ARCA Menards Series West at Sonoma Raceway:
General Tire 200 Post-race Notes
- William Sawalich (No. 18 Starkey Toyota) dominated the day, leading practice, winning the General Tire Pole Award in qualifying, and then leading every lap in Friday’s General Tire 200 at Sonoma Raceway. It was Sawalich’s fourth career ARCA Menards Series West victory.
- Despite leading every lap, Sawalich had to come from third entering the final turn of the final lap to win. Sawalich and Alon Day (No. 25 JSSI Toyota) made contact in turn two after taking the green on the final restart and dropped to fourth place. Sawalich and Jack Wood (No. 16 Weyerhauser / James Hardie / TimberTech Chevrolet) made contact exiting turn 3A and Wood went spinning into the dirt, which allowed Sawalich to close on the battle for the lead between second-place Day and leader Christian Eckes (No. 19 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet). Eckes drove deep into turn 11 and pushed up the race track, taking Day up the track with him. That opened the door for Sawalich to sneak past both, and despite bouncing off the wall himself exiting turn 12, Sawalich won the drag race to the finish line by 0.066 seconds, the closest stock car finish in Sonoma Raceway’s history.
- Eckes, the 2019 ARCA Menards Series champion, finished second in his ARCA Menards Series West debut. It marks the fifth time Bill McAnally Racing has finished second at Sonoma Raceway without a victory: 2006 with Brian Ickler, 2008 with Eric Holmes, 2021 with Dylan Lupton, and 2022 with Colby Howard.
- Alon Day finished third in his second ARCA Menards Series platform start of the season and his West debut. The four-time NASCAR Whelen Euro Series champion finished second two weeks ago in the ARCA Menards Series race at Lime Rock Park.
- ARCA Menards Series West championship points leader Trevor Huddleston (No. 50 High Point Racing / Racecar Factory Ford) scored his best career road course finish in fourth. His previous best road course finish was seventh in 2024 at Portland International Raceway. Huddleston has five top-five finishes in six starts, the most of any West driver.
- Tyler Reif (No. 24 Vegas Fasteners / Sigma Performance Services Chevrolet) finished fifth, his second consecutive top-five finish at Sonoma Raceway. Reif finished second last year driving for Central Coast Racing; the winner Sam Mayer was driving the same Joe Farre-owned Chevrolet that Reif drove in 2025. Reif is second in the ARCA Menards Series East championship with four race remaining.
- Eric Nascimento (No. 4 Impact Transport / Phillips Bros. Fab Toyota) finished sixth in his first ARCA Menards Series West start of the season. It was his second career top-ten finish on a road course and bettered his career-best on a road course, seventh at Sonoma in 2022, by one position.
- Sprint car ace Corey Day (No. 7 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet) finished a career-best seventh on his road course debut. He finished tenth in the West opener at Phoenix Raceway in March.
- Kyle Keller (No. 71 Jan’s Towing / Jan’s Racing Ford) recovered from running out fuel with four laps remaining to finish eighth. Keller has finished in the top ten in every race this season except at Phoenix; he remains third in the series standings but drops to 15 points out of the lead.
- Tanner Reif (No. 13 Central Coast Cabinets / Vegas Fasteners Ford) finished ninth, his fifth top-ten finish of the season. He remains second in the West championship standings, 14 points out of the lead.
- Jeff Anton (No. 8 Deer Park Recycling Chevrolet) finished tenth in his first West appearance since he finished 19th in a East / West combination race at Iowa Speedway in 2009.
- Rodd Kneeland (No. 68 Rodd’s Renovations Chevrolet) and Robbie Kennealy (No. 1 Jan’s Towing / Jan’s Racing Ford) were uninjured in a grinding crash that put the race under the red flag at lap 53. Kneeland, who was on the lead lap in 15th at the time, made contact with the lapped car of Eric Johnson, Jr. (No. 5 Sherwin-Williams Toyota) entering turn one and pounded the outside wall. Kennealy had no where to go and made contact with Kneeland’s car, shearing the right rear wheel off his car. Dale Quarterley (No. 32 Van Dyk Recycling Solutions Chevrolet) was also involved in a crash off turn 4A at lap 27 while racing inside the top five; he was also uninjured in the accident.
- Sawalich’s 70.246 mph winning average speed is a stand-alone ARCA Menards Series West track record at Sonoma Raceway.
- The next race for the ARCA Menards Series West is the NAPA Auto Care 150 at Tri-City Raceway in West Richland, Washington on Saturday, August 9. The race will be streamed live on FloRacing starting at 10:30 pm ET/7:30 pm PT. Live timing and scoring data and live race audio will be available at ARCARacing.com.
About ARCA
The Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA), founded in 1953 by John and Mildred Marcum in Toledo, Ohio, and acquired by NASCAR in April 2018, is the leading grassroots stock car sanctioning body in the United States. Bridging the gap between NASCAR’s top three national touring series and weekly and regional tour racing all across the country, the organization sanctions over 100 races per year in the ARCA Menards Series, ARCA Menards Series East, ARCA Menards Series West, ASA STARS National Tour, ASA CRA Super Series, ASA Midwest Tour, ASA Southern Super Series plus weekly racing at Toledo and Flat Rock Speedways. For more information about ARCA visit , or follow ARCA on Facebook (@ARCARacing) and Twitter (@ARCA_Racing).
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