{"id":53349,"date":"2025-07-12T18:50:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T23:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=53349"},"modified":"2025-07-13T14:01:06","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T19:01:06","slug":"connor-zilisch-holds-off-shane-van-gisbergen-for-thrilling-sonoma-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/12\/connor-zilisch-holds-off-shane-van-gisbergen-for-thrilling-sonoma-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Connor Zilisch holds off Shane van Gisbergen for thrilling Sonoma win \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Connor Zilisch, driver of the #88 Roto-Rooter Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series Pit Boss\/FoodMaxx 250 at Sonoma Raceway on July 12, 2025 in Sonoma, California. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

SONOMA, Calif.\u2014In closing laps of the Pit Boss\/FoodMaxx 250 at Sonoma Raceway, the pupil schooled the master.<\/p>\n

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Connor Zilisch, driver of the #88 Roto-Rooter Chevrolet, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series Pit Boss\/FoodMaxx 250 at Sonoma Raceway on July 12, 2025 in Sonoma, California. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Taking shot after shot from JR Motorsports teammate Shane van Gisbergen over the final two laps, Connor Zilisch held off the more experienced driver to claim his third NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the season and the fourth of his career.<\/p>\n

In what was a two-driver show from start to finish, Zilisch and van Gisbergen, the pole winner, combined to lead 70 of the 79 laps, surrendering the top spot only when they short-pitted the first and second stages to recover track position at the stage breaks.<\/p>\n

For Zilisch, the victory was revenge for last Saturday\u2019s Xfinity race at the Chicago Street Course, where the 36-year-old van Gisbergen ran his 18-year-old teammate wide in Turn 2 to take the lead and win a two-lap shootout for the victory.<\/p>\n

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Connor Zilisch, driver of the #88 Roto-Rooter Chevrolet, drinks a beer in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series Pit Boss\/FoodMaxx 250 at Sonoma Raceway on July 12, 2025 in Sonoma, California. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

But this Saturday, Zilisch survived contact from van Gisbergen\u2019s front bumper in Turn 7 on the final lap and won the race to the finish line, as the New Zealander tried in vain to cross over to the inside in hairpin Turn 11 on the final lap.<\/p>\n

Zilisch powered off the corner and won the race to the finish line by 0.438 seconds.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst, hats off to Shane,\u201d Zilisch said after climbing from his car. \u201cThat was awesome. \u201cAll race long, I felt like we were racing each other with respect. I wheel-hopped a little bit in Turn 7 one time and got into him. Otherwise, it was awesome to get to race against him finally and battle with him the whole race long.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Connor Mosack, driver of the #14 Knight Fire Protection Chevrolet, Nick Sanchez, driver of the #48 Big Machine Label Group Chevrolet, Josh Williams, driver of the #11 Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet, Christian Eckes, driver of the #16 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, and Harrison Burton, driver of the #25 AirBox Ford, race during the NASCAR Xfinity Series Pit Boss\/FoodMaxx 250 at Sonoma Raceway on July 12, 2025 in Sonoma, California. (Photo by Meg Oliphant\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Both Zilisch and van Gisbergen managed to pull away from the rest of the field while saving fuel during the final stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always the hardest trying to save fuel while someone\u2019s breathing down your neck, Zilisch said. \u201cThere was a chance that he could have gotten by me when he hit me, but he let me have it and raced me clean. I respect the hell out of him for that, and I\u2019m looking forward to racing against him more.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to race each other at Watkins Glen, and that\u2019s one of my favorite tracks, so I hope I can beat him again there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Van Gisbergen knew he had an opening when his No. 9 Chevrolet made contact with Zilisch\u2019s No. 88 in Turn 7, but he backed off to let the race play out.<\/p>\n

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Connor Zilisch, driver of the #88 Roto-Rooter Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series Pit Boss\/FoodMaxx 250 at Sonoma Raceway on July 12, 2025 in Sonoma, California. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI gave him a bump into 7, and he wheel-hopped, and I probably could have taken it, but I just waited,\u201d said van Gisbergen, the defending race winner. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to do it like that, and then we raced down the hill. What an awesome race.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a blast all day\u2014really, really fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zilisch led 46 laps to 24 for van Gisbergen, who was trying for his third straight NASCAR victory in as many starts after sweeping last weekend in Chicago.<\/p>\n

Solid work on pit road gave Zilisch control of the race for the final restart on Lap 51, and he led the rest of the way, thwarting SVG\u2019s persistent attempts to pressure him into a mistake.<\/p>\n

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Connor Zilisch, driver of the #88 Roto-Rooter Chevrolet, and crew celebrate in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series Pit Boss\/FoodMaxx 250 at Sonoma Raceway on July 12, 2025 in Sonoma, California. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

William Sawalich, who won Friday\u2019s ARCA race in a thrilling finish, was the best of the rest, coming home third, 13.668 seconds behind Zilisch. Nick Sanchez ran fourth, followed by Riley Herbst, series leader Justin Allgaier, Taylor Gray, Carson Kvapil, Sammy Smith and Sheldon Creed.<\/p>\n

With Allgaier, Kvapil and Smith joining Zilisch and van Gisbergen, JR Motorsports placed five drivers in the top nine. The victory was the organization\u2019s 10th in 19 races this season, with Zilisch tying Allgaier and 12th-place finisher Austin Hill for the series lead with three wins.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want to have to have to do anything dirty to win this race, and I\u2019m glad I didn\u2019t and glad to do it fair and square,\u201d Zilisch said. \u201cI learned a lot racing around him, and he\u2019s got so many years of experience on me that I can learn from.\u201d<\/p>\n

Interview:<\/h3>\n

NXS Race Winner – Connor Zilisch (No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet) – <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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NASCAR Xfinity Series Race – Pit Boss\/FoodMaxx 250<\/b><\/p>\n

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

Sonoma, California<\/b><\/p>\n

Saturday, July 12, 2025<\/b><\/p>\n

                1. (2)  Connor Zilisch #, Chevrolet, 79.<\/p>\n

                2. (1)  Shane Van Gisbergen(i), Chevrolet, 79.<\/p>\n

                3. (5)  William Sawalich #, Toyota, 79.<\/p>\n

                4. (23)  Nick Sanchez #, Chevrolet, 79.<\/p>\n

                5. (15)  Riley Herbst(i), Toyota, 79.<\/p>\n

                6. (10)  Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 79.<\/p>\n

                7. (11)  Taylor Gray #, Toyota, 79.<\/p>\n

                8. (7)  Carson Kvapil #, Chevrolet, 79.<\/p>\n

                9. (6)  Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 79.<\/p>\n

                10. (9)  Sheldon Creed, Ford, 79.<\/p>\n

                11. (33)  Austin Green, Chevrolet, 79.<\/p>\n

                12. (16)  Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 79.<\/p>\n

                13. (8)  Brandon Jones, Toyota, 79.<\/p>\n

                14. (25)  Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 79.<\/p>\n

                15. (18)  Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 79.<\/p>\n

                16. (36)  Will Rodgers, Chevrolet, 79.<\/p>\n

                17. (3)  Sam Mayer, Ford, 79.<\/p>\n

                18. (35)  Dean Thompson #, Toyota, 79.<\/p>\n

                19. (12)  Blaine Perkins, Chevrolet, 79.<\/p>\n

                20. (17)  Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 79.<\/p>\n

                21. (19)  Harrison Burton, Ford, 79.<\/p>\n

                22. (32)  Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 79.<\/p>\n

                23. (13)  Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 79.<\/p>\n

                24. (14)  Corey Day, Chevrolet, 79.<\/p>\n

                25. (37)  Kyle Sieg, Ford, 79.<\/p>\n

                26. (24)  Matt DiBenedetto, Chevrolet, 79.<\/p>\n

                27. (27)  Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 79.<\/p>\n

                28. (34)  Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, 79.<\/p>\n

                29. (28)  Kris Wright, Chevrolet, 79.<\/p>\n

                30. (30)  Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 78.<\/p>\n

                31. (38)  Brad Perez, Chevrolet, 78.<\/p>\n

                32. (31)  Daniel Dye #, Chevrolet, 78.<\/p>\n

                33. (22)  Connor Mosack(i), Chevrolet, 77.<\/p>\n

                34. (21)  Christian Eckes #, Chevrolet, 76.<\/p>\n

                35. (29)  Ryan Sieg, Ford, 76.<\/p>\n

                36. (26)  Sage Karam, Toyota, Transmission, 40.<\/p>\n

                37. (20)  Alex Labbe, Chevrolet, Suspension, 36.<\/p>\n

                38. (4)  Jesse Love, Chevrolet, Rear Gear, 11.<\/p>\n

Average Speed of Race Winner:  81.176 mph.<\/p>\n

Time of Race:  1 Hrs, 56 Mins, 12 Secs. Margin of Victory:  0.438 Seconds.<\/p>\n

Caution Flags:  2 for 7 laps.<\/p>\n

Lead Changes:  9 among 4 drivers.<\/p>\n

Lap Leaders:   S. Van Gisbergen(i) 1-2;C. Zilisch # 3-4;S. Van Gisbergen(i) 5-17;S. Mayer 18-22;C. Zilisch # 23-28;S. Van Gisbergen(i) 29-36;C. Zilisch # 37-42;S. Van Gisbergen(i) 43;B. Jones 44-47;C. Zilisch # 48-79.<\/p>\n

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Connor Zilisch # 4 times for 46 laps; Shane Van Gisbergen(i) 4 times for 24 laps; Sam Mayer 1 time for 5 laps; Brandon Jones 1 time for 4 laps.<\/p>\n

Stage #1 Top Ten: 41,20,1,8,00,42,07,31,88,39<\/p>\n

Stage #2 Top Ten: 20,7,8,00,1,31,88,27,70,39<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service SONOMA, Calif.\u2014In closing laps of the Pit Boss\/FoodMaxx 250 at Sonoma Raceway, the pupil schooled the master. Taking shot after shot from JR Motorsports teammate Shane van Gisbergen over the final two laps, Connor Zilisch held off the more experienced driver to claim his third NASCAR Xfinity Series […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":53355,"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":[905,16,181,455],"class_list":["post-53349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-connor-zilisch","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-xfinity-series","tag-sonoma-raceway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2224837500-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-dSt","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53349","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=53349"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53362,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53349\/revisions\/53362"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}