Heading into Saturday’s (July 12) NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Sonoma Raceway, it was clear that Connor Zilisch and Shane van Gisbergen would be the drivers to beat.
Both have shown exceptional speed on road courses throughout their short time in NASCAR, and with the two JR Motorsports teammates starting side-by-side on the front row, it looked increasingly likely that we’d witness another fierce battle between them for the win like last week in Chicago.
One more appreciation post for the battle these two @JRMotorsports teammates brought today! pic.twitter.com/Ozp4anY2A6
— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) July 12, 2025
A fierce battle is exactly what we got, as Zilisch and van Gisbergen ran nose to tail for most of the 79-lap event, with both swapping the lead throughout the first two stages. In the closing laps, it briefly looked as if van Gisbergen may not have had the car underneath him to outrun the JR Motorsports rookie, but the Kiwi driver mounted a late-race charge and got to Zilisch’s bumper with two laps to go.
Van Gisbergen continued to apply the pressure all the way through the final turn, but Zilisch managed to fend off the three-time V8 Supercar champion to score the fourth win of his Xfinity Series career.
Crossing the line behind the two JRM drivers were rookies William Sawalich and Nick Sanchez, with Cup Series regular Riley Herbst rounding out the top five. Justin Allgaier, Taylor Gray, Carson Kvapil, Sammy Smith and Sheldon Creed rounded out the top 10.
The Winners
It must have been a feeling of redemption for Zilisch and his team to hold off van Gisbergen for the win, as it comes just one week after SVG outdueled the 18-year-old driver in the closing laps at Chicago and ran him wide on a late-race restart. The victory also marks Zilisch’s seventh consecutive top-five finish since returning from injury at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 24.
After another string of disappointing finishes, Sawalich put together his most impressive run of the year with a third-place result. The No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing driver qualified inside the top five and ran there for much of the day, even briefly passing van Gisbergen for second at the start of the final stage. The finish marks Sawalich’s fourth top 10 of the season, three of which have come at road courses.
It was yet another strong showing for Big Machine Racing’s Sanchez, who drove all the way up from 23rd on the starting grid to score a fourth-place finish. The rookie driver has now finished top five in three consecutive races, after winning at EchoPark Speedway and finishing fifth in the Chicago street race.
Sawalich and Sanchez weren’t the only rookies who had great days, as Joe Gibbs Racing’s Gray finished seventh after starting from the rear of the field due to an engine change. With the strong result, Gray now ranks 11th in the series standings, 22 points above the playoff cutline.
Perhaps the driver who maximized their points the most on the day was Kvapil, who brought his No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet home in eighth while also finishing top five in both of the opening stages of the race. The finish marks the North Carolinian’s first top-10 result on a road course.
Lastly, it was a strong day for several underdog drivers and teams, as Jordan Anderson Racing’s Austin Green and DGM Racing’s Josh Bilicki finished 11th and 14th, respectively. Green has now finished 11th or better in six of his nine series’ road course starts.
The Losers
Sam Mayer looked to be on his way to a top-10 finish after running up front for most of the afternoon and winning the opening stage, but the No. 41 Haas Factory Team driver lost numerous spots on the final lap and ended the day in 17th. The result snaps a streak of three straight top-10 finishes for the Wisconsin native.
It was a tough points day for Christian Eckes, Ryan Sieg and Harrison Burton, who are all battling to make the playoffs but lost ground in the standings after encountering misfortune during the race.
Eckes and Sieg were involved in an incident coming out of turn seven, which resulted in Eckes’ Chevrolet suffering heavy front-end damage and Sieg nearly going for a spin, while Burton spun out in turn 11 off the nose of Corey Day after running inside the top 10. Burton went on to finish 21st, while Eckes and Sieg placed 34th and 35th, respectively.
Day ended up with a disappointing result himself. The Hendrick Motorsports development driver was running just outside the top 10 in the closing laps of the race, but he went for a spin after making contact with Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill. Day managed to get his Chevrolet back going, but he had to settle for a 24th-place result.
Lastly, it was a short afternoon for Hill’s teammate Jesse Love, who qualified fourth and ran inside the top five early in stage one before mechanical issues ended his day after only 11 laps. Love finished a disappointing 38th.
Fuel for Thought
With Zilisch and van Gisbergen dominating the recent road course events in the Xfinity Series, it raises the question of which (if any) series regular could step up their game and potentially put up a challenge against them.
Perhaps the driver who stands out the most is Mayer, as he has multiple wins on road courses and often seems to run inside the top five, but I’d also keep my eyes on the rookie Kvapil, who has already shown great speed in his first attempts at the road courses he’s competed at thus far, and he will likely only get faster as he develops as a driver and gains more experience. That said, I still think it will be a while before we see another series regular show the absolute raw speed that Zilisch has. There’s a reason the young driver is already rumored to be moving up to the Cup Series in 2026.
Paint Scheme of the Week
Brad Perez’s Pala Casino Chevrolet was hard to miss on-track Saturday, as it featured a vibrant pink paint scheme. Perez finished the day in 31st, one lap down.
🟢 Green flag is out for 79 laps around @RaceSonoma!#PitBossFoodMaxx250 | @FunkAway | @financeproplus | @PalaCasino pic.twitter.com/Ys5AwMt4iZ
— Alpha Prime Racing (@TeamAlphaPrime) July 12, 2025
Where to Next?
Next Saturday, July 19, the series heads to Dover Motor Speedway for the BetRivers 200. Ryan Truex won last year’s event in a thrilling double overtime finish, in which Truex led only the final two laps of the race. Truex also won the 2023 running of the race.
Coverage begins at 4:00 p.m. ET, with the television broadcast on The CW and radio coverage on the Performance Racing Network.
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.