Sawalich, Young Guns Rule NASCAR O'Reilly Race at Rockingham

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. -- The series' name may have changed but its mission is still the same: The NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series is where names are made.

Three drivers led more laps in Saturday's NOAPS race at Rockingham Speedway than they had in any other race in the series, including William Sawalich.

Sawalich's No. 18 Soundgear Toyota led twice for a career-high 80 laps, including the final 79, to become the first Minnesota driver to win a national series race.

"It means everything. After a tough year and a tough to start to the year, my guys stuck behind me. it feels awesome to get it done here in front of a great crowd at Rockingham," Sawalich said.

Before Saturday, the most laps Sawalich had led in a single race was 37 laps led. Coincidentally, that was also Corey Day's previous-best.

Day won the pole and both stages and led 118 laps before a bad pit stop took his No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet out of the lead at lap 125.

After another slow pit stop, just after lap 166, Day was back to 12th and struggled with his handling. That motivated crew chief Adam Wall to bring him to pit road after another caution on lap 174.

With Day restarting 24th, Wall bet on the race staying green and other teams falling away on fuel strategy, while they stayed steady with enough fuel to possibly win.

That is, until a caution flew on lap 207.

Luckily, Day had jumped to 14th to put him in a position to get 10th at the finish. 

"I just got put behind there and just hard to dig ourselves out of a hole. My 17 guys still did a great job checking off things. For me, winning some stages was super cool and we kept the top-10 streak alive," Day said.

Day now has seven consecutive top-10 finishes. He is also fifth in points, 99 points above the Chase cutline, while Sawalich is 11th in points, 41 points above the cutline.

Unlike Day and Sawalich, Brent Crews has some work to do (-89 points to the cutline) but is on the right track to get there after missing four races due to his age.

The new 18-year-old led a career-high 30 laps after strong-arming teammate Sawalich on a lap 130 restart. While Sawalich got him back with a strong restart on lap 172, Crews held on to second.

Unfortunately, two older tires led to an issue with 35 laps to go that caused him to skid from second to 10th in seven laps and eventually pit road.

Crews finished 26th, two laps down. He earned seven stage points, grabbing points in each stage.

NASCAR O'REILLY AUTO PARTS SERIES AT ROCKINGHAM RACE RUNDOWN

One caution fell in the first stage, on lap 50 when Blake Lothian spun in turn one.

STAGE ONE TOP-10 (LAP 60): Corey Day, Taylor Gray, Brandon Jones, Justin Allgaier, William Sawalich, Jesse Love, Sammy Smith, Brent Crews, Rajah Caruth, Parker Retzlaff.

The only caution in the second stage fell on lap 95 when Jeremy Clements spun from eighth in turn one. He ultimately rebounded to earn stage points.

STAGE TWO TOP-10 (LAP 120): Day, Sawalich, Allgaier, Crews, Jones, Caruth, Retzlaff, Sheldon Creed, Jeremy Clements, Carson Kvapil.

The final stage saw three cautions: Lap 166 for Anthony Alfredo spinning in turn two, Lap 174 for Jeremy Clements crashing in turn two and Lap 207 for Cleetus McFarland spinning in turn four.

YouTube star McFarland finished 32nd, five laps down, in his NOAPS debut.

TOP-10 FINISHERS (LAP 250): William Sawalich, Brandon Jones, Justin Allgaier, Rajah Caruth, Carson Kvapil, Sheldon Creed, Taylor Gray, Parker Retzlaff, Ryan Sieg, Corey Day.

With three wins, an average finish almost a position better than the next-closest driver and stellar stage points, Justin Allgaier has a massive points lead after eight races.

NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Points Standings After Rockingham: