Race Lineup : Pocono Raceway

• Thursday, June 19th, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

Xfinity Title Fight Rolls into Tricky Pocono with Allgaier Reeling and Hill Rising

After an exciting international foray to Mexico, the NASCAR Xfinity Series returns to oval action with Saturday’s Explore the Pocono Mountains 250.

As triumphant a day as it was for NASCAR Cup Series regular and hometown favorite Daniel Suarez to claim the trophy in Mexico City, it was a tough luck day for NASCAR Xfinity Series championship leader Justin Allgaier, who had trouble early in the race and finished 34th – the second finish of 30th or worst in the last four races for the season’s three-time winner.

He still leads the championship by 54 points over Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill. And there’s certainly reason to be optimistic as the series returns stateside this week. Allgaier has top-10 finishes in four of the last five races at the 2.5-mile Pocono track and was runner-up last summer.

On the flip side, his closest title rival, Hill put together a solid day in what was a chaotic Mexico race at times – finishing third for his sixth consecutive top-10 and 11th in the 15 races this season. And Hill is the only fulltime Xfinity Series driver to have won previously at Pocono, celebrating in Victory Lane in 2023. He has top-10 finishes in three of the four Pocono races he’s competed in.

Three young drivers, 22-year old Sam Mayer, 20-year old Jesse Love and 18-year old rookie Connor Zilisch round out the top-five in the championship standings. Mayer, who drives the No. 41 Haas Factory Team Ford, is still looking for his first victory of the year but has seven top-five finishes. He’s strong at Pocono too with top-10 results in his last three starts.

Love and Zilisch – who have both already clinched Playoff berths with victories this season – are still relatively new to the Pocono track. The RCR driver Love finished 22nd in his only start last year.

Zilisch is one of eight drivers making their first start at the Tricky Triangle; in fact it’s Zilisch’s first visit ever to the famed track. His JR Motorsports team co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. revealed this week, he will serve as crew chief for Zilisch, as the team’s fulltime crew chief is suspended a week for a rules infraction. The team has earned top-five finishes in the three races leading into the weekend.

Three drivers tied or earned their best career finish last week in Mexico City – Taylor Gray (second – tied career best), Christian Eckes (fourth) and William Sawalich).

There have been eight different winners in nine Xfinity Series races at Pocono – former series champ Cole Custer is the only two-time winner. Seven of the past eight winners – with the exception of Hill – are now fulltime NASCAR Cup Series drivers.

Chase Elliott (No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy) will be making his second NASCAR Xfinity Series start of the season.

Practice followed by Kennametal Pole Qualifying starts at 10 a.m. Saturday (The CW App). Haas Factory Team’s Sheldon Creed started on pole position in 2024.

• Pocono Raceway
• Explore the Pocono Mountains 250
• Pole Winner: Chase Elliott
• Age: 29
• Team : No 17 - HendrickCarscom Chevrolet
• Owner: Rick Hendrick
• Crew Chief: Adam Wall
• Chase Elliott won the Pole Award for the Explore the Pocono Mountains 250 with a lap of 54209 seconds, 166024 mph
• This is his third pole in 87 NASCAR Xfinity Series races
• This is his first pole and second top-10 start in 2025
• This is his first pole in three races at Pocono Raceway
• Brandon Jones (second) posted his seventh top-10 start of 2025 and his eighth in ten races at Pocono Raceway
• Nick Sanchez (third) posted his first top-10 start at Pocono Raceway It is his eighth in 16 races this season
• Nick Sanchez (third) was the fastest qualifying rookie

• Saturday, June 21st, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

Rookie Connor Zilisch Scores Gritty First Oval Win as Dale Jr. Calls the Shots at Pocono

In a day of varying strategies and dramatic restarts among the front runners, JR Motorsports rookie Connor Zilisch prevailed in a late race sprint to the checkered flag in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series’ Explore the Pocono Mountains 250 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway – the first oval win of this young talent’s career.

Late race re-starts determined the day and ultimately it came down to a duel between Zilisch and his best friend, last year’s Rookie of the Year, Jesse Love. Zilisch pulled his No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet alongside Love’s car as they crossed the start/finish line with four laps to go and then he took the lead for good with three laps remaining – .437-seconds ahead of the field.

It was that kind of resolute day for the 18-year-old Zilisch, who had some key help in his headset from a first-time crew chief. His team owner, NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr., filled in for the team’s fulltime leader Mardy Lindley, who was serving a one-race suspension.

The two-time Daytona 500 winner Earnhardt, an icon in the sport, not only called the race from atop Zilisch’s pit box, but climbed down and helped out on pit stops too. He was absolutely ecstatic after the race in his debut calling the shots. He’s the fifth crew chief this season to earn his first Xfinity Series victory.

“Just a great job putting us in position to succeed, we had a lot of things go our way, a lot of good luck, good race strategy, had a little help from [his former NASCAR Cup Series crew chief Steve] Letarte,” a grinning Earnhardt said, applauding Lindley’s preparation for the weekend.

“Hat’s off to everybody on this team,” he continued. “It’s been amazing all weekend long. Great race car driver. Connor Zilisch is going to be a big deal in this sport for a long time. A lot of fun for me today.”

Zilisch was similarly exuberant, having to really work hard for this win, his second of the season. Ten caution flags on the afternoon created varying strategies and a real test of restart skills.

“I’ve been dying for this one for a while now, I’ve been so close on the ovals lately,” Zilisch said. “I finished second at Charlotte, second at Nashville.

“And Dale Junior, not too bad on the box,” he said smiling, saying he appreciated Earnhardt’s advice throughout the race. “Pretty cool to have him up there. Thank you so much to the entire JR Motorsports team. … this one is definitely special. I’ve been chasing an oval win for a while now.”

For much of the day, Zilisch’s greatest challenge up front came from former NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott, who is competing in both the Xfinity and Cup Series races this weekend. Elliott led the most laps – 38 of the 100 compared to Zilisch’s 34 out front.

Elliott and the series’ current championship leader, JR Motorsports Justin Allgaier were up front on a restart with 13 laps remaining. While contending for the lead, they nearly came together and had to take evasive action up the track not to collide.

Love took advantage of the situation and came through from the second row to stake claim to the race lead in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. A caution came out almost immediately after Love moved to the front and that allowed Zilisch to start directly behind him on that final restart – leaving the trophy up to the two friends to decide.

“That’s the most focused I’ve ever been inside a race car, I did not want Connor to beat me because I’ll have to hear about it for a long time,” said Love, with a smile. “Hats off to him. He ran a good race. Once I was able to get a draft I was able to get back to him. But that bums me out, I’m not going to lie, but I’m still trying to be grateful we have fast race cars and are in position to win. Hats off to Connor.”

Another rookie rounded out the top-three with Kaulig Racing’s Christian Eckes claiming a career best third-place finish in the No. 16 Chevrolet. Elliott rallied to finish fourth and Ryan Seig was fifth in his family-owned Ford.

Carson Kvapil, Sam Mayer, Sammy Smith, rookie Taylor Gray, and Justin Allgaier rounded out the top-10.

The reigning series champion Allgaier now holds an 82-point championship advantage on RCR’s Austin Hill, who was collected in an early-race accident and finished 35th.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series moves to Atlanta for Friday night’s Focused Health 250 at EchoPark Speedway. Hill has won the last three Atlanta races – the most recent this February.

• Drivers Entered: 38
• Laps Scheduled: 100
• Margin of Victory: 0.437 Seconds
• Time of Race: 2 Hours 24 Minutes 37 Seconds
• Average Speed: 103.722
• Cautions: 10 for 41 laps
• Lead Changes: 10
• Green Flag Passes: 1,891 (32.1 passes per green flag lap)

• Pocono Raceway
• Explore the Pocono Mountains 250
• Race Winner: Connor Zilisch
• Age: 18
• Team : No 88 - Registix Chevrolet
• Owner: Dale Earnhardt, Jr
• Crew Chief: Dale Earnhardt, Jr
• Connor Zilisch won the Explore the Pocono Mountains 250, his third victory in 19 Xfinity Series races
• This is his second victory and seventh top-10 finish in 2025
• This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in one race at Pocono Raceway
• Jesse Love (second) posted his first top-10 finish in two races at Pocono Raceway It is his 10th top-10 finish in 2025
• Christian Eckes (third) posted his first top-10 finish in one race at Pocono Raceway
• Connor Zilisch (first) was the highest finishing rookie
• Justin Allgaier leads the point standings by 82 points over Austin Hill