Connor Mosack crossed the finish line first on Friday in the ARCA Menard’s Series race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course but he was not the winner.
The driver of the Pinnacle Racing Group No. 28 was deemed to have jumped the final restart on leader Brent Crews in the Venturini Motorsports No. 55. Mosack took the lead on the restart. A lot more happened but it ended with William Sawalich in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 in Victory Lane.
First, Mosack shoved Crews off the groove in Turn 2 and gave Thomas Annunziata the lead in the M74 Motorsports No. 44. Mosack then shoved Annunziata off the track and into the grass off Turn 4. That’s when the call came down from race control that Mosack had beat Crews to the restart line, not permitted by ARCA Racing Series rules.
The leader must cross the restart line first.
Mosack faced two options, either come down pit road to take the checkered flag on the final lap or stay on the track and be assessed a 30 second penalty. He opted for the latter and finished 13th.
When the penalty was assesses, Sawalich was in a hard battle with fellow Toyota development driver Gio Ruggiero for what they thought was second until they were told of the penalty.
“They were telling me while I was battling [Ruggiero] that [Mosack] got the black flag,” Sawalich said. “I knew it was just going to be me and [Ruggiero], but I wished we could have raced it out.”
After the race, Mosack told Sportsnaut that he made his case to series officials, that he was actually being shoved from behind by Annuziata.
“I was getting shoved by (Annuziata) coming to the line which is why I was ahead at the restart line,” Mosack said. “I was on the brakes but (ARCA race control) couldn’t see that on their end when it happened.”
The continued aggression from Mosack to Annuziata was not without reason either, he said.
“I moved him because he ran me over a couple times earlier in the race, then got me penalized, then drove me off Turn 2 on the restart,” Mosack added.
The race was also the continuation of a year long organizational feud between the Gibbs team and PRG. Luke Fenhaus and PRG took two wins from Sawalich in overtime last year. Sawalich and Connor Zilisch have had hard battles this year at Dover and Iowa, the latter race especially drawing the ire of the former.
Mosack got into Sawalich shortly after the halfway break, costing the latter several positions. Mosack was just completing a pass for the lead on Crews, 15 seconds ahead of Sawalich, when Lavar Scott brought out the final caution.
Then came everything that happened that paved the way for Sawalich to win a race that looked out of reach.
“This team never gives up and it always shows,” Sawalich said. “I really wished I could have battled it out with [Ruggiero] there. I missed a shift on the backstretch which is why it looked like I brake-checked him. Then I hit the wall during the burnout. I’ve never done that before, so that’s a first.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.