Connor Zilisch celebrates his Dover win In Victory Lane. (Photo: Josh Jones| The Podium Finish)
DOVER, Del. – The ARCA Menards Series action continued at Dover Motor Speedway on a late Friday afternoon start time to kick off the racing weekend in the northeast part of the country.
On a cool 56-degree day, many ARCA drivers were looking to either continue their momentum from last weekend’s race at Talladega or like Jake Finch did last Saturday, pick up their first career victory. Numerous names from various series raced in this event. Names like Gio Ruggiero who last competed in the ARCA East Series at Five Flags Speedway back in March, part-time NTT IndyCar Series driver Marco Andretti, Trans-Am driver Brent Crews, Connor Zilisch, William Sawalich and Carson Kvapil just to name a few were on the entry list.
However, after an action-packed race which featured many incidents and caution flags, two-time 2024 IMSA WeatherTech Series race winner Connor Zilisch grabbed the checkered flag and held off Gio Ruggiero by 0.986 seconds at the finish line.
Qualifying took place earlier in the day and Joe Gibbs Racing driver William Sawalich earned the pole position and would lead the field to the green flag.
William Sawalich earned the pole position at Dover. (Photo: Josh Jones | The Podium Finish)
Not only did the ARCA Menards Series national tour compete, but the ARCA Menards East Series was featured as well to make the event a combination race, meaning points would also pay to the drivers who competed in the East Series.
As the green flag flew, both Sawalich and Ruggiero were fast from the get-go. Sawalich led through the first 17 laps until Ruggiero took the lead from him in the No. 20 Venturini Motorsports Toyota following a near miss. Sawalich had to check up in Turns 3 and 4 when he came right on the back bumper of the No. 06 of Cody Dennison and almost crashed into him. Fortunately for Sawalich, he kept the car clean and kept on going despite losing the race lead.
At Lap 27, the first caution flag flew for the No. 31 of Rita Goulet, who spun in Turn 1 due to contact from the No. 11 of Zachary Tinkle. This would be the only yellow through the first race break, which came at Lap 50. When the field came down pit road to do adjustments and make their pit stops, the Top 10 were Ruggerio, Sawalich, Kvapil, Lavar Scott, Zilisch, Andres Perez, Toni Breidinger, Andy Jankowiak, Kris Wright and Christian Rose.
Following the break, Sawalich and Ruggiero battled hard for the lead in the following laps. In fact, Ruggiero made slight contact on the left-rear quarter panel of Sawalich at Lap 58 and eventually, took the top spot. Another caution flew on Lap 62 for Tim Goulet who replaced Rita and hit the wall off Turn 2. During the incident, Amber Balcaen also smacked the wall on the frontstretch.
In a critical moment on the restart after the caution, Ruggiero received a penalty from ARCA officials for a restart violation after he launched before the leader did. He received pass through penalty and came down on pit road to serve the penalty. The Venturini Motorsports driver, however, did get some breaks for two more caution flags at Lap 74 and Lap 92, as well as the final race break at Lap 100 to keep himself on the lead lap.
At the final race break, it would be Sawalich, Zilisch, Ruggiero, Scott and Perez pacing the top five. When the field went back green, another yellow flew one lap later between the two leaders. Contact from eventual race winner Zilisch was made with Sawalich and sent him up the wall in Turn 4. The accident ended Sawalich’s hopes of winning the race from the pole position, but also saw Zilisch get the lead in the remaining laps.
Race fans saw 10 laps of green flag racing until the final yellow of the event came out with 14 laps to go. An accident ensued between two Venturini Motorsports teammates of Kris Wright and Toni Breidinger. Coming off Turn 4, the two drivers were side by side before Breidinger slid up in front of Wright and ended up wrecked. Wright continued on to finish in the sixth position, however, Breidinger wasn’t so lucky as she finished 15th multiple laps down.
The final restart came with seven laps to go. Zilisch cleared Kvapil going into Turn 1 for the lead and eventually, his first career ARCA Menards Series victory.
Connor Zilisch took the checkered flag at Dover. (Photo: Josh Jones | The Podium Finish)
There were eight cautions for 53 laps and three lead changes among three different leaders. In addition, Zilisch led for 42 laps en route to victory.
Zilisch, Ruggiero, Kvapil, Scott, Perez, Wright, Andy Jankowiak, Greg Van Alst, Caleb Costner and Zachary Tinkle rounded out the top 10 finishers.
The ARCA Menards Series will continue their season next weekend at the Kansas Speedway on Saturday, May 4.
