William Sawalich never competed full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series before landing his full-time ride with Joe Gibbs Racing in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series (then Xfinity Series) a year ago, but he had competed in select Truck Series races in both 2023 and 2024.
He continued to run a partial schedule in the Truck Series in 2025 and did so again throughout the first half of 2026. Every single one of his starts during that stretch came with Tricon Garage, with the most recent coming in late May at Nashville Superspeedway.
But this past weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, he made his Truck Series return with a team for which he had never previously competed, and he earned a season-high finish of seventh.
William Sawalich replacement confirmed at Kansas
Sawalich took over for full-time Joe Gibbs Racing Cup driver Christopher Bell behind the wheel of the No. 62 Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota. Bell ran the Truck Series regular season finale at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, but as a full-time Cup driver, he was ineligible to run the playoff opener at Bristol.
Sawalich's previous top finishes of the year had been a pair of 10th place efforts at Darlington Raceway in March and Charlotte Motor Speedway in May. His seventh place finish with Halmar Friesen Racing is his second-best in 27 career starts, trailing only his sixth place finish at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park back in August 2023.
This coming weekend at Kansas Speedway, however, Sawalich will not compete, as he will not return to the No. 62 Toyota for the Truck Series race and the O'Reilly Series is scheduled for its lone off weekend of the postseason.
Instead, it's Leland Honeyman who is set to pilot the No. 62 entry, which he's driven twice this year. He finished 23rd at Charlotte in May and 17th at Richmond Raceway in August, after being called upon to replace Bell because Bell had a previously scheduled commitment to attend after the race was postponed.
Until this year, Honeyman, who also runs a partial schedule for DGM Racing with Jesse Iwuji Motorsports in the O'Reilly Series, hadn't run a Truck Series race since making his series debut in 2022.
As of now, Sawalich has no plans to return to the Truck Series this year with Tricon Garage or with Halmar Friesen Racing.
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