The ARCA Menards Series West capped their season Friday afternoon at Phoenix Raceway in a thrilling battle between Connor Zilisch and William Sawalich. The field included 24 drivers for the season finale event – with none going home after qualifying.
William Sawalich started the weekend on a high note after claiming the pole on Thursday at the track. It marked the second time of the year that the Minnesota native started from the top spot. Connor Zilisch, with four East and a national series victory this year, qualified second followed by Jack Wood and championship contenders Tyler Reif and Sean Hingorani.
Hingorani, holding the tiebreaker over Reif, who had three wins in 2024, entered the race needing to finish just ninth or better, regardless of where Reif finished.
The Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 100 went green with Connor Zilisch quickly taking the lead away from William Sawalich. Zilisch set the tone early with caution flying with just eight laps complete for Rip Michels. The field returned to green flag action with 13 complete.
The field remained green through the halfway break with Zilisch leading the charge in the No. 28 Pristine Auction Chevrolet. Pit road opened for crews to adjust their cars and make repairs, change tires, or add fuel in a five-minute window.
The field returned to green flag racing at lap 53 with Zilisch and Sawalich side-by-side upfront.
Sawalich managed to take the lead from Zilisch, but it did not last for long. Zilisch quickly took it back over to cruise over the next few laps until the yellow flew with nine to go for Marco Andretti.
This bunched up the field after Zilisch stretched to a lead of about seven seconds over Sawalich. The green waved with four circuits remaining with Zilisch as the leader and Sawalich in second.
Zilisch managed to clear Sawalich once again and cruise to his first ARCA Menards Series West victory.
Hingorani finished third to claim back-to-back ARCA Menards Series West championships. The feat is an impressive one for the Newport Beach, California native because of having to pinball between four different racing teams throughout the season.
Reif finished eighth in the No. 13 Toyota.
Sawalich finishes second, with Giovanni Ruggiero and Brent Crews rounding out the top five finishers.
Taking home top 10s were Kaden Honeycutt, Jake Finch, Kole Raz in ninth, and Kyle Keller.
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