Defending race winner William Sawalich (No. 18 Starkey/SoundGear Toyota) claimed the General Tire Pole for tomorrow’s Sprecher 150 ARCA Menards Series race at The Milwaukee Mile. It’s the eighth ARCA Menards Series pole of the season for the 17-year-old who comes into Sunday’s race on a personal three-race win streak, including a dominant performance last Sunday that saw him lead 104 of 105 laps on the one-mile dirt oval at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.
Sawalich timed in at 29.002 seconds/125.991 miles per hour to best his own previous track record, set in qualifying here last year.
Current ARCA Menards Series East championship leader Connor Zilisch (No. 28 Silver Hare Development/Chevrolet Performance Chevrolet) qualified second. Zilisch, who has won his first four ARCA Menards Series starts in 2024 and has a stand-alone ARCA Menards Series East victory at Flat Rock Speedway to his credit, will start second after a lap of 29.366 seconds/124.430 miles per hour.
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series regular Lawless Alan (No. 33 AutoParkIt Ford) earned a career-best starting position by timing in third quick at 29.594 seconds/123.471 miles per hour. Current ARCA Menards Series championship points leader Andres Perez (No. 2 Max Siegel Inc. Chevrolet) qualified fourth at 29.697 seconds/123.043 miles per hour, and Giovanni Ruggiero rounded (No. 20 JBL Audio Toyota) rounded out the top five with a lap at 29.747 seconds/122.836 miles per hour.
Dean Thompson (No. 55 Thompson Pipe Group Toyota) qualified sixth, with his Venturini Motorsports teammate Kris Wright (No. 15 FNB Corporation Toyota) in seventh, Lavar Scott (No. 6 Max Siegel Inc. Chevrolet) in eighth, Amber Balcaen (No. 22 ICON Toyota) in ninth, and Christian Rose (No. 32 West Virginia Department of Tourism Ford) in tenth.
Notables:
- Marco Andretti (No. 17 Group 1001 Chevrolet) qualified eleventh. Andretti has nine career IndyCar Series starts at The Milwaukee Mile and two career poles; his best finish was seventh in 2009 and he finished eighth in his most recent IndyCar start in 2015.
- Toni Breidinger (No. 25 gener8tor Toyota) did not make a qualifying attempt after a spin resulted in wall contact in practice.
- Four drivers are scheduled to do double duty by racing in both the ARCA Menards Series Sprecher 150 and the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Liuna 175; pole-winner William Sawalich, third-place starter Lawless Alan, sixth-place starter Dean Thompson, and eleventh-place starter Marco Andretti.
- The Sprecher 150 is set to start at 1 pm ET/12 noon CT on Sunday. The race will be televised live on FS1 and broadcast on select affiliates of the MRN Radio Network nationwide.
ARCA PR
