William Sawalich youngest winner of All America 400 at Nashville Fairgrounds
At 17 William Sawalich became the youngest winner of the All America 400 by taking the lead with 88 laps and staying in front the rest of the way.
WIlliam Sawalich won the 39th running of the Curb Records/Big Machine Vodka Spiked Coolers All America 400 at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway Sunday. At 17 Sawalich became the youngest winner in the history of the race.
Sawalich is one month past his 17th birthday. NASCAR Cup Series Cup champion Chase Elliott won the race in 2013 when he was one month shy of his 18th birthday and fellow NASCAR driver Joe Hunter Nemechek won in 2014 four months after he turned 17.
Sawalich, a Minnesota native, beat Derek Thorn by 5.070 seconds to the finish line in the 300-lap race, which serves as the finale of the American Speed Association Stars national tour with about 5,000 fans in attendance.
Michael House from Columbia was third 6.132 seconds behind Sawalich.
Willie Allen of Bon Aqua was on the pole and finished fifth in the 34-car field race.
Sawalich earned the winners’ share of the $20,000 purse along with a trophy guitar. He was running in the back of the top 10 for much of the early part of the race before a massive crash on a restart took out six cars including three of the leaders Bubba Pollard, Stephen Nasse and Jeremy Doss.
A trail of fluid left on the track by Cole Butcher’s damaged front end caused the crash on turns one and two. NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series star Ty Majeski was in the lead before the wreck.
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Sawalich took the lead on the restart following the crash and stayed in front the remaining 88 laps giving Donnie Wilson Motorsports the win. Wilson won the All America 400 in 2017.
Sawalich wasn’t as fortunate to escape an accident in 2022 in the All America 400.
“It’s great to finally do this,” Sawalich told Race America. “Last year we came up just short. We led 50 laps at the end and then got caught in a late race three-car accident. That was pretty cool to come out of (the multi-car crash Sunday) clean and I’m honestly really thankful for that.”
Sawalich was coming off an ARCA Menards West win Friday at Phoenix Raceway.
Other local drivers included Hunter Wright from Mt. Juliet, who finished 17th, and Jackson Boone from Franklin, who broke a rear axle on lap 96.
The race was the last at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway for the 2023 season.
The complete results are at All America 400 results.
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.
2023-11-06 02:10:55
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