{"id":52983,"date":"2025-06-21T18:35:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T23:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=52983"},"modified":"2025-06-22T12:11:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T17:11:16","slug":"zilisch-outduels-love-for-emotional-first-oval-triumph-at-pocono","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/21\/zilisch-outduels-love-for-emotional-first-oval-triumph-at-pocono\/","title":{"rendered":"Zilisch outduels Love for emotional first oval triumph at Pocono"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Connor Zilisch, driver of the #88 Registix Chevrolet, celebrates after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series Explore the Pocono Mountains 250 at Pocono Raceway on June 21, 2025 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Meg Oliphant\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

In a day of varying strategies and dramatic restarts among the front runners, JR Motorsports rookie Connor Zilisch prevailed in a late race sprint to the checkered flag in Saturday\u2019s NASCAR Xfinity Series\u2019 Explore the Pocono Mountains 250 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway \u2013 the first oval win of this young talent\u2019s career.<\/p>\n

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Connor Zilisch, driver of the #88 Registix Chevrolet, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series Explore the Pocono Mountains 250 at Pocono Raceway on June 21, 2025 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Meg Oliphant\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Late race re-starts determined the day and ultimately it came down to a duel between Zilisch and his best friend, last year\u2019s Rookie of the Year, Jesse Love. Zilisch pulled his No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet alongside Love\u2019s car as they crossed the start\/finish line with four laps to go and then he took the lead for good with three laps remaining \u2013 .437-seconds ahead of the field.<\/p>\n

It was that kind of resolute day for the 18-year-old Zilisch, who had some key help in his headset from a first-time crew chief. His team owner, NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr., filled in for the team\u2019s fulltime leader Mardy Lindley, who was serving a one-race suspension.<\/p>\n

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Connor Zilisch, driver of the #88 Registix Chevrolet, crosses the finish line to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series Explore the Pocono Mountains 250 at Pocono Raceway on June 21, 2025 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

The two-time Daytona 500 winner Earnhardt, an icon in the sport, not only called the race from atop Zilisch\u2019s pit box, but climbed down and helped out on pit stops too. He was absolutely ecstatic after the race in his debut calling the shots. He\u2019s the fifth crew chief this season to earn his first Xfinity Series victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a great job putting us in position to succeed, we had a lot of things go our way, a lot of good luck, good race strategy, had a little help from [his former NASCAR Cup Series crew chief Steve] Letarte,” a grinning Earnhardt said, applauding Lindley\u2019s preparation for the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cHat\u2019s off to everybody on this team,” he continued. \u201cIt\u2019s been amazing all weekend long. Great race car driver. Connor Zilisch is going to be a big deal in this sport for a long time. A lot of fun for me today.”<\/p>\n

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Connor Zilisch, driver of the #88 Registix Chevrolet, and JR Motorsports team owner, and fill-in crew chief Dale Earnhardt Jr. celebrate in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series Explore the Pocono Mountains 250 at Pocono Raceway on June 21, 2025 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Zilisch was similarly exuberant, having to really work hard for this win, his second of the season. Ten caution flags on the afternoon created varying strategies and a real test of restart skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been dying for this one for a while now, I\u2019ve been so close on the ovals lately,” Zilisch said. \u201cI finished second at Charlotte, second at Nashville.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Dale Junior, not too bad on the box,” he said smiling, saying he appreciated Earnhardt\u2019s advice throughout the race. \u201cPretty cool to have him up there. Thank you so much to the entire JR Motorsports team. \u2026 this one is definitely special. I\u2019ve been chasing an oval win for a while now.”<\/p>\n

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Connor Zilisch, driver of the #88 Registix Chevrolet, drives during the NASCAR Xfinity Series Explore the Pocono Mountains 250 at Pocono Raceway on June 21, 2025 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Meg Oliphant\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

For much of the day, Zilisch\u2019s greatest challenge up front came from former NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott, who is competing in both the Xfinity and Cup Series races this weekend. Elliott led the most laps \u2013 38 of the 100 compared to Zilisch\u2019s 34 out front.<\/p>\n

Elliott and the series\u2019 current championship leader, JR Motorsports Justin Allgaier were up front on a restart with 13 laps remaining. While contending for the lead, they nearly came together and had to take evasive action up the track not to collide.<\/p>\n

Love took advantage of the situation and came through from the second row to stake claim to the race lead in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. A caution came out almost immediately after Love moved to the front and that allowed Zilisch to start directly behind him on that final restart \u2013 leaving the trophy up to the two friends to decide.<\/p>\n

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Jesse Love, driver of the #2 Whelen Chevrolet, drives during the NASCAR Xfinity Series Explore the Pocono Mountains 250 at Pocono Raceway on June 21, 2025 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Meg Oliphant\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the most focused I\u2019ve ever been inside a race car, I did not want Connor to beat me because I\u2019ll have to hear about it for a long time,” said Love, with a smile. \u201cHats off to him. He ran a good race. Once I was able to get a draft I was able to get back to him. But that bums me out, I\u2019m not going to lie, but I\u2019m still trying to be grateful we have fast race cars and are in position to win. Hats off to Connor.”<\/p>\n

Another rookie rounded out the top-three with Kaulig Racing\u2019s Christian Eckes claiming a career best third-place finish in the No. 16 Chevrolet. Elliott rallied to finish fourth and Ryan Seig was fifth in his family-owned Ford.<\/p>\n

Carson Kvapil, Sam Mayer, Sammy Smith, rookie Taylor Gray, and Justin Allgaier rounded out the top-10.<\/p>\n

The reigning series champion Allgaier now holds an 82-point championship advantage on RCR\u2019s Austin Hill, who was collected in an early-race accident and finished 35th.<\/p>\n

The NASCAR Xfinity Series moves to Atlanta for Friday night\u2019s Focused Health 250 at EchoPark Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on the CW, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Hill has won the last three Atlanta races – the most recent this February.<\/p>\n

Interviews:<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

NXS Winning Crew Chief & Owner – Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Connor Zilisch (No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet) –<\/p>\n

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NASCAR Xfinity Series Race – Explore the Pocono Mountains 250<\/b><\/p>\n

Pocono Raceway<\/b><\/p>\n

Long Pond, Pennsylvania<\/b><\/p>\n

Saturday, June 21, 2025<\/b><\/p>\n

                1. (9)  Connor Zilisch #, Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                2. (10)  Jesse Love, Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                3. (15)  Christian Eckes #, Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                4. (1)  Chase Elliott(i), Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                5. (5)  Ryan Sieg, Ford, 100.<\/p>\n

                6. (22)  Carson Kvapil #, Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                7. (6)  Sam Mayer, Ford, 100.<\/p>\n

                8. (13)  Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                9. (7)  Taylor Gray #, Toyota, 100.<\/p>\n

                10. (8)  Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                11. (20)  Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                12. (21)  Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                13. (28)  Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                14. (16)  Harrison Burton, Ford, 100.<\/p>\n

                15. (26)  Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                16. (19)  Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                17. (25)  Dean Thompson #, Toyota, 100.<\/p>\n

                18. (2)  Brandon Jones, Toyota, 100.<\/p>\n

                19. (11)  Matt DiBenedetto, Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                20. (29)  Mason Massey, Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                21. (4)  William Sawalich #, Toyota, 100.<\/p>\n

                22. (23)  Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                23. (31)  Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                24. (36)  Leland Honeyman Jr., Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                25. (37)  Kyle Sieg, Ford, 100.<\/p>\n

                26. (32)  Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                27. (38)  Logan Bearden, Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                28. (3)  Nick Sanchez #, Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                29. (27)  Blaine Perkins, Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                30. (35)  Patrick Emerling(i), Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                31. (18)  Daniel Dye #, Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                32. (24)  Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                33. (34)  Dawson Cram, Chevrolet, 99.<\/p>\n

                34. (33)  Carson Ware, Ford, 99.<\/p>\n

                35. (14)  Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 96.<\/p>\n

                36. (12)  Sheldon Creed, Ford, Accident, 88.<\/p>\n

                37. (30)  Kris Wright, Chevrolet, Suspension, 69.<\/p>\n

                38. (17)  Justin Bonsignore, Toyota, Engine, 7.<\/p>\n

Average Speed of Race Winner:  103.722 mph.<\/p>\n

Time of Race:  2 Hrs, 24 Mins, 37 Secs. Margin of Victory:  .437 Seconds.<\/p>\n

Caution Flags:  10 for 41 laps.<\/p>\n

Lead Changes:  10 among 7 drivers.<\/p>\n

Lap Leaders:   C. Elliott(i) 1-22;B. Jones 23-28;H. Burton 29-31;J. Allgaier 32-41;C. Zilisch # 42-67;C. Elliott(i) 68-71;S. Mayer 72;C. Zilisch # 73-75;C. Elliott(i) 76-87;J. Love 88-95;C. Zilisch # 96-100.<\/p>\n

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Chase Elliott(i) 3 times for 38 laps; Connor Zilisch # 3 times for 34 laps; Justin Allgaier 1 time for 10 laps; Jesse Love 1 time for 8 laps; Brandon Jones 1 time for 6 laps; Harrison Burton 1 time for 3 laps; Sam Mayer 1 time for 1 lap.<\/p>\n

Stage #1 Top Ten: 20,48,88,39,16,8,18,00,51,21<\/p>\n

Stage #2 Top Ten: 88,54,48,2,16,39,7,8,1,27<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service In a day of varying strategies and dramatic restarts among the front runners, JR Motorsports rookie Connor Zilisch prevailed in a late race sprint to the checkered flag in Saturday\u2019s NASCAR Xfinity Series\u2019 Explore the Pocono Mountains 250 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway \u2013 the first oval win of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":52961,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[905,16,181,252],"class_list":["post-52983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-connor-zilisch","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-xfinity-series","tag-pocono-raceway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2221387211-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-dMz","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52983"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52989,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52983\/revisions\/52989"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}