SONOMA, Calif. – For most of Friday’s General Tire 200 at Sonoma Raceway, William Sawalich re-established the dominant form he enjoyed during his time on the ARCA Menards Series platform.

A one-lap shootout forced Sawalich to dig in and fight for a trip to Victory Lane at the 1.990-mile road course. After Alon Day moved him off track in Turn 1, Sawalich regrouped and gave chase as Day battled Christian Eckes for the race lead.

RELATED: Complete results from the General Tire 200

The pursuit lasted until the final corner, when Day attempted to pass Eckes on the outside while Sawalich drove underneath both. Eckes refused to surrender the top spot to Sawalich, with the two exchanging contact multiple times as they hustled towards the checkered flag.

Sawalich prevailed over Eckes by only .066 seconds, earning the hardest wire-to-wire victory of his career.

“That was definitely our race, but it sucks it had to happen that way,” Sawalich said. “We did what we could to get our Starkey Camry in Victory Lane, so I’m glad that we’re here. It took me a while to figure out how to do a burnout. “

A return to the ARCA Menards Series West was a much-needed change of pace for Sawalich, who currently finds himself oscillating between highs and lows during his rookie NASCAR Xfinity Series campaign.

Despite some struggles, two of Sawalich’s three Xfinity Series top 10s this season have come on the road courses at Circuit of the Americas and Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Sawalich developed a comfort zone for the discipline on the ARCA Menards Series platform, claiming two road course victories between the national division and the West Series.

A caution for Kyle Keller’s stalled car with three laps remaining had the potential to derail Sawalich’s perfect day. With a stalwart road course competitor in Day, a four-time NASCAR Euro Series champion, behind him, Sawalich knew he needed to create as much distance as possible on the final restart.

No such luxury would be given to Sawalich as he was shoved off track going uphill into Turn 1 by Day. With Day staying right on Eckes’ rear bumper through the esses and in turn 11, Sawalich was able to make up lost ground and put himself in a position to pounce on both of his competitors.

Day choose to take the top entering Turn 11 and that gave Sawalich an open look at the rear bumper of Eckes. A slight nudge to Eckes’ bumper at the exit of Turn 11 was all Sawalich needed to taste clean air again, but he still needed to fend off Eckes, who was determined to win in his debut West Series outing.

Sawalich emerged from the chaos with a battered and bruised No. 18 that sat atop Sonoma’s scoring pylon. Returning to Victory Lane was a cathartic moment for Sawalich after a year of bitter work in the Xfinity Series, though the young driver had hoped for a cleaner battle with Day to settle Friday’s race

“I’m pretty sure I got ran into,” Sawalich said. “It is what it is. It was a good race with [Day] and everybody else.”

With the General Tire 200 now in the record books, Sawalich turns his attention back towards his Xfinity Series commitments, which includes competing in Saturday’s Pit Boss / FoodMaxx 250 at Sonoma. He’s scheduled to start fifth in that event.

Day settled for third after initiating the contact with Sawalich in Turn 1 during the overtime restart. He was followed in the running order by West Series points leader Trevor Huddleston and Tyler Reif to round out the top five.

The rest of the top 10 included Eric Nascimento, Corey Day, Keller, Tanner Reif and Jeff Anton.

The West Series takes the next month off before returning to Tri-City Raceway on Aug. 9 for the NAPA Auto Care 150, which will air live on FloRacing at 7:45 p.m. PT / 10:45 p.m. ET.