All American 400 Tickets On Sale Now
Sep 9, 2022
William Sawalich had led 474 consecutive laps in the PLM Tour when he saw the checkered flag fly in front of him in Saturday’s 100-lap feature at Tri-County.
That efficient streak came to an abrupt and shocking end after Sawalich was turned into the outside retaining wall by Jake Garcia coming off Turn 4; an outcome that left Garcia remorseful and disappointed in victory lane.
“I didn’t mean to wreck [Sawalich] there,” Garcia said. “We were leaning on each other and one of us was bound to spin. That’s kind of how it went and I apologize to [Sawalich]. We just have to move on to the next one now.”
Garcia had gradually been eating away at Sawalich’s lead during the final run to the finish before finally putting himself within striking distance of the lead.
Knowing Garcia had a faster car, Sawalich attempted to play defense so he could add a fifth consecutive victory and inch closer to Luke Fenhaus’s lead in the PLM Tour standings despite missing a race at Greenville-Pickens Speedway earlier this year.
Instead, Sawalich now finds himself with a much larger deficit to Fenhaus after the last lap crash, adding that he intends to keep the finish at Tri-County in the back of his mind the next time he sees Garcia on track.
“[Garcia] was on my bumper going into Turn 3,” Sawalich said. “He
pushed me into the corner, but I kind of got some distance between our
bumpers. I was trying to protect, but he stayed on my bumper and didn’t
lift. I wish I could have been raced better but we’ll see him in
Pensacola.”
The last thing Garcia wanted was to spin Sawalich out of the lead after observing his incredible run in the PLM Tour during the summer. Following a muted victory lane celebration, Garcia plans to turn his attention towards his remaining schedule in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and in Super Late Model competition.
“I was just trying to get [Sawalich] out of the way and beat him to the line by a fender,” Garcia said. “That’s typical when you stay on the corner and wait until the last lap, but now I’m just excited for Bristol next weekend in the Truck Series.”
CARS Pro Late Model Tour
Tri County Motor Speedway
September 9 2022
- 35g Jake Garcia
- 96 Luke Fenhaus
- 54 Matt Craig
- 35 Caden Kvapil
- 74 Ryan Moore
- 27 Lee Tissot
- 5b Gavan Boschele
- 49m Luke Morey
- 99 Stephen Leicht
- 6 William Sawalich – OUT
- 21 Tommy Neal -1
- 13 Austin MacDonald -18
- 1 Kody King – OUT
- 77 Logan Jones – OUT
- 8 Rusty Skewes – O
