0.156 seconds separated Alon Day from his first victory in the ARCA Menards Series race at Sonoma Raceway last Friday.
EuroNASCAR legend Alon Day was only a few car lengths away from his first victory in ARCA Menards Series West’s General Tire 200 at Sonoma Raceway last week.
The battle for the win in ARCA came to a last-lap sprint that was contested by Day, Truck Series regular Christian Eckes and William Sawalich, the driver who has been the butt of many jokes in Xfinity Series owing to his struggle to perform in top-tier equipment.
This last-lap sprint proved to be manic, as the drama started after just a few corners. Both Day and Sawalich ran wide, handing the advantage to Eckes’ No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet SS.
Eckes was leading Day and Sawalich when they entered the final hairpin. Eckes defended on the inside, but a little tap from a late braking Sawalich caused Eckes to miss the apex with Day following suit as he was stuck on the outside of Eckes.
The trio then put the pedal to the metal in the final dash to the finish. Despite Sawalich hitting the wall on the final corner, he had enough advantage to beat Eckes by 0.066 seconds.
Day ended up third, only 0.156 seconds behind Sawalich. The driver of the No. 18 Starkey Toyota played dirty in the final lap, having spun Jack Wood’s No. 16 Chevrolet prior to the decisive bump-and-run with Eckes.
“The JSSI car was amazing today,” said Day in Venturini Motorsports’ post-race press release. “I thought I had the speed to lead the race, but it was really tough surviving the restarts.”
“I’m coming from Europe where there’s a little more give and take, and things here are much more aggressive. In hindsight, I should’ve stuck tighter with Christian, but it is what it is.”
The podium is Day’s second in as many races with Venturini. He finished runner-up in his previous outing at Lime Rock, finishing behind another road course ace in Thomas Annunziata.
Day still had one more outing to go at Watkins Glen on 8 August, but the results have proved that the four-time EuroNASCAR champion has what it takes to become successful in the United States.
“I’m extremely happy with our performance so far,” adds Day in the press release. “Back-to-back podiums with this team in two very different types of road courses is a great result.”
“I’m looking forward to our next race at Watkins Glen. Hopefully we can finally break through and grab a win.”
Day’s Watkins Glen outing is currently scheduled to be his last contracted drive of 2025 so far. Outside of driving duties, the Israeli driver remains active as a driver coach for Thomas Krasonis at PK Carsport.
PK Carsport also featured reigning EuroNASCAR champion Vittorio Ghirelli, who is scheduled to make his NASCAR Canada debut at GP3R in the same weekend as Day’s Watkins Glen event on the 8-10 August weekend.
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.