It was a perfect night for Justin Allgaier in The Music City, as the JR Motorsports driver swept both stages and won the Tennessee Lottery 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Nashville Superspeedway on Saturday (May 31). This is Allgaier’s third win of the 2025 season and the 28th of his NXS career.
It was a statement victory for Allgaier, who led 101 of the race’s 188 laps and held off a challenge from teammate Connor Zilisch in the final stage of the event.
“These guys (Allgaier’s pit crew) right here- they deserve this one more than anything,” Allgaier said after the race. “I screwed them over last week by making a pit call and had equally as good of a car, but this Hellman’s Chevrolet was just absolutely on rails.”
"I said before the race I really wanted to get a second guitar for both kids to have a guitar."
— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) June 1, 2025
Music to their ears, @J_Allgaier 🎸🎸 pic.twitter.com/36mBtaVMPb
Zilisch and Sam Mayer finished second and third, respectively, after running inside the top five for much of the race. Mayer’s Haas Factory Team teammate Sheldon Creed came home in fourth, with Cup regular Ross Chastain rounding out the top five.
Aric Almirola, Austin Hill, Jesse Love, Daniel Dye and Carson Kvapil finished out the top 10 (Editor’s note: Dye was disqualified in post-race inspection for failing rear heights, dropping him to 38th in the final results and moving Sammy Smith into the top 10).
While Allgaier took control of the race by the end of the first stage, it looked as though polesitter William Sawalich would be one of the drivers to beat in the early portion of the event. The Joe Gibbs Racing rookie led the opening 37 laps, but he went on to lose his track position on pit road and then spin out in the final stage while running outside the top 10. The Minnesotan finished a disappointing 35th after taking his car behind the wall in the closing laps of the race.
The biggest incident of the day occured at the start of stage three, when Creed (who had just beat Allgaier off of pit road) accelerated late in the restart zone, causing a checkup behind the leaders that collected multiple drivers, including Christian Eckes, Brandon Jones and Ryan Ellis. Eckes and Ellis finished 36th and 37th respectively, while Jones rebounded to finish 14th.
Many cars taking damage at the final stage restart 😬 pic.twitter.com/7LeHMQPI6n
— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) June 1, 2025
On the following restart, Creed pulled away from Zilisch and Allgaier as they battled for second, but the two teammates soon closed in on the Californian and both got around him with less than 70 laps to go.
The final pass for the lead came on the restart with 49 laps to go, when Allgaier passed Jones (who had stayed out on older tires) for the lead. Zilisch put pressure on Allgaier for the remainder of the race and at points looked as if he had the speed to pass him, but Allgaier pulled away in the final 15 laps and went on to score the victory.
What a move!!@J_Allgaier takes control once again at @NashvilleSuperS. pic.twitter.com/F8DNz3A7Qb
— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) June 1, 2025
Xfinity Series Nashville Race Results
The Xfinity Series will take next weekend off before returning in two weeks for the running of The Chilango 150 on Saturday, June 14 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City. The green flag will fly at 4:30 p.m., with coverage provided on The CW.
Jake Altmayer joined the Frontstretch team in 2025, assisting as a news writer and contributing to other weekly columns and articles, such as Friday Faceoff and Xfinity Breakdown. A 2024 graduate of DePaul University, Altmayer has closely followed NASCAR's national series (Cup, Xfinity and Trucks) for nearly a decade and has attended more than a dozen races over the course of that time. In his free time, he enjoys cycling, spending time with his loved ones, and listening to his favorite band, the Beach Boys.