Minnesota isn’t exactly known as a hotbed for racing. No driver born in the North Star State has won a NASCAR national touring race.
William Sawalich is hoping to change that soon.
Sawalich, currently the wheelman of Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 Toyota in the Xfinity Series, is 18 years old. He grew up an avid Chase Elliott fan and still roots for him from afar.
RELATED: Sawalich driver page
“You’re almost a little disconnected from [racing] because you’re not in the South, and there is one pavement oval in Minnesota — Elko,” Sawalich said of starting his racing journey in Minnesota. “That’s where I grew up racing. If you wanted to go to a different track, you had to go to Wisconsin. Minnesota is a little bit of a dry spot for racing, in general, but you can still be the fan you wanted to be in North Carolina.”
It was less than a decade ago that Sawalich began racing competitively. His parents, Brandon Sawalich, president of Starkey Hearing Technologies, and Stacy Sawalich, purchased a quarter midget for him. He quickly transitioned to Legends cars, where his passion for racing grew exponentially. He moved to North Carolina in 2021 to run late models before transitioning to NASCAR.
Once Sawalich moved south, he was paired with 20-time NASCAR national touring series winner Dennis Setzer and his Setzer Racing and Development program. The youngster credits the Setzers with a big part of his development.
“[The Setzers] started me off in late models, and late models were an important part of my career,” Sawalich said. “I can’t thank them enough for basically teaching me how to race.”
The feelings are mutual from the Setzers; Sawalich was the program’s inaugural driver.
“From his first time in the car, he showed incredible speed at just 14 years old,” Brandon Setzer, crew chief and driver coach at Setzer Racing and Development, said. “Speed came naturally for him, and he was always open to advice on how to be better. He worked very hard at his race craft to perfect making passes and racing side by side. Our entire team loved working with him as a driver and friend. We’re all so proud of how far he has gone so far, and we know this is just the beginning for him.”
Entering the Toyota pipeline with JGR, Sawalich dominated his stint in the ARCA Menards Series. To date, he’s won nearly 43% of his ARCA starts, spanning all three divisions, clinching consecutive ARCA East championships in 2023 and 2024. Immediate success led to starts in the Craftsman Truck Series upon turning 16 years old, where he scored a top 10 in his series debut at Martinsville Speedway in 2023.
“I thought it was pretty important just to get the ball rolling as soon as possible, so you’re not waiting too long and wondering what a truck feels like and what an Xfinity car feels like,” Sawalich added. “Getting in those as soon as possible helped the learning curve.”
Since moving to the national touring scene, however, success has been limited. Soon after turning 18, Sawalich jumped in an Xfinity car for the final three races of the 2024 season, winning the pole in the season finale at Phoenix Raceway. Those three races were vital, as he signed a full-time deal with JGR for 2025.
Management at JGR knew Sawalich had raw pace. They also knew he needed to continue learning. Through 12 starts in 2025, he has a pair of top-10 finishes and sits 25th in the regular-season standings. The No. 18 team, led by veteran crew chief Jeff Meendering, had a recent seven-race stretch of finishing outside the top 20, with four of those being 34th or worse. He tallied 54 points total across those seven aces.
MORE: Xfinity Series standings | Xfinity Series schedule
“I think when we saw some things on the ARCA side early on, he was fast,” Steve deSouza, executive vice president of Xfinity Series and development for JGR, told NASCAR.com in March. “He has a work ethic that’s good for his age, wise beyond his years maturity-wise and he has the desire.
“He wants to do well. He doesn’t just want to be known as a driver, he wants to get in there and perform. He’s disappointed when that doesn’t happen, and you like to see that type of streak in a driver. They want to win, and when they don’t win, they get frustrated. It’s a tough time when you go through that, but everybody goes through those periods. I think once he comes out the other side of that, he’s going to continue to grow and get better.”
Admittedly, Sawalich is unaware as to why he jumped into the deep end of the Xfinity Series immediately. But he hoped to stay within the JGR family, and an opportunity arose.
Along with chasing an Xfinity playoff berth, Sawalich is getting additional seat time by making select starts in ARCA and the Craftsman Truck Series. The No. 18 Toyota has shown glimpses of speed through the first three months, but multiple mistakes have cost him considerably.
“I definitely want to get a win,” Sawalich said. “I know this team is capable of a win. That’s my only expectation. Right now, we’re trying to get as many points as possible and try to set ourselves up for success.”
Sawalich hopes the results improve as his rookie campaign rolls on, knowing that he’s ascended from Legends cars to the Xfinity Series in five years.
Read the full article here