October 4, 2025 | By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service

Connor Zilisch gets 10th Xfinity Series win, as all four JR Motorsports drivers advance in Playoffs

CONCORD, N.C.—It was another routine victory for NASCAR Xfinity Series rookie phenom Connor Zilisch, who hit double digits with his 10th win of the season.

Behind Zilisch, it was a chaotic scramble for the remaining five berths in the Round of 8 of the series Playoffs.

It was a banner day for JR Motorsports, which needed an unlikely stroke of good fortune to get all four of its drivers into the Round of 8—and got it.

It was a study in heartbreak for hard-luck Taylor Gray, who lost his bid to advance to the next Playoff round by one point.

For the record, after leading practice and winning his eighth pole position of the season, Zilisch led 61 of 68 laps and collected the victory when NASCAR called the sixth caution for oil on the track after Zilisch had taken the white flag.

The win was the 10th of the season for the 19-year-old driver of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, his first on the 2.28-mile circuit and the 11th of his career.

“It’s so much fun getting to race in my hometown,” Zilisch said. “The JR Motorsports cars were so fast this weekend… It feels really good to get 10. Double digits is pretty awesome for my first year in the series.

“Now we’ve got to go win the championship.”

By the time Zilisch took the checkered flag under yellow, Harrison Burton, Nick Sanchez and Austin Hill had, for practical purposes, lost their respective chances to advance in the Playoffs thanks to self-inflicted wounds.

But the battle for the final berth in the Round of 8 hung in the balance until the moment of caution on Lap 68. That Smith was even in the running for the final berth was the product of a series of remarkable circumstances that began when he brought his No. 8 JRM Chevrolet to pit road with a cut tire on Lap 63.

Almost immediately thereafter, Sage Karam wrecked on the frontstretch to cause the fifth caution, erase Zilisch’s 10.987-second lead and give Smith the chance to exit pit road with fresh tires.

Zilisch stayed out under caution, but a sizable number of drivers pitted behind him—enough to put Smith in seventh, one spot behind Gray, for the overtime restart on Lap 67.

Smith made immediate progress from the drop of the green flag and climbed to third at the finish, but Gray, tangled up in traffic, dropped to 13th in the overtime, just enough to hand Smith the chance to advance by one point.

“I’m proud of everyone at JRM and everyone on my team,” Smith said. (Crew chief) Phillip Bell made a great call to pit, obviously. It was a Hail Mary move, and it worked.

“I’m just excited to go try to race for a championship and put ourselves in position to make the final four.”

Gray was in position to advance but for the caution called for Karam’s accident.

“Just obviously bummed out,” Gray said. “We don’t get to go racing for a championship at the end of the year. Just weren’t good enough. We weren’t good enough today.

“We didn’t have a good Bristol, and we shouldn’t have to even be in this spot. We are, though, and we are going to take our loss and move on to the next four and try to win us a couple of races.”

The drama of the Playoffs all but obscured a career-best runner-up finish by Austin Green, who stayed out with Zilisch for the overtime restart. Non-Playoff drivers Kaz Grala, Connor Mosack, Jeb Burton and William Sawalich secured positions four through seven.

Defending series champion Justin Allgaier was eighth, with Sanchez finishing ninth.

Two pit road penalties had already dimmed Sanchez’s hopes of advancing. Burton lost six laps in the garage with fuel pressure issues. Hill was competitive for the final Round of 8 berth until Lap 50, when he reported engine issues (a dropped cylinder) that relegated him to 28th at the finish, 21 points short of a trip to the next round.

Carson Kvapil joined Zilisch, Allgaier and Smith as JR Motorsports entries in the Round of 8—but not by much. Kvapil survived the chaos of the final restart to finish 15th and advance by three points over Gray.

Sheldon Creed (11th), Jesse Love (12th) and Sam Mayer (19th) all made the Round of 8 on points.


NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Number 29
Race Results for the Blue Cross NC 250 - Saturday, October 4, 2025
Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course - Concord, NC - 2.28 - Mile Paved

Total Race Length - 68 Laps - 155.04 Miles

Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 10/4/2025 @ 07:46 PM Eastern

Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 1 88 Connor Zilisch # (P) WeatherTech Chevrolet 68 1 10 52 Running 3 61 6
2 10 87 Austin Green 3Dimensional Services Chevrolet 68   35 Running  
3 4 8 Sammy Smith (P) Pilot Chevrolet 68 4 2 50 Running  
4 9 24 Kaz Grala(i) Overplay Games Toyota 68   0 Running  
5 3 9 Connor Mosack(i) CLT Wholesale Chevrolet 68 10  0 Running 1 1
6 30 27 Jeb Burton SpotOn/Purina Dog Chow Chevrolet 68   31 Running  
7 15 18 William Sawalich # Soundgear Toyota 68   30 Running  
8 2 7 Justin Allgaier (P) Hellmann's Squeeze Bottle Chevrolet 68 3  37 Running  
9 14 48 Nick Sanchez # (P) Gainbridge Chevrolet 68 7  32 Running 1 1
10 18 16 Christian Eckes # Campers Inn RV Chevrolet 68   27 Running  
11 13 00 Sheldon Creed (P) Road Ranger Ford 68 9 4 35 Running  
12 8 2 Jesse Love (P) Whelen/NFFF Chevrolet 68 2 1 44 Running 1 4 1
13 17 54 Taylor Gray # (P) Operation 300 Toyota 68   24 Running  
14 11 19 Aric Almirola (P) Young Life Toyota 68 8  26 Running  
15 5 1 Carson Kvapil # (P) Registix Chevrolet 68 5 5 34 Running  
16 26 4 Parker Retzlaff Spinjoy Chevrolet 68   21 Running  
17 27 11 Daniel Hemric(i) Action Industries Chevrolet 68   0 Running  
18 23 20 Brandon Jones (P) Menards/Atlas Toyota 68   19 Running  
19 7 41 Sam Mayer (P) Audibel Ford 68  6 23 Running  
20 22 39 Ryan Sieg Sci Aps Ford 68   17 Running  
21 24 91 Josh Bilicki Rita's Italian Ice Chevrolet 68  8 19 Running  
22 6 17 Corey Day HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 68   15 Running  
23 34 42 Anthony Alfredo Roth ID Tag Chevrolet 68   14 Running  
24 29 71 Ryan Ellis Classic Collision Chevrolet 68   13 Running  
25 25 53 Sage Karam NFPA Toyota 68  9 14 Running  
26 31 92 Leland Honeyman DPR Construction Chevrolet 68   11 Running  
27 36 51 Jeremy Clements Harrison's Chevrolet 68   10 Running  
28 16 21 Austin Hill (P) Bennett Transportation Chevrolet 68 6 3 22 Running 1 1
29 35 31 Blaine Perkins Bommarito Automotive Group Chevrolet 68   8 Running  
30 21 07 Alex Labbe Mike Efaw's Chevrolet 67  7 11 Running  
31 12 44 Brennan Poole Macc Door Systems Chevrolet 67   6 Running  
32 20 99 Matt DiBenedetto Viking Motorsports Chevrolet 67   5 Running  
33 37 28 Kyle Sieg Bannon Home Inspection Ford 67   4 Running  
34 28 25 Harrison Burton (P) DEX Imaging Ford 64   3 Running  
35 33 26 Dean Thompson # Thompson Pipe Group Toyota 62   2 Running  
36 38 10 Daniel Dye # bproauto Chevrolet 44   1 Transmission  
37 32 45 Josh Williams Optum Chevrolet 20   1 Fuel Pump  
38 19 50 Preston Pardus Chinchor Electric Inc Chevrolet 7   1 Transmission  

Fastest Lap Bonus:  # 88 lap 45 / 86.702
                                                            
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 8 Mins, 5 Secs. Average Speed: 72.628 MPH Margin of Victory: 1.134 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 88, 2, 7, 8, 1, 21, 48, 19, 00, 9
Stage 2 Top 10: 2, 8, 21, 00, 1, 41, 07, 91, 53, 88

Race Comments: Connor Zilisch won the Blue Cross NC 250 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, his 11th career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory. Prior to the green flag, the following cars dropped to the rear: Nos. 4, 10, 42, 45, 51 (unapproved adjustments), No. 27 (missing driver introductions).

Failed to Qualify: (4) 14 Garrett Smithley, 70 Thomas Annunziata, 35 Austin J Hill, 32 Andrew Patterson.

Caution Flags: 6 for 13 laps; Laps: 16-17 (#25 stalled on track [10]); 22-24 (Stage 1 Conclusion [25]); 28-29 (#45 stalled on track [25]); 42-44 (Stage 2 Conclusion [25]); 65-66 (#53 incident frontstretch [31]); 68-68 (Oil on the track [None]).

Lead Changes: 6 among 5 drivers; C. Zilisch # (P) 1-15; C. Mosack(i) 16; N. Sanchez # (P) 17; C. Zilisch # (P) 18-37; J. Love (P) 38-41; A. Hill (P) 42; C. Zilisch # (P) 43-68.

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Next Race: October 11, 2025 - Las Vegas Motor Speedway

NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications @ P.O. Box 2875, Daytona Beach, FL 32120-2875



CURRENT NASCAR XFINITY SERIES PLAYOFF STANDINGS

POS NO. DRIVER MFR +/-

1 88 Connor Zilisch Chevrolet +57
2 7 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet +24
3 20 Brandon Jones Toyota +4
4 41 Sam Mayer Ford +2

CUTOFF LINE - FOUR DRIVERS TO BE ELIMINATED AFTER MARTINSVILLE(OCT. 25)

5 2 Jesse Love Chevrolet -2
6 8 Sammy Smith Chevrolet -7
7 1 Carson Kvapil Chevrolet -11
8 00 Sheldon Creed Ford -13