Connor Zilisch overcame multiple late-race restarts and passed Taylor Gray for the lead with only two laps to go to earn JR Motorsports 100th ever NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Saturday, July 26 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Zilisch was followed by Mayer and Gray for the top three spots. Larson and Ryan Sieg rounded out the top five.
The victory is Zilisch’s third consecutive race win.
The weekend afternoon started with a multitude of drivers swapping positions across the top five interrupted only by a spin from Harrison Burton on lap 4. However, at the point it was all Sam Mayer who led the first 33 laps of the event after starting from the pole.
Justin Allgaier challenged him at the end of stage one but couldn’t get around the Haas Factory Team driver. Mayer would win the stage and its playoff point – the third of his season.
Under caution, Aric Almirola inherited the lead on pit road while the dominant Mayer fell to fourth. However, Allgaier beat Almirola to the lead on the restart and led for 16 laps.
On lap 52, JRM teammate Zilisch caught the No. 7 and got around him for the lead. Allgaier stuck with him, and for eight laps hung onto his back bumper. It wasn’t until the very last corner did Allgaier finally make his move, and he barely beat the No. 88 across the line for a stage two victory.
The final stage became far more chaotic.
Kyle Larson defeated Allgaier on the restart for the final segment and kept the lead until a crash involving Carson Kvapil and Leland Honeyman Jr. halted the race again on lap 68.
On the next restart, Allgaier pulled off a heroic move to the outside to overtake the reigning Brickyard 400 champion for the lead once more. The race was paused one more time for a small rain shower on lap 82.
Allgaier tried to restart on the outside again over Larson on the lap 86 restart, but he slapped the wall in turn 2 which took him completely out of the race. Zilisch inherited the lead and kept it until a caution involving a hot-tempered Austin Hill turning into Almirola brought out the race’s final caution on lap 92.
Gray defeated Zilisch and took the lead for two laps upon the final restart with four laps to go. However, Zilisch retook the spot with less than two laps to go and never looked back.
Pennzoil 250 Results
The Xfinity Series will return to Iowa Speedway next weekend for the 22nd round of the 2025 season. The race will be live on the CW at 4:30 ET. on Saturday, Aug. 2.
Dalton Hopkins began writing for Frontstretch in April 2021. Currently, he is the lead writer for the weekly Thinkin' Out Loud column, co-host of the Frontstretch Happy Hour podcast, and one of our lead reporters. Beforehand, he wrote for IMSA shortly after graduating from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2019. Simultaneously, he also serves as a Captain in the US Army.
Follow Dalton on Twitter @PitLaneCPT