Eden Prairie-native William Sawalich will have quite the birthday month when he turns 18 in October as he competes in his first-ever NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Sawalich, 17, debuted his new No. 19 Xfinity car outside Starkey's Eden Prairie headquarters on Friday. It was one of two cars Sawalich and his team debuted, including the ARCA Series car decked out in a special paint scheme that he will race on Saturday night at Elko Speedway..
"It's really cool to be able to do this in my hometown," Sawalich said. "I grew up racing just 30 minutes away from here. To come back is really a full circle moment."
Sawalich, who won the 2023 ARCA East Championship, raced in the ARCA Menards 250 at Elko Speedway last year where he qualified first and finished the race in second.
"It's really cool to comeback, this is where I really fell in love with racing," Sawalich added. "It was really cool last year, and honestly a little emotional. It was the first time I'd been in a fully body stockcar because I didn't race in a late model there. The crowd was amazing and the support was awesome."
The NASCAR Xfinity Series is a tier below their top level Cup Series. Sawalich will race the NASCAR Trucks and Xfinity race both on October 26th at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The truck race begins at 12 p.m. ET with the Xfinity race at 4 p.m. ET.
"Not a lot of time, so it'll be interesting to get of that, get in the Xfinity car, and do those races back-to-back. It'll be cool at the same time. And it'll help me a lot and give me an advantage."
NASCAR rules state that drivers must be at least 18-years-old to run any Xfinity Series race. Those 18 and under can run short tracks in the truck and ARCA cars.
Homestead-Miami Speedway will be a change, but a welcomed one.
"Well, it's a bigger track than I'm used to, it's going to be the first mile and a half that I'm going to be on," added Sawalich.
Despite a change in the level of competition, his goal remains the same.
"Put together good races, good finishes, get good points and obviously win races and hopefully win championship."
Sawalich started racing at the age of nine, and is continuing the growth of his racing career with the goal of becoming the first person from Minnesota to win a NASCAR Truck, Xfinity and Cup series race.