After some late-race drama, William Sawalich found victory lane in the ARCA Menards Series West for the second time in 2025, and for the second consecutive year at the Portland International Raceway.
In addition, it was Joe Gibbs Racing’s third West victory of the year. Two came with Sawalich behind the wheel, while one was with Brent Crews driving at Phoenix Raceway.
Sawalich was shoved off line on the final restart by second-place finisher Thomas Annunziata, and after a spirited battle for much of the final 10 laps, Sawalich returned the favor. As the two were working around a lapped car, Sawalich put the bumper to Annunziata in turn 12, spinning him around with under five laps to go, and cruising to victory from there.
“Just good, hard racing there,” Sawalich told FloRacing. “That lapped car slowed us up, that momentum didn’t work out, and he got the worst end of it.”
Annunziata recovered to finish second, with Alon Day coming across the line in third. Greg Biffle got around Trevor Huddleston in the final turn to finish fourth. Huddleston finished fifth.
“We were fast, we were just not quite with the Joe Gibbs car yet,” Annunziata told FloRacing. “It was hard racing at the end, I have nothing to say. I would probably do the same thing in that situation.”
Kyle Keller finished sixth, with Dale Quarterley in seventh, Caleb Shrader in eighth, Eric Johnson Jr. in ninth and Tanner Reif in 10th, rounding out the remaining top 10 finishers.
The opening lap of the race proved to be an uneventful one. Sawalich was able to pull ahead of Annunziata quickly, and despite a few cars getting off track into the first set of turns, the field largely single filed out in an uneventful manner.
By lap 10, Sawalich kept his commanding lead over fellow leaders Annunziata and Day, but began to expand the gap lap by lap. The battles behind the leaders, however, weren’t as dull early. Christian Eckes, Quarterley and Huddleston each started in the rear of the field, working their way into the top 10 before the end of the first 10 laps. Quarterley’s stay in the top 10 didn’t last long, as he went for a spin just moments after making the pass for position.
The field was brought back together on lap 15, as David Smith went for a spin in turn 1 and stalled, forcing ARCA officials to throw the first caution of the day.
The subsequent restart looked a lot more competitive than the first, with Day and Annunziata keeping Sawalich closer in their sights than the first go around. However, the ultimate result was the same, with Sawalich ultimately pulling away by the time the field worked back around to begin the next lap.
With tire conservation being the name of the game, as no unnecessary tire changes were allowed in the race, the middle portions of the race were largely uneventful. Sawalich paced Annunziata at a manageable gap, and the only driver that really made up track position was Huddleston.
When the second caution of the race flew for the second time, Eckes’ car began billowing smoke out of the rear end. The car had shown puffs of smoke the entire race, as well as in practice, but the issue seemingly got worse. The No. 19 spent time on pit road with the hood up, as the team attempted to diagnose the issue. By the time the field doubled back up for the restart, Eckes was a lap down and running outside of the top 10.
After a lengthy cleanup during the caution, the field took the green flag with roughly 20 laps to go. Annunziata didn’t waste time on the third restart of the day, putting the bumper to Sawalich and forcing him off track in turn 4. Annunziata and Day both got by, forcing Sawalich back to third.
Sawalich caught Annunziata once again with 10 laps to go, and utilized a lapped car down the frontstretch, pulling alongside Annunziata into turn one. Sawalich overcooked turn 4 shortly later, allowing Annunziata to pull away by a few car lengths with under 10 laps to go.
Coming to five laps to go, Sawalich took another swipe at Annunziata, again coming up short. Annunziata took his line away, forcing Sawalich to lose a few more car lengths on the lead.The next time by into the turn 1 chicane, Annunziata missed the turn, but shoved Sawalich off track while accelerating towards turn 4.
While coming back to three laps to go, the leaders worked around Smith, and in the process of doing so, Sawalich returned the favor and put the bumper to Annunziata. Annunziata found himself off track in the final set of turns, allowing Sawalich to pull away to an unrecoverable gap.
The move was all that Sawalich needed to win, claiming his second West win of 2025, and his second consecutive win at Portland.
Looking ahead on the ARCA schedule, the West series will endure a pair of off weeks before returning to the track on Sept. 13 at All American Speedway. That race will be broadcasted on FloRacing. As for the national division, they take to the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds Sunday evening, airing on FOX Sports 1 at 8:30 p.m. ET.
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