on rails today. Good in stage one and stage two, and obviously amazing in clean air.”
- William Sawalich
In Friday’s Truck Series race, Corey Heim dominatated once again, leading 178 of 200 laps. Heim encountered issues late and had to battle his teammate Kaden Honeycutt to the line to earn his second straight race win and 25th of his career. The win scored his team a $100k bonus as part of the Triple Truck Challenge, and allows him to run for $500k at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday night.
“I felt like I didn’t push it any harder than any previous run or do any more damage to the right front, but it was like all of a sudden with four to go, my truck started just – I had to turn more right down the straightaway to keep it straight,” said Heim. “My wheel was clocked at like 20 degrees to the right and it was chattering really bad in the corners, and I was like oh boy here we go, we’re going to lose this one in the worst way possible, but it hung in there and I just had to use a couple of laps trucks to hold him off. Respect Kaden (Honeycutt) for racing me clean. I did what I had to do there at the end, but first win for Robinhood. First win in my J’s (Jordan Brand) – my race shoes. Thank you to Toyota, TRICON for having me back again. Really enjoy doing this. Definitely stressful at the end there.”
- Corey Heim
Honeycutt tied his career-best finish of second, and is now tied for the points lead, while Stewart Friesen put three Tundras in the top-five with a fifth-place finish.
ARCA
In Saturday’s ARCA Menards Series East race from Rockingham Speedway, all three Toyota drivers battled adversity, but Wesley Slimp was able to battle through it for a career-best fifth-place finish to lead Team Toyota. Tristan McKee was the race winner.
WHAT’S NEXT
It’s a triple-header in Thunder Valley this weekend as NASCAR tackles Bristol Motor Speedway. The NASCAR Truck Series kicks off the racing action on Friday, April 10, at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series runs on Saturday, April 11, at 7:30 p.m. ET on the CW, while the NASCAR Cup Series closes the weekend on Sunday, April 12, at 3:00 p.m. ET on FS1.
The ARCA Menards Series West is back in action at Tucson Speedway. FloRacing has the coverage starting at 9:00 a.m. ET on Saturday, April 11.