William Sawalich is returning to Joe Gibbs Racing for the 2027 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season, the team announced on Thursday. Sawalich has driven the No. 18 Toyota GR Supra full-time for JGR since 2025.
“I am excited to be returning to Joe Gibbs Racing in 2027,” Sawalich said in the announcement. “The team has become a family to me since I first started here. We’ve been making great progress this year, so I am excited to continue that into next season.”
After 22 races in 2026, Sawalich is presently 11th in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series points standings. He scored his first career victory in April at Rockingham Speedway. Sawalich is currently seven points shy of the Chase cutoff line with two races before the postseason begins.
Thus far in the season, Sawalich has shown improvements in most major statistics compared to his 2025 campaign. The 19-year-old has already doubled last year’s top-five total (three up to six), matched himself in top-10s at nine, and improved his average finish from 18.9 to 16.6.
Building on Years Together
Outside of his burgeoning O’Reilly Auto Parts Series career, Sawalich is the product of years of investment from the Joe Gibbs Racing camp. Their first races together were in 2023, when Sawalich ran the full ARCA Menards Series East season. He won the championship with four wins, and won an additional five races during limited schedules in the ARCA Menards Series and ARCA Menards Series West.
“William has been part of our racing family at Joe Gibbs Racing for almost four years now and it’s exciting to watch his continued progress,” said JGR co-owner Heather Gibbs. “He earned his first win in the O’Reilly Series earlier this year at Rockingham and we expect our 18 team to build off that success for the remainder of this season and into 2027.”
