Practice #1 : Nashville Superspeedway

• Nashville Superspeedway
• Tennessee Lottery 250
• Pole Winner: William Sawalich
• Age: 18
• Team : No 18 - Starkey Toyota
• Owner: Joe Gibbs
• Crew Chief: Jeff Meendering
• William Sawalich won the Pole Award for the Tennessee Lottery 250 with a lap of 3086 seconds, 155152 mph
• This is his second pole in 17 NASCAR Xfinity Series races
• This is his first pole and sixth top-10 start in 2025
• This is his first pole in one races at Nashville Superspeedway
• Austin Hill (second) posted his ninth top-10 start of 2025 and his fourth in five races at Nashville Superspeedway
• Sam Mayer (third) posted his first top-10 start at Nashville Superspeedway It is his ninth in 14 races this season
• William Sawalich (first) was the fastest qualifying rookie

• Saturday, May 31st, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

Allgaier Bounces Back at Nashville, Strengthens Title Bid with Commanding Win

Justin Allgaier joked before the start of Saturday’s Tennessee Lottery 250 that he needed to win his second NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Nashville Superspeedway so he could earn another guitar trophy and have one for each of his two young daughters.

Hours later, his dominant work in the race was indeed sweet music for his title hopes. For the second time in his career, the veteran Allgaier swept both in-race stages and went on to claim victory at the 1.33-mile concrete oval – his third win of the 2025 season.

The reigning series champion had to hold off his 18-year-old rookie JR Motorsports teammate, Connor Zilisch in the closing laps, however, before ultimately driving his No. 7 Chevrolet to the win by a slight 1.289-seconds.

The two had been separated by less than half a second for much of the closing 20 laps before lapped traffic helped the Allgaier pull away in the longest green flag run – 48 laps. In all he led a race high 101 of the race’s 188-laps.

“These guys right here, they deserve this one more than anything,’’ Allgaier, 39, said, shaking hands with his JR Motorsports crew as members came up to congratulate him. “I screwed them over last week [at Charlotte] by making a [wrong] pit call with an equally as good car. But this time it was Chevrolet, which was absolutely unreal. [His wife] Ashley and the kids are here and it’s so cool to get a win here at Nashville. The fans here are incredible. This place is special to me.

“I said before the race I really wanted to get a second guitar so both kids would have a guitar. So they can fight over them. I’m really proud of JR Motorsports.”

You’d be hard-pressed to tell it was actually Zilisch’s first ever race at the concrete Nashville oval. He earned points in both stages, had good pit stops, and moved up through the field and into the top five by lap 70. He led 18 laps but his run out front was interrupted by a caution with 53 laps remaining. Allgaier took the lead in a three-wide battle up front on the ensuing restart with 48 to go and never looked back.

“I thought I might be able to get back by him, but clean air is everything and the first 20 laps of a run if you had clean air you’d prevail on a long run, just keeping your stuff cooler and not having to run as hard,’’ Zilisch said. “Congrats to Justin. He did a really good job executing on that restart. It’s the second week in a row I’ve finished second because of a re-start. It’s frustrating.

“I’m really happy with the progress we’re making and being frustrated with second [place] is a good thing,’’ he added with a smile.

Haas Factory Team’s Sam Mayer’s No. 41 Ford finished third, just in front of his teammate Sheldon Creed in the No. 00 Ford and a third JR Motorsports Chevy, driven by last week’s NASCAR Cup Series race winner, Ross Chastain.

Aric Almirola, Austin Hill, Jesse Love and rookie Carson Kvapil and Sammy Smith rounded out the top 10.

It marks the first win for a full-time Xfinity Series driver in the last three races and extends Allgaier’s points lead over Richard Childress Racing’s Hill to 92 points.

• Drivers Entered: 40 (2 drivers will not make the race)
• Laps Scheduled: 188
• Margin of Victory: 01.289 Seconds
• Time of Race: 2 Hours 15 Minutes 9 Seconds
• Average Speed: 111.006
• Cautions: 6 for 39 laps
• Lead Changes: 8
• Green Flag Passes: 1,284 (8.6 passes per green flag lap)

• Nashville Superspeedway
• Tennessee Lottery 250
• Race Winner: Justin Allgaier
• Age: 38
• Team : No 7 - Hellmann's Chevrolet
• Owner: Kelley Earnhardt-Miller
• Crew Chief: James Pohlman
• Justin Allgaier won the Tennessee Lottery 250, his 28th victory in 485 Xfinity Series races
• This is his third victory and 10th top-10 finish in 2025
• This is his second victory and seventh top-10 finish in 11 races at Nashville Superspeedway
• Connor Zilisch (second) posted his first top-10 finish in one race at Nashville Superspeedway It is his fifth top-10 finish in 2025
• Sam Mayer (third) posted his fourth top-10 finish in four races at Nashville Superspeedway
• Connor Zilisch (second) was the highest finishing rookie
• Justin Allgaier leads the point standings by 92 points over Austin Hill