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When you are a rookie that has only led a total of 4 laps starting on the pole and jumping out to an early lead is key. That is just what William Sawalich did in his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18.
Early on in the race the leaders clicked off many green flag laps with the front of the field spread out mostly in single file, while most of the passing action took place deeper in the field. Sawalich remained up front unchallenged early with point leader No. 7 Justin Allgaier and No. 21 Austin Hill in his rear-view mirror through a majority of the first stage.
The first caution fell with 10 laps to go in the first stage when Kyle Sieg No. 28 got into No. 4 Parker Retzlaff sending Parker into the wall.
Wholesale pit stops would ensue changing the running order as the race closed in on the end of stage one. Several drivers would skip pitting in hopes of collecting stage points including No. 10 Daniel Dye, No. 20 Brandon Jones, No. 51 Jeremy Clements and No. 27 Jeb Burton.
The restart would come with 4 laps to go to the end of stage one. Old tires did not pay off for many of the teams that did not pit as with fresh tires like Justin Allgaier first car out on new tires powered by most of them to take the stage one win when the No.17 Corey Day spun late in the stage bringing it to an early end.
Thanks to quick pit work by his crew, Justin Allgaier would get out first and jump out to the early lead in stage two followed by Austin Hill. The stage would go yellow quickly after No. 31 Blaine Perkins would get a tap in the rear sending him through the infield and mowing a lot of grass.
As passing was at such a premium under green, restarts were starting to get wild with the cars being three and four wide. With the sun setting and the lights coming on teams would have to make changes to keep up with a changing track as it cooled down after dark.
Stage two became the Justin Allgaier show as he took off and hid. Austin Hill who was so strong early slowly dropped back through the field eventually finishing 7th. Showing how much easier it is to drive in clean air than in the pack William Sawalich became mired mid pack for all of stage two.
As is said so many times pit stops can make or break a race and with No. 00 Sheldon Creed coming out for on top to start stage three. Stage three would go under caution as quickly as it began as a result of a huge as a big crash behind the top cars on the restart. This wreck would end the hopes of a victory for several competitors including No.16 Christian Ekes, No. 20 Brandon Jones, No. 11 Josh Williams, No. 42 Anthony Alfredo and four other cars. Several drivers were upset accusing Sheldon Creed of brake checking just prior to the start.
On this which would be the final restart it looked like the drivers decided it was time to go. Bump drafts, side drafts were starting to be the order of the day. But once the field became strung out again and back to single file and passing once again became a premium.
Connor Zillisch would become the 7th leader of the race with 66 laps remaining holding on for 18 laps until No. 20 of Brandon Jones would lead for a short lived 3 laps until Justin Allgaier reclaim the lead and eventual victory.
Leading a race early is no guarantee that you will have a good finish. Losing spots on pit stops and getting mired back in the field plus a rookie mistake late, William Sawalich spun into the back stretch grass putting him at the back of the field. William would go behind the wall on lap 163 putting him deep in the final standing.
When Allgaier reclaimed the lead on lap 141 he had a mirror full of JR Motorsports teammate No. 88 Connor Zilisch. In stage three JR Motorsports had five of the top ten cars in the race.
The potent No. 7 would take command of this race never to be challenged for the top spot.
As the race wound down Allgaier would start to lap car after car on his way to his 28th career win putting him 9th on the all time win list . He would lead 101 laps more than any other driver in the field. The win would also keep Justin at the top of the Xfinity point standings.
