Connor Zilisch and William Sawalich are 1-2 in ARCA Menards Series East points and have combined to win 20 of the 32 races in the three ARCA series [62.5%]. So in the ARCA Menards Series and East combination race at Bristol Motor Speedway, everyone else ought to say a prayer to have a chance, right?
Haha, it’s not a bad idea.
All Zilisch must do to win the East title is finish 11th. Thirty-four drivers are entered, so there is the possibility Zilisch could finish below that threshold. In the 2023 ARCA Bristol race, Zilisch’s predecessor Luke Fenhaus wrecked out and finished 29th. Furthermore, Zilisch has never been to Bristol before.
But all Zilisch has done is succeed – just ask the NASCAR Xfinity Series field at Watkins Glen International. He has four wins in seven East races, five wins in seven national races and zero finishes outside the top 10.
“We are ready,” Zilisch’s team Pinnacle Racing Group posted on its social media channels about its readiness for clinching the season title [it leads East owner points too].
Sawalich’s No. 18 team has won three straight races at Bristol, with Sawalich going to victory lane there last year. In that race, he won the pole and led the final nine laps en route to the triumph.
The No. 18 team also holds a 66-point lead in the main series owner standings, so another stout performance will bolster those odds.
“Some kids have talent and William was one of those,” team owner Joe Gibbs told MAVTV. “It’s rare to have people with that kind of talent, but to be quite truthful, with William, everybody saw it and everybody was after him.”
Zilisch and Sawalich are two of the five drivers who will run double duty on Thursday (Sept. 19) at Bristol, with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race following the ARCA race.
Beyond Zilisch and Sawalich, who else will have a fighting chance of winning at Bristol? After all, Jesse Love led 158 laps there last year but came up 0.412 seconds short of capturing the trophy.
Zilisch’s PRG teammate Corey Day will be fast. He solidly ran inside the top 10 in his series debut at Salem Speedway before he wrecked out. Day will drive the No. 82 with former NASCAR Cup Series crew chief Greg Ives atop the pit box. Ives has never won at Bristol before either, so a win would be special for both men.
This ARCA race is also unique because all three division points leaders are entered in the field. Zilisch looks to clinch the East title, Andres Perez leads the national tour points and Tyler Reif is atop the West standings.
Rev Racing is bringing three cars to the racetrack instead of its normal two. Perez and Lavar Scott both competed at Bristol last year too.
Perez has two starts there: a seventh and third, respectively.
“We performed really well here last season,” he said in a team release. “We have three more chances at a win this season and earning it at Bristol, after being close last season, would be amazing. The entire team is working hard in the shop and I’m looking forward to Thursday.”
After starting 11th, Scott finished 11 laps down in 17th last year due to mechanical woes. Yet he enters Bristol with four straight top 10s as well as six top fives and seven top 10s on his eight-race ARCA short track record.
“Last season we could have been more competitive at BMS and I am going into Thursday confident we will be better and compete up front,” Scott added. “This season our luck has kept us from winning, however short tracks have been where we thrive, and I am excited to see how we do.”
The team’s third entry, the No. 9, is in its second race of competition. Logan Misuraca will make her season debut with Clean Harbors on board the Chevrolet.
Although she has only three career national series starts, she finished seventh in the 2022 East race at fellow short track New Smyrna Speedway.
“Daytona’s [International Speedway] always my favorite, but my dream track was always Bristol,” she said in a Frontstretch Grassroots YouTube video. “And people probably saw on my TikTok page, when I saw Bristol for the first time, I started crying. I screamed bloody murder. I was crying in my car while eating a McDonalds hash brown.
“And, I don’t know, it’s just always been one of those tracks that it just takes your breath away seeing it. But we did a bunch of sim training and I feel prepared in that asset, and with NASCAR Racing Experience we actually did rides about a month ago. So that at least gave me the physical feel of the racetrack, so that kind of calmed some nerves for me. I thought it was extremely intimidating to look at, but once you drive it’s like, ‘OK it’s not that bad.’”
Lastly, Reif is making his second national division start of 2024 and the third of his career. He’s driving for Sigma Performance Services, which finished fifth in the series’ most recent race at Watkins Glen.
“We’re thrilled to have Tyler in the car at Bristol,” SPS team owner Joe Farre said in a team release. “We’ve been watching him for a long time and his dedication, focus, and racecraft have been impressive to watch this season. We’re confident that he’ll deliver another strong performance at Bristol.”
You want to win Bristol, though; know what you must do? Qualify up front, specifically inside the top 10. In the 17 national and East races there, only once has the winner started outside the top 10. Eleven winners have started inside the top five, 12 have started on the front row and nine have started on the pole.
There’s a 45-minute practice session followed by qualifying. Less than three hours after qualifying, drivers will strap in for the 200-lap affair.
And you should watch it. It’ll take place on Thursday, Sept. 19 at 5 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1.
Mark Kristl joined Frontstretch at the beginning of the 2019 NASCAR season. He is the site's ARCA Menards Series editor. Kristl is also an Eagle Scout and a proud University of Dayton alum.