The cars glistened under the lights of Nashville Superspeedway on Saturday, May 31, and as the cars roared in Music City, Justin Allgaier pulled away from Connor Zilisch and earned the guitar trophy.
Allgaier won both stages and led the later portions of the race after a brief battle with Zilisch to claim the victory. Zilisch finished second behind Allgaier, with Sam Mayer coming in third.
Mayer’s teammate Sheldon Creed finished fourth. Creed had a shot at the win in the last stage but did not have the car to keep up. NASCAR Cup Series full-timer Ross Chastain rounded out the top five, driving the No. 9 JR Motorsports car.
The Winners
Allgaier spent the last two Xfinity Series races at Texas Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway, having victories snatched from him after dominant runs. Today, Allgaier prevented history from repeating itself as he won both stages and took the checkered flag for the win at Nashville. Allgaier is not slowing down at all in 2025 as he looks to defend his 2024 Xfinity Series championship title.
The Haas Factory Team continues to prove itself as one of the underrated teams in the Xfinity Series, often overshadowed by teams like JR Motorsports. Haas has two promising prospects in their ranks with Creed and Mayer. Tonight, the team achieved a double top five with Mayer and Creed finishing third and fourth, respectively. It likely will not be long before Creed or Mayer find their way to victory lane in 2025.
The Losers
William Sawalich qualified on pole but quickly faded as the green flag flew. However, Sawalich was not done fighting for the night as he was on the verge of earning a top 10 later in the race. Unfortunately for Sawalich, his car would bounce off the side of Sammy Smith‘s car on the backstretch with 53 laps to go. Sawalich went on to finish 35th. Sawalich continues to struggle as he currently sits 25th in points.
Sawalich’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Taylor Gray, also had a poor day as he finished 26th. Gray had an issue at some point and slowed down on the track. This was not what Gray and the No. 54 team needed. Gray sits 15th in the drivers’ standings, and much like his teammate Sawalich, needs to find his stride in order to recover his 2025 season.
Kyle Sieg entered Nashville 28th in points, and is currently the only full-time Xfinity Series driver without a top 10 this season. Sieg did not get close to changing that as he had an incident-filled night. Sieg’s first incident came on lap 37 when he was racing side by side with Parker Retzlaff in turns 1 and 2. Sieg got loose and both he and Retzlaff went up toward the wall. Though Sieg spun around and missed most contact, he was later involved in a massive pileup as the field took the green flag. Sieg ended up finishing 27th in the race as his tumultuous 2025 season continued.
Fuel for Thought
Corey Day ran double duty this weekend at Nashville, as he raced in both the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race and the Xfinity Series race. Day finished fifth in the Truck Series race, earning his first top five. Day may have missed out on a top 10 in his third Xfinity Series race at Nashville as he finished 12th, despite spinning early, but he continues to show potential in his NASCAR starts this season. It is still early, but weekly watchers of NASCAR’s developmental series may be watching the beginnings of a superstar.
Paint Scheme of the Week
Zilisch’s “Blues Hog” paint scheme was eye-catching this weekend and got plenty of screen time as Zilisch contended for the win. Zilisch ended up finishing second as he continues an impressive rookie season in 2025.
Where to Next?
The NASCAR Xfinity Series will return Saturday, June 14, making its return to Mexico City for the first time since 2008. The race will take place at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Coverage for the race will begin at 4:30 p.m. ET on The CW.
Logan Kendall joined the Frontstretch team in 2025 as the Tuesday News Writer and fills in other roles as needed. He resides in the Finger Lakes region of New York and spends his free time writing as a hobby creatively and is a self published author.
Logan can be found on X @LoganKendall48