AUSTIN, Texas — Connor Zilisch continued the phenomenal start to his young career at Circuit of the Americas on Saturday (March 1) with his second NASCAR Xfinity Series Road course win in as many starts, but it didn’t come easy.
It took a long, grueling battle for the lead in the final stage for Zilisch to ultimately prevail, and the biggest fight came from an unlikely challenger: fellow JR Motorsports rookie Carson Kvapil.
The two-time CARS Tour champion wasn’t known for his road course ability. In fact, COTA marked his first-ever road course start in NASCAR’s top three series. But despite the experience, Kvapil kept Zilisch honest in the final stage and battled him for the lead for nearly a dozen laps.
“I kind of thought we’d be fast and have good speed, but it’s kind of cool to see [the car] come to life there in the race,” Kvapil said.
It might’ve been his first NASCAR start on a road course, but it wasn’t his first start at COTA.
“I ran a Trans-Am 2 race here last year,” Kvapil explained “… This Xfinity car is honestly quite different, but at the same time, the track characteristics kind of carried over, and I felt like when I ran here in the TA2 car, I felt really good for not being a road course guy at all.”
Kvapil battled back from an early spin and restarted on the front row for the final stage. Zilisch took an aggressive entry to turn 1, and it pushed Kvapil out of the racing line and allowed Austin Hill and Corey Heim to overtake the duo.
“I might have felt a little slighted there,” Kvapil said. “It just seemed like every corner, we would just get blasted out of the way, and it is what it is. All these guys are super aggressive whenever you get to this level, but at the same time it’s a little of a ‘what the heck, man,’ so definitely going to put that in the back pocket and remember that next time. But at the same time, we’re all going for the win and doing our best out there.”
But contact between Heim and Zilisch — spinning out the former and damaging the latter — allowed Kvapil to reclaim second, and he took over the lead when Austin Hill missed a corner a few laps later.
What followed was a chess match between the two teammates, with each hoping to pounce on the other’s mistake.
It was Kvapil that opened the door, as he overshot turn 20 and locked up the tires with 10 laps to go. That was all Zilisch needed to retake the top spot, and while Kvapil kept it close for a few laps, the No. 88 soon began to pull away.
A lockup from @Carson_Kvapil getting into the corner … and @ConnorZilisch takes the lead! pic.twitter.com/JaukHrQp5A
— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) March 1, 2025
“It was [intense],” Kvapil said. “It was a hard battle, though I knew through the esses we were better, and I was able to get back to him that one time, but he was able to get away from us.”
Unfortunately for Kvapil, locking up the tires proved to be his undoing in more ways than one. The lock-up began to soften the right front tire, and he was forced to pit road with five laps to go for a flat.
What could’ve been a potential first win instead ended with a disappointing 23rd-place result.
“Definitely hanging my head a little bit on that one, I felt like it was a little self-induced,” Kvapil said. “We would have been a top-three, top-two car either way at the end of the day, and I just took it away there.”
But for a driver with minimal road course experience, Kvapil put together an incredible race. He and Zilisch combined for the 12 fastest laps of the race, and they were the fastest cars on track a combined 28 times.
Kvapil is knocking on the door of his first Xfinity win, and his impressive showing at COTA — even if the finish didn’t show for it — is another step in that direction.
Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly column is “Stat Sheet,” and he formerly wrote "4 Burning Questions" for three years. He also writes commentaries, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.
Find Stephen on Twitter @stephen_stumpf