After missing the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Texas Motor Speedway on May 3 with a back injury, Connor Zilisch sat 12th in points, 172 behind leader Justin Allgaier.
Zilisch had a win at Circuit of the Americas from March and was locked into the playoffs, but his first 11 starts of the 2025 season weren’t without growing pains. He won three poles and scored the aforementioned win, but he only recorded three top 10s and a so-so average finish of 16.8.
The speed was there, however, and it only seemed to be a matter of time before the 19-year-old phenom that won his series debut would put all the pieces together in his first full-time season.
Sure enough, he’s put all the pieces together, and he did in a way that no one could have imagined.
In the 10 races since Zilisch’s return from injury, he has turned into Superman.
He’s scored a top-five finish in all 10 races and hasn’t finished worse than fifth since April. He’s scored four wins in his last seven starts, including a stretch of three in a row. During this three-month span of absolute domination, he’s posted a mind-boggling average finish of 2.3.
| Pre-Injury (11 Races) | Post-Injury (10 Races) | |
| Wins | 1 | 4 |
| Top 5s | 1 | 10 |
| Top 10s | 3 | 10 |
| Avg. Finish | 16.8 | 2.3 |
| Laps Led | 168 | 319 |
| Points Scored | 299 (27.2 per race) | 473 (47.3 per race) |
Zilisch has risen from potential championship contender to the favorite. He was 188 points behind Allgaier after the Xfinity race at Nashville Superspeedway, and he’s erased a 188-point deficit in just two months. He’s scored an average of 47.3 points per race in his last 10, and he’s outscored Allgaier by an average of 23.5 points per race in his last eight.
| Race | Zilisch Points Scored | Allgaier Points Scored | Difference |
| First 12 Races | 299 | 471 | -172 |
| Charlotte | 52 | 51 | -171 |
| Nashville | 44 | 61 | -188 |
| Mexico City | 35 | 4 | -157 |
| Pocono | 58 | 31 | -130 |
| Atlanta | 38 | 6 | -98 |
| Chicago Street | 45 | 22 | -75 |
| Sonoma | 46 | 40 | -69 |
| Dover | 57 | 44 | -56 |
| Indianapolis | 55 | 20 | -21 |
| Iowa | 43 | 22 | 0 |
| Total | 772 | 772 | 0 |
Just when it looked like the regular season title was wrapped up for the defending series champion, Zilisch and Iowa winner Sam Mayer (16 points back in third) have rejoined the party.
Of course, it’s worth mentioning that the main reason the two are currently tied is because Zilisch got loose in turn 1 and accidentally spun Allgaier from the top five in the final stage during Saturday’s (Aug. 2) 250-lapper in the Hawkeye State.
Zilisch finished Iowa in fourth — three spots short of four consecutive wins — and ultimately apologized for the incident after the race was over. Allgaier crossed the line in 16th.
With Iowa in the books, there are four races left in the Xfinity regular season: Watkins Glen International, Daytona International Speedway, Portland International Raceway and World Wide Technology Raceway.
Zilisch, the road-racing prodigy, has the advantage over Allgaier on paper. Two of the final races are road courses, and Zilisch won at Watkins Glen a year ago in dominant fashion. On the flip side, Allgaier has finished runner-up in the last two Portland races and has more experience at WWT than the rest of the field combined. Daytona serves as the ultimate wildcard, and the regular season championship may very well be decided by who escapes The Big One and who doesn’t.
But regardless of who prevails in the regular season title fight, it’s going to be a treat to watch them go to battle for this year’s Xfinity crown.
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
I know some around here hate Zilisch, almost to an unhealthy level, but he’s almost certainly the next big thing in NASCAR. From a skill perspective, he’s SVG level on road course, yet unlike SVG, he has become fast on ovals as well.
He has some hard lessons to learn about when to push, and when to ride to avoid wrecking others, but the old axiom about preferring to have a driver you need to rein in over a driver who’s just slow still holds true.
Unlike Hocevar, Zilisch doesn’t seem to be an inherently aggressive driver. He just gets in over his head due to youthful exuberance, and sometimes others pay the price for his mistakes. I suspect he will learn this over time.