Joe Gibbs Racing recently announced that William Sawalich will drive the No.18 Toyota GR Supra full-time in the upcoming NASCAR Xfinity Series. It will mark the driver's rookie season in the second tier after he made the switch to racing stock cars in 2022.
What did William Sawalich have to say?
William Sawalich is an 18-year-old first-generation driver who hails from Eden Prairie, Minnesota. His dream is to become the first driver from the state to secure victories in all three NASCAR series including the Craftsman Truck, Xfinity, and Cup. After signing with Joe Gibbs Racing, he is now one step closer to fulfilling his dream.
In a statement released by JGR, Sawalich said, "I am honored to be driving the No. 18 full-time in the Xfinity Series next year […] It has been really cool to drive for Joe Gibbs Racing, and I feel like I have developed so much as a driver over the past two years. I still have a lot to learn, especially with moving to a new series, so I am looking forward to taking this next step in racing.”
Early racing days of William Sawalich
The young driver started racing at the age of nine and entered in quarter midget racing. In 2020, he drove in Legend Cars and registered multiple top-five finishes. He also won the INEX Young Lions State Championship back in Minnesota and to top it, an INEX-sanctioned Legends division feature race at Elko Speedway.
A year later, he then moved to Late Model and secured his first win at Carteret County Speedway. With this, he had seven top finishes and a pole position at Orange County Speedway. He also had two fastest laps at two tracks.
Before making a switch to stock car racing in 2022, Sawalich had joined multiple series. He won fourteen races in the ARCA Midwest Tour and CARS Tour.
William Sawalich's career in stock car racing
In 2023, William Sawalich drove for Joe Gibbs Racing in the ARCA Menards Series and Tricon Garage in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. He secured 11 wins, had seven pole positions, 33 top-fives, and 40 top-ten finishes that year. But, the biggest achievement of them all was winning the 2023 ARCA East Championship and with that, securing wins in all three ARCA platform divisions.
He did a double by winning the ARCA East Championship again earlier this year. He beat Connor Zilisch, who he had shared some great fights with on the track.
Sawalich had 13 starts in the Craftsman Truck series. He registered only one pole position at Talladega Superspeedway and had three top-10 finishes. He also races in the Late Models under the Kevin Harvick Inc.
The 18-year-old will be paired with Taylor Gray at JGR, who will drive the No.54 Toyota GR Supra.
