{"id":55574,"date":"2025-11-01T22:05:51","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T03:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=55574"},"modified":"2025-11-02T10:59:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T16:59:14","slug":"rookie-connor-zilisch-comes-up-short-at-end-of-remarkable-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/01\/rookie-connor-zilisch-comes-up-short-at-end-of-remarkable-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Rookie Connor Zilisch comes up short at end of remarkable season"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

AVONDALE, Ariz. \u2014 After a phenomenal NASCAR Xfinity Series season that included 10 victories and 20 top fives in 32 starts, rookie Connor Zilisch finally came up empty.<\/p>\n

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Connor Zilisch, driver of the #88 WeatherTech Chevrolet, (R) congratulates Jesse Love, driver of the #2 Whelen Chevrolet, in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway on November 01, 2025 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Zilisch finished third in Saturday\u2019s NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway, behind best friend Jesse Love and Aric Almirola, but in a season of unprecedented triumph for a first-year driver, the disappointment in Zilisch\u2019s voice was almost palpable.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did everything we could, and I left my heart out on the track, but second in the championship is all we got,\u201d Zilisch said.<\/p>\n

During the final 42-lap green-flag run, Zilisch\u2019s dream of a championship in his rookie-of-the-year season fell apart. Second to Love off pit road during the final pit stop under caution on Lap 153, Zilisch grabbed the top spot on the subsequent Lap 159 restart.<\/p>\n

But Love was relentless in his pursuit.<\/p>\n

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Connor Zilisch, driver of the #88 WeatherTech Chevrolet, looks on in his car during practice for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway on October 31, 2025 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by James Gilbert\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s my very best friend in the world,\u201d Love would say later, \u201cbut not on the race track.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Lap 176 of 200, Love got to the bumper of Zilisch\u2019s No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, moved to the inside off Turn 2 and completed the pass that would earn the series championship for the 20-year-old.<\/p>\n

On Lap 192, Almirola passed Zilisch for second to move into position to win the owners\u2019 title for Joe Gibbs Racing, depriving JR Motorsports of that honor. Zilisch, who turned 19 on July 22, crossed the finish line 1.808 seconds behind the race winner.<\/p>\n

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Connor Zilisch, driver of the #88 WeatherTech Chevrolet, enters his car in the garage area during practice for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway on October 31, 2025 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by James Gilbert\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWe fought all day long and threw everything we had at it,\u201d Zilisch said. \u201cUnfortunately, our WeatherTech Chevrolet, we just didn\u2019t quite have what we needed. But that doesn\u2019t take away from anything we\u2019ve done this year\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I guess the lights were too bright\u2026 You work all year long, and you bust your ass for 33 weeks, and I feel like we\u2019ve done the best job we could all year long, and we just didn\u2019t have it today. I\u2019m so proud of this team. We have nothing to hang our heads about, but, yeah, this one\u2019s going to sting.\u201d<\/p>\n

What looked to be a banner evening for JRM turned sour in the closing laps. The Dale Earnhardt Jr. co-owned team had three drivers vying for the drivers\u2019 championship\u2014Zilisch, defending champion Justin Allgaier and Carson Kvapil\u2014with Zilisch and Allgaier also eligible for the owners\u2019 crown.<\/p>\n

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2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship 4 drivers, (L-R) Justin Allgaier, Jesse Love, Connor Zilisch and Carson Kvapil race remote cars at a community event during NASCAR Championship Media Day at Phoenix Raceway on October 30, 2025 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Allgaier won the second stage handily but faded after a slower-than-usual pit stop on Lap 153. He finished fifth behind pole winner Brandon Jones in fourth.<\/p>\n

The race was Allgaier\u2019s last with crew chief Jim Pohlman, who will fill the same role next year in the NASCAR Cup Series for Kyle Busch and Richard Childress Racing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to send Jim Pohlman off with another championship,\u201d Allgaier said. \u201cHe’s been an amazing part of this journey, got me my championship last year. Just felt like we did all the right things tonight, and we still came out of here really short.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kvapil was never a factor for the win and came home 13th, fourth in the championship battle.<\/p>\n

That left Zilisch to carry the torch for JRM over the closing laps, and Zilisch didn\u2019t have the car to complete the mission.<\/p>\n

Asked whether seeing his best friend win the title was any consolation, Zilisch demurred.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, it doesn’t make it feel any better,\u201d Zilisch said. \u201cNo. Good for Jesse, I’m really happy for him. Yeah, no.\u201d<\/p>\n

Interview: <\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

NXS Championship 4 Driver, Connor Zilisch (No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet) –<\/p>\n

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. \u2014 After a phenomenal NASCAR Xfinity Series season that included 10 victories and 20 top fives in 32 starts, rookie Connor Zilisch finally came up empty. Zilisch finished third in Saturday\u2019s NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway, behind best friend Jesse Love and Aric Almirola, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55553,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_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}},"categories":[11],"tags":[905,16,181,395],"class_list":["post-55574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-connor-zilisch","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-xfinity-series","tag-phoenix-raceway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2244547892.jpg?fit=1841%2C1247&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-esm","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55574"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55580,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55574\/revisions\/55580"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}