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ARCA Power Rankings: William Sawalich, Andres Perez Take Home Trophies from Toledo

TOLEDO, Ohio – The checkered flag has flown on the ARCA Menards Series’ season.

History was made in a couple of different ways.

Mexican Andres Perez won the title, becoming the first foreign-born driver to do so. Moreover, he became the second-ever winless champion.

Likewise, his Rev Racing teammate Lavar Scott made history with his Rookie of the Year Award, becoming the first minority driver to capture such honors.

See also
Rev Teammates Leave Toledo as ARCA Champ & Rookie of the Year

Yes, William Sawalich won the race for his ninth win of the season en route to being the main contributor to Joe Gibbs Racing’s owner’s championship.

With all 20 races completed, where do drivers stand in the final power rankings of 2024?

1. William Sawalich

If, and no official announcement has been made, Toledo Speedway was Sawalich’s final career ARCA race, he went out with a bang.

He posted the fastest time in practice, won the pole, led 192 of the 200 laps and won by 2.1 seconds. Even though his competitors certainly tried to best him, he was not deterred.

“Yeah for sure, that was an interesting restart,” Sawalich told Frontstretch post-race about the last two restarts. “I got a shot in the back. We had an even launch but I got a shot in the back in turn 1, so kind of got me up the racetrack and the No. 2 [Perez] thought he could sneak down to my inside on the rumbles. Definitely didn’t think it would work. Then he just ran out of room and kind of lost it and Gio [Ruggiero] did a good job. He held it on the top cleanly. I like racing with him, he’s a good clean racer. It was a good last restart.

“On the initial last restart, I got a good jump on the No. 20. Just had momentum. Got through [turns] 1 and 2 and had a good drive down the backstretch and was able to clear myself in [turn] 3.”

Sawalich topped the series in wins, poles and laps led en route to a 10th-place finish in the standings, despite missing six races due to being under age 18. For all those accolades this season including his Toledo triumph, Sawalich finishes the season atop the power rankings.

See also
Andres Perez Wins ARCA Title, Sawalich Earns Victory at Toledo

2. Andres Perez

Blame the system, not the player.

Perez did everything he needed to do to win the championship. He was remarkably consistent with the most top 10s, he had the most lead-lap finishes and he had the best average finish of all series regulars.

No, he did not win a race. At Toledo, it was obvious he wanted to win badly. He likely would not have made his dive bomb pass attempt on the leader on the lap 181 restart without both having locked up the championship plus a strong desire to win.

Perez still wound up sixth even after spinning out.

“What a way to finish,” he said post-race. “This race was really fun. We had a shot I think. We were decent speed and were fighting up front. Just tried a risky move. It didn’t work. But that’s what we had to do. We wanted that win.

“But still, I’m super happy with the championship. It’s a result of the whole year of how great it was and, yeah, super happy.”

For the second time in three years, Rev Racing has won the driver’s championship. Perez is an ARCA champion. Congratulations to them.

3. Lavar Scott

My preseason championship pick came up 41 points shy of the title. At Toledo, he finished fifth, indicative of the speed in his No. 6 Chevrolet.

Toledo also was a prime example of Scott’s impressive second half of the season. That portion featured nine of his 15 top 10s and seven of his 11 top fives.

“Obviously, how an ARCA car drives is a bit different from what I’ve driven in the past,” Scott told Frontstretch. “Obviously I come from a bit of dirt stuff. Feedback, what makes these cars better and makes the cars worse in different situations. And then, I feel like every year I’m going to move up I’m going to learn new tracks. And this year was the road course stuff, the ARCA cars on dirt. It’s just kind of so diverse with the schedule. It made it so much fun.”

4. Kris Wright

Kris Wright finished third in points. He completed the third-most laps, he had the third-best finishing position of full timers and therefore wound up 38 points behind Scott and 40 ahead of fourth-place Toni Breidinger.

At Toledo, Wright momentarily posted the fastest time in practice before Sawalich quickly retook that spot. He started third and finished third.

Third place in Venturini Motorsports equipment is good. It’s not great. Especially when the organization won the 2023 owner and drivers title and zero series regulars won this year.

Wright told Frontstretch that he does not know which series he will be competing in 2025. In his first full-time ARCA campaign, he logged eight top fives, nine top 10s and a season-best [and career-best] second place at Talladega Superspeedway.

Wright’s performance earns him the fourth spot in these power rankings. Honestly, it’d be neat to see him return to VMS next year. See what they can do together and how much improvement Wright would have in his first time running back-to-back years full time in the same series with the same organization.

See also
Trevor Huddleston Dominates ARCA West at All American Speedway

5. Connor Zilisch

Zilisch did not compete at Toledo – bummer there for sure, because we know he would have been a contender – but he was one of the five best drivers in ARCA in 2024.

His year, including his full-time ARCA Menards Series East season, came out to nine wins, 15 top fives, 15 top 10s and 745 laps led in 16 races [counting the combination races as one national plus one East].

In the national tour, Zilisch racked up the second-most wins, poles, laps led and his 4.4 average finish is second-best of the top 20 in points.

Despite a part-time campaign, Zilisch showcased his talent en route to a fifth-place outcome in these rankings and a promotion to a full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series ride with JR Motorsports.

Paint Scheme of the Race

After winning the pole to begin the season at Daytona International Speedway, Willie Mullins wrecked out to a 28th-place result. Various things happened in his life and he did not return to the racetrack, as a driver, until Toledo.

Before practice, he talked to fellow Fast Track Racing driver Tim Monroe about how to drive the car at the 0.5-mile short track.

Once on track, his No. 10 Toyota stood out, especially in a field where the paint schemes stood out, especially compared to the series’ previous race at Kansas Speedway.

Mullins’ car, complete with Big Willie Style on the name rail, was easily spotted with its black color and decals. As a result, Mullins claims the Toledo Paint Scheme of the Race Award.

In his second start of the year, he was competitive too.

He ran inside the top 10 throughout the race and fought to stay on the lead lap. Thanks to contact from Christian Rose though, Mullins spun out coming to the checkered. He still crossed the line ninth, making my pre-race prediction of a top 10 correct. Hats off to Mullins; we’ll see him and the rest of the ARCA field at Daytona International Speedway on FOX – yes, big FOX – to begin 2025.

Frontstretch.com

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.