William Sawalich's health update eases fears after frightening Talladega crash

Joe Gibbs Racing driver William Sawalich is recovering after being released from the hospital on Saturday night, hours after a frightening multi-car wreck in the playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway.

The 19-year-old rookie, who was involved in a crash on lap 46 that stopped the race for several minutes, was transported to a local hospital for further evaluation but has since been declared out of danger in a recent team update. Joe Gibbs Racing shared a brief update on X (formerly Twitter):

“William Sawalich has been released from the hospital.”

Joe Gibbs Racing

@JoeGibbsRacing

William Sawalich has been released from the hospital.

The incident occurred just before the halfway mark of the race when Leland Honeyman got turned entering Turn 1 in a four-wide pack. The contact sent his car spinning across the inside lane. Connor Mosack, running just behind, attempted to avoid the sliding car but lost control and shot back up the track, collecting Dean Thompson and William Sawalich, who started on the outside of the front row.

Sawalich’s No. 18 Toyota absorbed a heavy hit into the barriers, followed by another hit from Mosack’s spinning No. 99 Viking Motorsports Chevrolet. The crash also involved Jeb Burton, while Honeyman’s COPE Family Racing Chevrolet managed to escape with minimal damage. Sawalich, Mosack, and Thompson were all forced to retire from the race.

Both Mosack and Thompson were evaluated and released from the infield care center shortly after, while Sawalich was taken to a local hospital for additional checks. The recent update brought relief across the NASCAR community after several hours of silence following William Sawalich’s incident.

Leland Honeyman, the only driver involved who went on to finish the race, spoke afterward about the moment the accident unfolded and how he managed to bring his car home inside the top ten.

“I was just following the 27 (Jeb Burton) and apparently the 25 (Harrison Burton) made it four wide. I wasn’t sure about it, but I never heard anything on the radio at all,” Honeyman told Frontstretch. (2:28 onwards)

Despite damage to his car, Honeyman managed to finish P8, a welcome result for the part-time COPE Family Racing team. When asked about his choice not to take the front row on the final restart, Honeyman admitted the damage limited what he could do in the draft:

“Yeah. I felt like after we had the damage, we just couldn’t do anything.”

The Talladega wreck marked Sawalich’s ninth DNF of the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, in what has otherwise been a promising rookie campaign with Joe Gibbs Racing.

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William Sawalich’s rookie season: flashes of speed, bouts of bad luck

William Sawalich (18) United Rentals 250 at Talladega Superspeedway. Source: Getty

William Sawalich entered the Xfinity Series this year as one of the youngest full-time drivers on the grid and quickly impressed with his pace on both short tracks and intermediates. He’s earned three top-five finishes and nine top tens, with an impressive 10.1 average start in the No. 18 JGR Toyota.

However, repeated misfortune has hampered his results. Mechanical issues, engine failures, and crashes have led to nine finishes of 28th or worse, each resulting in a DNF. Those struggles have dragged his average finish to 18.9, preventing a serious playoff push despite flashes of front-running pace late in the regular season, including runner-up finishes at Watkins Glen and Portland.

Saturday’s race was ultimately decided in overtime, with Austin Hill once again mastering Talladega’s high-speed chaos. The Richard Childress Racing driver led 48 of 100 laps and held off Carson Kvapil by 0.105 seconds to secure his 10th career drafting-track win, surpassing Hall of Famers Dale Earnhardt and Tony Stewart.

While William Sawalich will not contend for the driver’s title this year, his focus will now turn to recovery ahead of the next two Xfinity events - Martinsville Speedway and the season finale at Phoenix Raceway.