For the second season in a row, the Pinnacle Racing Group has won at Iowa Speedway, this time with Connor Zilisch behind the wheel, winning his second race of the 2024 ARCA Menards Series season.
Zilisch held off three late-race restarts with heavy contact from William Sawalich en route to victory.
“I don’t know what I could’ve done differently, I feel like he just drove up the track and tried wrecking me, and he about tried right hooking me down the back straightaway,” Zilisch told FOX Sports, discussing Sawalich. “Anyway, I can’t say enough about my entire Pinnacle Racing Group team, it’s just a true team effort to get these wins.”
Sawalich ended up finishing second, doing so for the second consecutive season at Iowa. Gio Ruggiero, who battled a spin and a flat tire during the race, rallied to a third-place finish.
“Definitely a lot of effort, especially from the team,” Sawalich said to FOX Sports. “[Zilisch] jumped the start on one restart, lost a little bit of respect for him right there, but I tried everything I could.”
2014 ARCA champion Mason Mitchell, who returned to the series for the first time since 2018, crossed the line in fourth, with Andy Jankowiak finishing fifth, marking his best finish of the 2024 season to date.
Championship leader Andres Perez finished sixth, with Venturini Motorsports teammates Gus Dean and Toni Breidinger finishing seventh and eighth, respectively. To round out the top 10, Lavar Scott finished ninth, and Chris Tate finished 10th in his ARCA debut.
It didn’t take long for drama to start in the race. On the opening lap, pole sitter Ruggiero and Zilisch collided, sliding up the track in turn three, opening up the door for Sawalich, who snuck through to lead the first circuit. Ruggiero and Zilisch quickly recovered into the second and third positions, respectively.
Zilisch would soon chase Sawalich back down, getting side by side with the Joe Gibbs Racing driver for the lead in lapped traffic, but the first caution of the race would end the battle prematurely. That caution was due to Ryan Roulette, who went for a spin in turn four, making contact with the inside wall.
The second restart of the race wasn’t any less dramatic than the first. After a slow restart by Sawalich, he and Zilisch made contact heading into turn one, but Sawalich was able to retain the lead. However, another quick caution flew on lap 24, this time collecting championship contenders Amber Balcaen and Greg Van Alst as well as Marco Andretti. Balcaen and Van Alst were racing tightly in a pack before making contact entering turn three, spinning both drivers out and into the outside wall, ending both of their races. Andretti was able to drive away, but after a short time on pit road, he too went to the garage.
The third restart of the race proved to be just as racey as the first two, as Dean made a three-wide move on Zilisch and Ruggiero for second down the backstretch, though he failed to make the pass. Meanwhile, Sawalich was able to pull away from that battle quickly to retain his lead, but a handful of laps later, Zilisch was able to run him down, and pass him shortly before the lap 50 scheduled race break caution flew. When the yellow ultimately came out, it was still Zilisch in control of the race.
When the race restarted once again, Sawalich had a nose under Zilisch for the lead, but a strong run off of turn two kept Zilisch in control of the race. Further back in the pack, VMS teammates Dean and Kris Wright made contact exiting turn four, dropping both back numerous positions. After a lengthy green flag run, the caution flew again on lap 84 for Ruggiero, who spun from the third position in turn four, making slight contact with the outside wall. However, Ruggiero was able to stay on the lead lap.
The caution for Ruggiero’s spin set up a 12-lap run to the second race break, with Zilisch quickly pulling back out to the lead after the restart. There was no further competition for Zilisch for the duration of the run, as the 17-year-old led the field into the second race break caution on lap 100.
After the break, the race restarted with 45 laps to go, and Zilisch got off to his best restart of the race, clearing Sawalich for the lead by the time the field entered turn one. While Ruggiero made some noise in a three-wide battle further back in the field, the remainder of the restart was relatively calm. This allowed Zilisch to pull out and maintain a lead of roughly a second over Sawalich. However, another caution flew with 28 laps to go, as Wright and Cody Dennison wrecked together in turn one. It appeared Wright lost his car under Dennison, wrecking them both.
After a lengthy red flag for wreckage cleanup, the race restarted with 23 laps to go, and Zilisch and Sawalich made heavy contact on the restart. Zilisch and Sawalich both retained their positions in first and second, but they were both very sideways entering turn one, and again halfway down the backstretch.
The battle for the lead was not able to continue for much longer, however, as the caution flew once again for debris less than three laps after the restart.
After a quick caution period, the field took the green flag again, and it was another restart full of contact. Zilisch had the lead down the backstretch thanks to a push from Ruggiero on the restart, but a bump and run by Sawalich put the two side by side, battling for the lead and the win for several laps. Just as Zilisch seemed to pull away from Sawalich, thanks in part to help from a lapped car, the caution flew again, as Scott went for a spin. He was able to continue, not making any contact.
The Scott spin set up a restart with three laps to go once the field took the restart, and it was a tame on compared to the previous two. Zilisch was able to take the lead without contention by the time the field reached the backstretch, taking the win two laps later.
Next week, the ARCA Menards Series heads to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the Zinsser SmartCoat 150. The green flag for that race is scheduled to fly at 6 p.m. ET on Friday, June 21. FOX Sports 2 will carry the broadcast of the race that evening.
About the author
Josh joined Frontstretch in 2023 and currently covers the ARCA Menards Series. Born and raised in Missouri, Josh has been watching motorsports since 2005. He currently is studying for a Mass Communication degree at Lindenwood University
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