Connor Zilisch scores dramatic victory at Indianapolis; records 100th Xfinity victory for JR Motorsports

Connor Zilisch capitalized on a series of late turn-of-events over the final 14 laps, scoring a thrilling NASCAR Xfinity Series victory in the Pennzoil 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, July 26. 

The 19-year-old Zilisch from Charlotte, North Carolina, led three times for 19 of 100 scheduled laps. He started in seventh place and raced upfront through the early stages. Leading for the first time on Lap 52, Zilisch was edged by teammate Justin Allgaier for the second stage victory. However, he remained in contention as the event battled through four caution periods, three for weather, during the final stage period.

Allgaier was wrecked by Kyle Larson during a restart with 14 laps remaining as Zilisch navigated back to the lead. Despite losing the lead to rookie Taylor Gray during a four-lap shootout, Zilisch managed to overtake Gray with drafting help from Sam Mayer with two laps remaining. He then muscled through to post another victory to his resume. It was also the milestone 100th Xfinity career victory for JR Motorsports.

On-track qualifying determined the starting lineup on Saturday. Sam Mayer notched his first Xfinity Series pole position of the 2025 season. It was also his first at Indianapolis and his third overall. His pole-winning lap was 166.623 mph in 54.014 seconds. Joining Mayer on the front row was rookie Nick Sanchez. Sanchez posted his best qualifying lap at 166.482 mph in 54.060 seconds. 

During the event’s pace laps, a handful of competitors, including rookie Christian Eckes and Logan Bearden, encountered issues. Eckes had fire on his car’s dashboard due to a burnt wire. This forced him to pit for repairs before he returned to the track. Meanwhile, Bearden stalled his entry due to having no power. This issue resulted in him not taking the green flag with the field and dropping out of the lead lap category. 

When the green flag waved and the event commenced, pole-sitter Sam Mayer received a push from teammate Sheldon Creed from the inside lane. This allowed Mayer to muscle ahead of Nick Sanchez through the first two turns and the backstretch. The field behind fanned out and jostled for spots. As Mayer proceeded to lead the first lap over Sanchez, Creed and Brandon Jones, Justin Allgaier nearly hit the frontstretch’s inside wall and ran over a small drainage while trying to make a bold move beneath Aric Almirola in a battle for sixth place.

On the second lap, the event’s first caution flew when Harrison Burton, racing in 19th place, got loose underneath rookie Christian Eckes. He spun in Turn 2, though he managed to make no contact with the wall and the oncoming field. At the moment of caution, Mayer retained the lead over Sanchez. Creed, Brandon Jones and Almirola followed in the top five. 

The next restart on the sixth lap featured Mayer receiving another shove from teammate Creed. This enabled Mayer to rocket ahead of the field from the inside lane through the first two turns. As the field fanned out from the frontstretch through the backstretch, Mayer proceeded to lead from Turns 3 and 4 before he returned to the frontstretch and led the following lap. Creed moved up to the runner-up spot over Sanchez while Almirola and Jones followed suit in the top five. 

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Mayer stretched his early advantage to more than a second over teammate Creed. Sanchez, Almirola and rookie Connor Zilisch rounded out the top five. Behind, Allgaier was racing in sixth place ahead of Jones, rookie Carson Kvapil, Jesse Love and rookie Taylor Gray, rounding out the top 10. Sammy Smith, Austin Hill, Kyle Larson, Ryan Sieg, rookie Dean Thompson, rookie William Sawalich, Jeremy Clements, rookie Christian Eckes, Jeb Burton and Matt DiBenedetto were mired in the top 20, respectively. 

Five laps later, Mayer added another second to his advantage, leading by more than two seconds over teammate Creed. Zilisch, who overtook Sanchez for third place two laps earlier, was reeling in on Creed for the runner-up spot. Almirola and Allgaier were racing in fourth and fifth, respectively, after both overtook Sanchez through the backstretch a lap earlier.  

Zilisch then overtook Creed to assume the runner-up spot exiting the backstretch on Lap 16 while Sanchez battled Jones for sixth place. As Larson cracked the top-10 mark while Sanchez dropped to eighth place by Lap 18. Mayer stabilized his lead to two-and-a-half seconds over Zilisch at the Lap 20 mark. Creed, Almirola and Allgaier followed suit in the top five, respectively. 

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 30, Mayer fended off a Lap 29 charge from Allgaier. By a tenth of a second overall, he claimed his third Xfinity stage victory of the 2025 season. Allgaier settled in second ahead of Almirola, the latter of whom trailed the lead by half a second. Jones, Zilisch, Creed, Love, Larson, Taylor Gray and Kvapil were scored in the top 10, respectively.  

Under the first stage break period, the lead lap field led by Mayer peeled off the track to pit road for a first round of pit service. Following the pit stops, Almirola exited pit road first. He was followed by Allgaier, Zilisch, Mayer, Jones, Larson, Gray, Sawalich, Love and Sanchez, respectively. 

The second stage period started on Lap 36 as Almirola and Allgaier occupied the front row. Almirola and Allgaier dueled for the lead in front of a stacked field through the first two turns. As the field fanned out and scattered, Sanchez hit the backstretch’s outside wall after he got hit by Eckes.

Allgaier and Almirola remained dead even against one another through Turns 3 and 4 before they dueled through the frontstretch. Then, exiting the backstretch, Allgaier received a push from teammate Zilisch that allowed both to muscle ahead of Almirola entering Turn 1. Almirola drove to third place as Allgaier cleared the field with the lead.  

By Lap 40, Allgaier, who led the previous four laps, continued to lead by four-tenths of a second over teammate Zilisch. Third-place Almirola trailed by seven-tenths of a second. Behind, Larson was up to fourth place in front of Gray while Jones, Sawalich, Jesse Love, Kvapil and Mayer were racing in the top 10.  

At the halfway mark on Lap 50, Allgaier continued to lead by half a second over teammate Zilisch while Larson was up to third place. Behind, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Almirola and Gray trailed in the top five by as far back as five seconds. Teammate Jones, Kvapil, Mayer, Love and William Sawalich were racing in the top 10. They were ahead of Ryan Sieg, Creed, Daniel Dye, Dean Thompson and Austin Hill, respectively.

Meanwhile, Eckes, who pitted two laps prior with a flat right-front tire under green, had plummeted to 36th place. Sanchez, who pitted earlier amid his on-track incident with the wall, and Eckes, were mired in 37th place and scored five laps behind. 

Another lap later, Zilisch used the inside lane to overtake teammate Allgaier exiting the backstretch. As Zilisch led the Lap 52 mark, Allgaier continued to stalk his JR Motorsports’ teammate through the turns and straightaways, but he settled behind Zilisch’s rear bumper as the latter maintained a steady advantage. Despite having a stronger car than Zilisch through the turns, Allgaier kept racing and settling behind Zilisch’s rear bumper over the next three laps while third-place Larson started to reel in the two leaders as he trailed by less than a second. 

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 60, Allgaier, who spent the previous eight laps stalking behind teammate Zilisch’s rear bumper through every turn and straightaway, capitalized on Zilisch getting trapped behind the lapped competitor of Eckes, starting from Turns 3 and 4, to draw alongside Zilisch entering the frontstretch, drag-race and edge him at the start/finish line by 0.025 seconds for his seventh Xfinity stage victory of the 2025 season. Zilisch settled in second ahead of Larson, Almirola and Gray while Jones, Mayer, Kvapil, Love and Sawalich were scored in the top 10, respectively. 

During the latest stage break period, the lead lap field led by Allgaier returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Allgaier retained the lead by exiting pit road first while Larson, Jones, Mayer, Zilisch, Sawalich, Gray, Kvapil, Leland Honeyman and Creed followed suit, respectively.  

With 34 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Allgaier and Larson occupied the front row. At the start, Jones attempted to throw a three-wide move beneath Allgaier and Larson entering the first turn, but he could not execute his move. In the process, Larson executed on a push from Mayer from the outside lane that allowed the latter to muscle the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro entry ahead with the lead over Allgaier’s No. 7 Hellmann’s Chevrolet Camaro entry through the first two turns.  

Then as the field led by Larson navigated through the backstretch, the caution returned when Kvapil, who was racing in the top-10 mark, was pinned in a tight three-wide battle with Leland Honeyman and Sawalich entering Turn 2. This resulted with Kvapil getting sideways and spinning backwards into the outside wall, which he hit and sustained rear-end damage to the No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Clarience Tech Chevrolet Camaro entry, while Honeyman also sustained damage to his entry. Kvapil’s incident would then commence an extensive caution period due to a weather advisory as light sprinkles were detected around the track. 

When the race restarted with 27 laps remaining, Allgaier used the outside lane to draw even with Larson through the first two turns. He then executed a power move through the outside lane to shoot ahead of Larson and reassume the lead entering the backstretch. Allgaier proceeded to fend off Larson to lead the next lap as the field cycled back to the frontstretch, with Larson trying to reel in and follow suit. 

With less than 25 laps remaining, Allgaier maintained a steady advantage over Larson while Jones and Zilisch followed suit. Zilisch proceeded to overtake Jones for third place and Mayer trailed by two seconds in fifth place as the laps dwindled. Larson continued to reel in on Allgaier for the lead, though Allgaier led by a tenth of a second with 20 laps remaining. Shortly after, the caution flew due to on-track precipitation.

During the next restart with 14 laps remaining, Allgaier and Larson dueled for the lead through the first two turns. Then entering the backstretch, Larson slid up and made contact with Allgaier, which resulted in the latter hitting the outside wall. As both Allgaier and Larson lost their momentum amid their late run-in, Zilisch capitalized by storming to the lead. Taylor Gray, Sam Mayer, Austin Hill, Almirola and Creed all followed suit as the field fanned out through the backstretch. Amid the chaos, Zilisch led the following lap. 

With 10 laps remaining, Zilisch continued to lead by a tenth of a second over Gray while Mayer, Hill and Creed pursued in the top five. By then, Larson was mired back in ninth place while Allgaier retired his damaged car on pit road. Shortly after, the caution returned due to a controversial accident in Turn 3.

The incident started when Almirola got Austin Hill loose in Turn 3, just as Hill had outdueled Almirola for fourth place. Hill then veered dead left into Almirola and sent Almirola head-on into the outside wall in Turn 3, leaving Almirola with a severely damaged race car.

Hill proceeded to spin, slid back across the track and hit the outside wall before he continued. The incident was enough for NASCAR to park Hill for five laps as Almirola deemed Hill’s actions as “intentional.” It also placed the event in a red flag period for 12 minutes. 

When the red flag lifted and the race restarted under green with four laps remaining, Zilisch and Gray dueled for the lead through the frontstretch before Gray, who received a push from Creed from the outside lane, muscled his No. 54 Operation 300 Toyota Supra into the lead entering Turn 1. While Zilisch was trying to fend off Mayer and Larson for the runner-up spot, Gray led the next lap.

Then with three laps remaining, Zilisch reeled in on Gray and got the latter loose entering Turn 2. This allowed Zilisch to get underneath and draw even with Gray through the backstretch, but Mayer drafted Gray back to the lead exiting the backstretch. After Gray led with two laps remaining, Zilisch mirrored his move entering the backstretch. This time, Mayer drafted Zilisch past Gray as Zilisch led. Behind, Mayer moved into second place and dropped Gray to third place in front of Larson while Zilisch pulled away.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Zilisch remained in the lead over Mayer, Gray and Larson. With the clean air to his advantage, Zilisch was able to smoothly navigate his way around Indianapolis Motor Speedway for a final time before he cycled back to the frontstretch and claimed his unprecedented fifth checkered flag of the 2025 season. 

With the victory, Zilisch notched his sixth NASCAR Xfinity Series career win in his first series’ start at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and his third in a row in recent weeks. Having turned 19 years of age this past Tuesday, Zilisch became the youngest NASCAR winner at Indianapolis at age 19 years and four days. Above all, Zilisch recorded the milestone 100th NASCAR Xfinity Series victory for JR Motorsports.