Connor Zilisch gives JR Motorsports, Dale Earnhardt Jr., 100th win in Pennzoil 250 at IMS

Indianapolis Star

27-07-2025

INDIANAPOLIS — While others faltered late in Saturday's Pennzoil 250 for the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Connor Zilisch was there to capitalize as he picked up his third win in a row and JR Motorsports' 100th victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Kyle Larson fought with Justin Allgaier for the race lead on a Lap 86 restart and briefly lost control of his car, sliding into Allgaier as the pair exited Turn 2. The contact sent Allgaier into the outside wall exiting the corner and allowed Zilisch to go underneath both drivers on the back stretch to get the race lead with Taylor Gray in second and Sam Mayer third.
'Justin could have left (Kyle) a little more room and Kyle probably could have backed it up or drove it in deeper to get clear, but those moments happen and I feel bad that it took Justin and Kyle out the race,' Zilisch said.
Mayer led 32 laps earlier in the race after battling with Allgaier who led a race-high 37 laps. With Allgaier and Larson not being factors for the win, Mayer's focus changed immensely especially with a championship on the line.
'Seeing (that crash) firsthand changes your perspective on the race and what you can accomplish,' Mayer said. 'And before that I'm just trying to set sail and get as many points as I can. And then when (Allgaier) had his misfortune, you're trying to capitalize at that point. So we did that and a lot of the other contenders had issues but, yeah, I think it's going to be a race against me and (Zilisch) there for the championship because I think we have the most momentum right now.'
The carnage wasn't quite over yet.
With 10 laps to go, Aric Almirola bumped Austin Hill as the pair battled for fourth place going to Turn 3. Hill's car got sideways but he regained control of the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. As the duo moved into the north short chute, Hill and Almirola had contact again, sending both to the wall. Almirola believed the contact was intentional.
'He blocked me three times, I finally got him loose in (Turn) 3,' Almirola said. 'He had damage on the nose so he was really slow in the corners and so it was time to go, we're coming to nine laps to go, the leaders are starting to put a gap on us so it's time to go and I got him loose and he just turned left and hooked me in the right rear. Honestly, one of the biggest hits in my entire NASCAR career. Very reminiscent of the hit I took when I broke my back. So glad that I'm OK, thankful to everybody back at the shop at Joe Gibbs Racing for building amazing race cars and making them safe.'
NASCAR gave Hill a five lap penalty for reckless driving.
On the following restart with four laps to go, Gray grabbed the lead from the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. Zilisch tried twice to get the lead from Gray and succeeded on the penultimate lap of the race, getting underneath Gray off of the second corner.
'Riley (Herbst) won the race last year doing the same exact thing,' Zilisch said. 'And everybody at Chevrolet, … I've sat with them in a room and watched races and just studied for countless hours and I wouldn't know as much as I do today without them, I wouldn't be as good as I am today without them, I wouldn't be the person I am today without them.'
Try as he might, Gray's No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota just wasn't handling quite right at the end of the race.
'(Sheldon Creed) did a good job pushing me on the restart and before the caution I thought we were a good bit better than (Zilisch),' Gray said. 'And then with the long red flag, just heat cycling and, and heat soaking all the tires and stuff just got me a lot tighter firing off for that second or that last green flag run. So just really struggled off of (Turn) 2 and that's where (Zilisch) was able to capitalize on me the most.'
As Zilisch snatched the lead from Gray, Mayer followed Zilisch to get second place for himself. Mayer could not catch the 19-year-old, finishing .339 seconds behind with Gray in third, Larson fourth ahead of Ryan Sieg. William Sawalich finished sixth, Sammy Smith was seventh ahead of Daniel Dye, Jesse Love and Dean Thompson rounding out the top 10.
Mayer led every lap to win the race's first 30-lap stage and Allgaier won the second 30-lap stage over Zilisch by a few inches. The race had six cautions for 29 laps.