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  • JR Motorsports reveals crew chief lineup for 2025 Xfinity season

    JR Motorsports reveals crew chief lineup for 2025 Xfinity season

    JR Motorsports (JRM) took to social media to reveal its crew chief lineup for the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series season which features the return of four familiar names and one new name calling the shots atop their respective numbered pit boxes and paired drivers.

    Beginning next season, Cory Shea will be serving as an Xfinity crew chief for JRM’s No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro entry which will be fielded as the “all-star” entry. Shea makes his move atop the pit box as a crew chief after recently serving as a car chief for veteran Justin Allgaier and the No. 7 JRM team that achieved the 2024 Xfinity Series championship. Thus far, Ross Chastain and Shane van Gisbergen, both of whom compete in the Cup Series for Trackhouse Racing, have been confirmed to pilot the No. 9 “all-star” entry for select events (nine total combined).

    Speaking of JRM’s No. 7 team, Jim Pohlman, the reigning Xfinity championship-winning crew chief, will remain both atop the pit box of the No. 7 Chevrolet team and paired up with Allgaier as both strive to defend their title for the 2025 season. Pohlman first joined JRM as an Xfinity crew chief in 2023, where he navigated Allgaier and the No. 7 team to four victories and a runner-up result in the final standings. This past season, the duo captured two regular-season victories, made the Championship 4 round and outdueled the competition during the finale at Phoenix Raceway to win the title, which marked Allgaier’s first in the series after 14 previous attempts and during his seventh appearance as a Championship 4 contender.

    Currently, Pohlman, who first served as a crew chief for Sheldon Creed at Richard Childress Racing for four Xfinity events in 2022, has achieved six victories, three poles, 25 top-five results and 41 top-10 results as a crew chief in the series.

    Like Pohlman, Phillip Bell will be returning as a crew chief for JRM’s No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro team which will be piloted by Sammy Smith, the latter of whom returns for a second consecutive driving campaign at JRM in 2025. Bell, who embarked in his first season as a NASCAR crew chief last year, initially spent the first 23 scheduled events working atop the pit box of JRM’s No. 9 team and driver Brandon Jones. Then starting at Atlanta Motor Speedway in September, he shifted to JRM’s No. 8 team and was paired with Sammy Smith for the final 10 scheduled events. During the span, Bell notched his first victory as a crew chief after Smith won at Talladega Superspeedway in October, which enabled the duo to transfer to the Playoff’s Round of 8 and settle in 11th place in the final driver’s standings.

    Through his first full-time season as an Xfinity crew chief (33 races total), Bell notched one victory, two poles, three top-five results and nine top-10 results as he prepares to lead the No. 8 JRM Chevrolet team and Smith on a full-time basis in 2025.

    Meanwhile, Andrew Overstreet will be paired up with incoming Xfinity rookie Carson Kvapil, the latter of whom will be driving the No. 1 JRM Chevrolet entry for his first full-time campaign in the division amid a successful campaign in late model competition. Previously, Kvapil achieved the 2021 CARS Super Late Model Tour title and back-to-back CARS Late Model Stock Tour titles between 2022 and 2023. This past season, Kvapil also won the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 and the Icebreaker 125.

    Overstreet, who first served as an Xfinity crew chief for driver Sam Mayer for three events in 2022, was a crew chief for JRM’s No. 88 “all-star” Chevrolet team that appeared in a total of 17 events in 2024. At Watkins Glen International this past August, Overstreet achieved his first Xfinity career victory as a crew chief after he navigated Zilisch to his first career victory in his series’ debut from pole position. In addition to Zilisch, Overstreet spent the 2024 season working with Kvapil, team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr., Connor Mosack and Bubba Pollard with the No. 88 team. He also served as a crew chief for JRM’s No. 1 team and Mayer for a single event this past season.

    Through 21 appearances as an Xfinity crew chief, Overstreet has achieved one victory, two poles, 10 top-five results and 14 top-10 results as he strives to lead Kvapil to both his first victory and Playoff berth.

    Like teammate Overstreet, Mardy Lindley will be paired with another incoming Xfinity rookie, that being Connor Zilisch as he will be piloting the No. 88 JRM Chevrolet for his first full-time campaign in the series. Lindley became an Xfinity crew chief for JRM for the first time in 2023 after spending the previous two seasons as a Craftsman Truck Series crew chief at Kyle Busch Motorsports. Paired with Sam Mayer and the No. 1 team, Lindley led both the driver and team to four victories and a Championship 4 berth, where they settled in third place in the final standings. This past season, Lindley and Mayer notched three victories and ended up in ninth place in the final standings after both fell short of reaching the Championship 4 round for a second consecutive season.

    Through 62 appearances as an Xfinity crew chief, Lindley has achieved seven victories, one pole, 19 top-five results and 30 top-10 results as he strives to navigate Zilisch to additional victories and his first Playoff berth in 2025.

    The 2025 season is scheduled to mark JR Motorsports’ 20th consecutive season as a full-time team in the Xfinity Series division. Since its inception, the organization has accumulated a total of 88 victories and four championships. The organization has also notched a combined 35 poles, 534 top-five results, 1,045 top-10 results and 14,308 laps led through a 19-year span as they strive for more on-track success for the upcoming racing season.

    With the crew chief lineup set, JR Motorsports’ 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series season is scheduled to commence at Daytona International Speedway on February 15. The event’s broadcast time is slated to commence at 5 p.m. ET on the CW Network.

  • Grant Enfinger scores dominant victory at Talladega, clinches Championship 4 berth

    Grant Enfinger scores dominant victory at Talladega, clinches Championship 4 berth

    The feeling of winning at home never felt sweeter for Grant Enfinger, who guaranteed himself an early shot to contend for this year’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship after capping off a dominant performance with a victory in the Love’s RV Stop 225 at Talladega Superspeedway on Friday, October 4.

    The 39-year-old Enfinger from Fairhope, Alabama, led nine times for a race-high 34 of 85-scheduled laps in an event where he started in fourth place and spent a majority of the event racing upfront amid the draft and up against both his fellow Playoff and non-Playoff contenders. After finishing second in the first stage before winning the second stage, Enfinger, who would endure three restarts throughout the final stage period, retained the lead at the start of the final one with nine laps remaining. He then fended off late challenges from Playoff contenders Christian Eckes and Taylor Gray through the frontstretch on the final lap and amid a multi-truck wreck approaching the finish line to record his first elusive victory of the season and automatically transfer his way into this year’s Championship 4 round.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, William Sawalich, the 2024 ARCA Menards Series East champion, notched his first Truck Series career pole position after he posted a pole-winning lap at 175.764 mph in 54.482 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Ben Rhodes, who posted his best qualifying lap at 175.648 mph in 54.518 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Keith McGee dropped to the rear of the field as a result of replacing Bryan Dauzat in the FDNY Racing entry. Bayley Currey also dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change to his Niece Motorsports entry.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, William Sawalich muscled his No. 1 Starkey/Soundgear Toyota Tundra TRD Pro ahead with the lead from the inside lane as he was followed by Ben Rhodes and Playoff contenders Ty Majeski and Taylor Gray through the first two turns. Sawalich proceeded to lead through the backstretch as a bevy of competitors behind dueled early for positions in two drafting lanes. When the field returned to the frontstretch, Playoff contender Grant Enfinger received a draft from Chase Purdy from the outside lane to rocket his No. 9 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST ahead and lead the first lap ahead of Sawalich.

    Through the second to fifth lap, the field fanned out to three drafting lanes as Purdy, Enfinger and Matt Mills all took turns leading at the front while Jake Garcia, Sawalich, Connor Zilisch, Dean Thompson, Majeski, Playoff contender Tyler Ankrum, Dean Thompson and Lawless Alan all followed pursuit. By then, Ben Rhodes, who started on the front row alongside Sawalich, was penalized for jumping the start, as he launched ahead of Sawalich when he was not in control of bringing the field up to race pace before the event’s start. After serving a drive-through penalty for the penalty, however, Rhodes was penalized a second time, this time for a blend violation as he moved up the racing surface early through the backstretch. The pair of penalties would result in Rhodes losing a lap to the field while Mills and Enfinger dueled for the lead in front of the field.

    Through the first 10-scheduled laps, Enfinger was leading ahead of Purdy, Sawalich, Mills and Majeski while Garcia, Playoff contender Taylor Gray, Zilisch, Ankrum and Dean Thomson were racing in the top 10. Behind, Playoff contender Corey Heim occupied 11th place ahead of, Lawless Alan, Playoff contender Christian Eckes, Playoff contender Rajah Caruth and Ryan Reed while Bret Holmes, Nick Sanchez, Stefan Parsons, Stewart Friesen and Tanner Gray were mired in the top 20.

    Five laps later, Enfinger, who led three of the previous five laps, was leading by a hair amid a side-by-side battle with Mills while the rest of the field racing in two-packed lanes followed suit. By then, Garcia, Sawalich and Zilisch were running in the top five as Playoff contenders Majeski, Taylor Gray and Ankrum were racing in the top-10 mark. In addition, Heim and Caruth were battling within the top-15 mark while Eckes and Sanchez were mired within the top-20 mark. Meanwhile, Johnny Sauter, who was making his second Truck start of the season with Hattori Racing Enterprises, had pitted to have a broken spoiler brace fixed.

    With two laps remaining in the first stage period, Sanchez and Currey pitted their respective entries, primarily for fuel, as Enfinger retained the lead.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 20, Matt Mills received a draft from Garcia to overtake Enfinger from the outside lane through the backstretch and claim his first Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Enfinger settled in second ahead of Garcia, Zilisch and Sawalich while Thompson, Majeski, Alan, Taylor Gray and Tanner Gray were scored in the top 10 on the track. Meanwhile, Playoff contenders that included Ankrum, Heim, Eckes and Caruth were mired within the top 16 while Sanchez was down in 32nd place.

    Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Mills pits while the rest including Stewart Friesen, Matt Crafton, Spencer Boyd and Sanchez remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Enfinger exited pit road first ahead of Majeski, Garcia, Alan, Zilisch, Eckes, Thompson, Taylor Gray, Caruth and Tyler Ankrum. Friesen, Crafton and Boyd would eventually pit prior to the second stage’s start while Sanchez, who pitted before the first stage’s conclusion, remained on the track and inherited the lead.

    The second stage period started on Lap 27 as Sanchez and Enfinger occupied the front row. At the start, Sanchez and Enfinger dueled for the lead for a full lap and in front of two stacked lanes. Enfinger was being pushed by Garcia while Sanchez was being pushed by Majeski and Zilisch. By then, Taylor Gray pitted to have a punctured tire on his No. 17 Place of Hope Toyota Tundra TRD Pro removed as both Sanchez and Enfinger continued to duel for the lead by the Lap 30 mark.

    Then with three laps remaining in the second stage period, the caution flew after Sanchez, who had both lanes to his control before Enfinger came storming back to challenge him for the lead, got loose by Zilisch through the frontstretch. Sanchez then slid sideways into the path of Zilisch, where Zilisch kept pushing Sanchez’s spinning No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado RST while Sauter, Rhodes and Purdy all wrecked against the outside wall while trying to avoid the wreck. The incident occurred as Mills and Parsons made contact, but avoided igniting a wreck entering the frontstretch while being mired behind Playoff contenders Heim, Ankrum and Taylor Gray, the latter of whom had lost a lap to the field.

    The multi-truck incident on Lap 37 was enough for the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 40 to officially conclude under caution as Enfinger was awarded his second Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Garcia, Eckes, Alan, Caruth, Thompson, Heim, Tanner Gray, Ankrum and Stefan Parsons were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, some, led by Crafton and including Boyd while the rest led by Enfinger pitted. During the pit stops, Mason Maggio, who made contact with Ankrum on pit road, was penalized for having too many men over his pit wall. Soon after and amid the caution period, a bevy of names including Playoff contender Taylor Gray, Sanchez all returned to pit road for additional services.

    With 39 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced under green as Dye and Caruth occupied the front row. At the start, Daniel Dye, who received drafting help from a bevy of Chevrolet teammates, including teammate Eckes, muscled his No. 43 NAPA Nightvision Chevrolet Silverado RST ahead of Caruth before he then moved in front of Caruth entering the backstretch. Eckes would also follow suit and he also transitioned his No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado RST in front of Caruth on the inside lane. By the following lap, Dye was leading ahead of a five-truck breakaway from the field along with teammate Eckes, Ankrum, Caruth and Dean Thompson while Enfinger and Corey Heim dueled for sixth place in front of two lines of stacked competitors.

    With 35 laps remaining, teammates Eckes and Dye dueled for the lead in front of two stacked lanes of competitors. Five laps later, the top-10 competitors on the track were separated under a second as Eckes was leading ahead of Enfinger, teammate Dye, Caruth and Parsons while Mills, Garcia, Alan, Kaden Honeycutt and Sanchez were in the top 10.

    Then with 28 laps remaining, a majority of field led by Eckes and Enfinger pitted under green. During the pit stops, Caruth blew a tire while he was slamming on the brakes and locking up his front tires of his No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST while trying to enter pit road. Caruth, however, would be penalized for being too fast while trying to enter pit road as he eventually lost a lap. In addition, Dye missed pit road and could not pit with the front-runners while Norm Benning spun on pit road after making contact with Stefan Parsons. Soon after, Purdy was seen limping his slowed truck below the apron on the backstretch, but he continued without drawing a caution.

    Back on the track with 25 laps remaining, Jason White was leading ahead of Dawson Sutton, Mason Maggio, Honeycutt and Sanchez while Enfinger, Eckes, Garcia, Riggs and Friesen were scored in the top 10.

    Shortly after, the caution flew when Garcia got turned off the front nose of Parsons that resulted in Garcia colliding with rookie Layne Riggs and clipping Riggs again that sent Riggs back across the track and into Tanner Gray and Matt Mills up against the outside wall. Connor Zilisch and Dean Thompson would also get involved in the carnage while Playoff contenders Tyler Ankrum and Taylor Gray slid through the infield grass and kicked up dirt to avoid the carnage.

    During the caution period, some led by the leader Jason White and including Sutton, Mason Maggio, Clay Greenfield, Cory Roper, Spencer Boyd and Ankrum pitted while the rest led by the new leader Honeycutt remained on the track.

    Down to the final 17 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Honeycutt received a draft from Eckes on the inside lane to rocket ahead with the lead through the first two turns. As the field started to fan out to three lanes through the backstretch, Eckes made his move to the outside lane as he overtook Honeycutt while he was followed by Sanchez. Sanchez then made a move beneath Eckes in Turn 4 as he assumed the lead and led the following lap ahead of Honeycutt and Eckes. Sanchez would then be placed on defense to block Eckes and Honeycutt as Enfinger and Taylor Gray started to muscle up into the top five by the following lap.

    The caution would then return with 15 laps remaining after Sanchez received a push from Eckes that got him sliding sideways below the apron entering Turn 3. While trying to save his truck from spinning, Sanchez slid up the track backward in between Turns 3 and 4 and barely clipped Dye, which sent Dye for a spin below the turn’s grass. With nearly the entire field dodging Sanchez’s truck, Keith McGee and Mason Maggio wrecked along with Dawson Sutton while avoiding Sanchez.

    The start of the following restart period with nine laps remaining featured Enfinger rocketing ahead with the lead with drafting help from Eckes and Alan while Taylor Gray, who restarted outside the front row, blended in line in fourth place ahead of Ryan Reed and Ankrum. With a majority of the front-runners running in a long single-file line towards the inside lane, Enfinger retained the lead for the following lap and ahead of Eckes, Alan, Ankrum and Reed.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, the top 12 competitors were racing under a second while the top 16 were separated within a second. In the process, Enfinger was leading ahead of Eckes, Alan, Taylor Gray and Reed while Ankrum, Friesen, Heim, Caruth and Majeski were mired in the top 10 ahead of Bret Holmes and Spencer Boyd.

    During the following lap, the field behind Enfinger slowly started to fan out to multiple drafting lanes as Heim, racing in eighth place, was leading a charge from the outside lane with drafting help from Caruth. Heim and Caruth then made contact entering the backstretch, which stalled their momentum and forced both to blend back in the long drafting lane towards the double yellow lines and behind Enfinger, who continued to lead in front of Eckes.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Enfinger remained as the leader ahead of Eckes, Alan, Taylor Gray and Reed while Daniel Dye was trying to ignite a final drafting charge from the outside lane along with Caruth, Parsons and Heim. Enfinger would continue to lead through the backstretch along with Turns 3 and 4 as both Taylor Gray and Ankrum transitioned to the outside lane to receive the drafting momentum Dye was receiving.

    Then through the frontstretch and with the finish line in sight, Lawless Alan would then transition to the outside lane, but Taylor Gray and Eckes pinned him in three-wide formation. As Enfinger retained the lead, trouble ignited as Ankrum was bumped and sent spinning through the frontstretch before he was hit in the driver’s side by Friesen. Eckes then slid sideways off the front nose of teammate Reed and shot back across the track, where he collected a majority of the front-runners. Meanwhile, Enfinger managed to fend off a charge from Taylor Gray to claim the checkered flag and grab the victory.

    With the victory, Enfinger, who scored his first series victory at Talladega in 2016, became the first Playoff competitor to win the Truck Series Playoff event at Talladega and he became the fifth competitor to achieve multiple Truck victories at Talladega. He also notched his 11th career win in the Craftsman Truck Series and his first since winning at the Milwaukee Mile in August 2023.

    Above all, Enfinger, who came into Talladega strapped in seventh place in the Playoff standings, became the first competitor to clinch a spot into this year’s Championship 4 round, where he will contend for the 2024 Craftsman Truck Series championship at Phoenix Raceway on November 8.

    “[My team] knew stuff was going to get dicey,” Enfinger, who credited spotter Tim Fedewa with the victory, said on FS1. “We didn’t make all the perfect decisions today, but we had a Champion Power Equipment Chevy [that] was fast enough to get it done today. That was hairy coming right [to the finish]. I knew Taylor [Gray] was coming with a run. Tim told me to go up, then he told me to come down. It’s just Talladega right there. Hopefully, all the fans enjoyed it. It’s nothing like winning at your hometown, home track. On top of that, we get to race for a championship at Phoenix.”

    Enfinger’s Talladega victory was also the first ever for CR7 Motorsports, a team that debuted in 2018 and had hired Enfinger as a part-time competitor in 2021 before signing him to a full-time, multi-year deal at the start of this season. Now after recording five top-five results and barely transferring into the Playoff’s Round of 8 throughout the previous 19 events on this year’s schedule, the organization will receive its first opportunity to contend for a NASCAR championship with the veteran Enfinger also setting his sights on claiming the title one year after being one position shy of claiming it.

    Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “There are just so many people that make this team,” Enfinger added. “It’s a little bit of the little team that could, but we have great resources with our friends over there at [McAnally-Hilgemann Racing]. Obviously, great resources from everybody at Team Chevy. We’ve been knocking on the door. I know it’s speedway race, but we’ve been knocking on the door at all the tracks. I feel like we stumbled that first round of the Playoffs, but it really doesn’t matter now. [I was] able to win our way to Phoenix. Now, we can just focus on that. Looking forward to having some fun the next couple races, but a championship’s on the line now.

    Behind Enfinger, Taylor Gray tied his career-best result of second place as he just missed his first victory and an early ticket to the Championship 4 round by 0.041 seconds. Daniel Dye managed to cross the finish line in third place with a destroyed race truck while Rajah Caruth and Lawless Alan finished in the top five. Christian Eckes, Ryan Reed, Stefan Parsons, Bret Holmes and Spencer Boyd finished in the top 10 on the track.

    With Playoff contenders Enfinger, Taylor Gray, Caruth and Eckes finishing in the top 10 on the track, the remaining Playoff contenders that included Corey Heim, Ty Majeski, Tyler Ankrum and Nick Sanchez ended up 11th, 12th, 14th and 22nd, respectively. As a result, Eckes, Heim and Majeski leave Talladega above the top-four cutline to the Championship 4 round while Caruth, Gray, Sanchez and Ankrum trail the cutline.

    There were 27 lead changes for 12 different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 25 laps. In addition, 23 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Grant Enfinger, 34 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Taylor Gray

    3. Daniel Dye, three laps led

    4. Rajah Caruth, two laps led

    5. Lawless Alan

    6. Christian Eckes, eight laps led

    7. Ryan Reed

    8. Stefan Parsons

    9. Bret Holmes

    10. Spencer Boyd

    11. Corey Heim

    12. Ty Majeski

    13. Stewart Friesen, one lap led

    14. Tyler Ankrum

    15. Clay Greenfield

    16. Cory Roper

    17. Danny Bohn

    18. Mason Maggio

    19. Kaden Honeycutt, three laps led

    20. Jason White, seven laps led

    21. Norm Benning

    22. Nick Sanchez, 10 laps led

    23. Matt Crafton, one lap led

    24. Dawson Sutton, four laps down, one lap led

    25. Chase Purdy, 14 laps down, one lap led

    26. Keith McGee – OUT, Accident

    27. William Sawalich, 21 laps down

    28. Layne Riggs – OUT, Accident

    29. Jake Garcia – OUT, Accident

    30. Tanner Gray – OUT, Accident

    31. Matt Mills – OUT, Accident, 14 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    32. Dean Thompson – OUT, Accident

    33. Connor Zilisch – OUT, Accident

    34. Johnny Sauter – OUT, DVP

    35. Ben Rhodes – OUT, Accident

    36. Bayley Currey – OUT, Rear Gear

    *Bold indicates Playoff competitors

    Playoff standings

    1. Grant Enfinger – Advanced

    2. Corey Heim +30

    3. Christian Eckes +29

    4. Ty Majeski +5

    5. Rajah Caruth -5

    6. Taylor Gray -13

    7. Nick Sanchez -20

    8. Tyler Ankrum- 23

    The second Round of 8 event in the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs is set to occur at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida, and is scheduled to occur on October 26 and air at noon ET on FS1.

  • Aric Almirola rallies for second Xfinity victory of 2024 at Kansas

    Aric Almirola rallies for second Xfinity victory of 2024 at Kansas

    Aric Almirola commenced the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs by spoiling the opening race with a resurgent victory in the Kansas Lottery 30 at Kansas Speedway on Saturday, September 28, leaving a bevy of Playoff contenders left with bruised feelings and an early axe to grind toward one another.

    The 40-year-old Almirola from Tampa, Florida, led twice for 16 of 200-scheduled laps in an event where he started sixth and generated race-winning pace in the early portions of the race as he won the first stage period. Then, after settling in second place after the second stage period, Almirola’s event nearly went south when he pitted under green with less than 80 laps remaining due to scraping the outside wall entering the backstretch that cut his right-rear tire.

    With a late-race caution flying with under 60 laps remaining due to a wheel rolling onto the frontstretch’s grass during a late cycle of green-flag pit stops, Almirola was able to methodically carve his way back to the front. Starting from the final restart period with 49 laps remaining, he overtook Playoff contender Cole Custer for the lead with three laps remaining. From there, Almirola was able to drive away from Custer and cruise to his second Xfinity Series victory of the 2024 season.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Brandon Jones notched his third Xfinity pole position of the 2024 season with a pole-winning lap at 175.553 mph in 30.760 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Chandler Smith, who clocked in his best qualifying lap at 175.291 mph in 30.806 seconds.

    Prior to the event, the following drivers, including Logan Bearden, Jeb Burton, Matt DiBenedetto, Brad Perez and Dawson Cram dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. Leland Honeyman also dropped to the rear of the field for an engine change.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Chandler Smith jumped ahead with an early advantage from the inside lane as he led Brandon Jones and the field through the first two turns and the backstretch. With nearly the entire field running in two packed lanes, Smith muscled ahead and led the first lap as Connor Zilisch managed to keep his car running straight after he slid sideways through Turns 3 and 4 from fourth place.

    Over the next four laps, Chandler Smith proceeded to lead as Jones, Playoff contender Cole Custer, Aric Almirola, Playoff contender Justin Allgaier and Playoff contender Jesse Love followed suit in the top six while Zilisch dropped to seventh. By then, Jeremy Clements was penalized for a restart violation, when he changed lanes before reaching the start/finish line to begin the race, as Zilisch continued to lose spots while being overtaken by Taylor Gray and Playoff contender Parker Kligerman.

    Then on the sixth lap, the event’s first caution flew when Playoff contender Sammy Smith spun by himself on the backstretch after he got tagged into the frontstretch outside wall by Playoff contender AJ Allmendinger the lap prior. During the caution period, select names including Playoff contender Shane van Gisbergen, Dawson Cram, Joey Gase, Ryan Vargas, Patrick Emerling and Sammy Smith pitted while the rest, led by Chandler Smith, remained on the track.

    The start of the following restart on Lap 11 featured a duel between Jones and Chandler Smith before teammate Aric Almirola shoved Smith back out in front from the inside lane entering the first two turns. Smith then proceeded to clear Jones through the backstretch as both Almirola and Custer challenged Jones for the runner-up spot. With Jones fending off Custer and Almirola for the runner-up spot, Chandler Smith proceeded to lead through the Lap 15 mark.

    Through the first 20 scheduled laps, Chandler Smith was leading by a second over Jones as Custer, Almirola and Taylor Gray were racing in the top five. Behind, Playoff contenders Justin Allgaier, Sam Mayer, Austin Hill, Parker Kligerman and Sheldon Creed were scored in the top 10 as Playoff contenders Riley Herbst and Jesse Love followed suit in the top 12. Meanwhile, Chandler Smith added another second to his advantage and led by two seconds at the Lap 25 mark. By then, Custer and Almirola had navigated their way to second and third on the track while Jones fell to fourth in front of Gray.

    At the Lap 30 mark, Chandler Smith maintained his early advantage by a second over Almirola, with Custer, Jones and Gray scored in the top five. With Playoff contenders Mayer, Allgaier, Hill, Creed, Herbst and Kligerman racing in the top 11, Love was back in 13th place, AJ Allmendinger was mired in 15th place, van Gisbergen was down in 26th place and Sammy Smith was trapped in 28th place.

    Seven laps later, Almirola got to teammate Chandler Smith’s left-rear quarter panel and got him loose, then drag-raced him through the frontstretch to assume the lead for the first time. With the clean air to his advantage, Almirola proceeded to lead by more than a second over Smith by Lap 40 with Custer, Jones and Mayer racing in the top five.

    Then on the final lap of the first stage period, the caution flew after Taylor Gray lost an engine and dropped oil across the frontstretch. The caution for Gray was enough for the first stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 45 to officially conclude under caution as Almirola cruised to his fourth Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Teammate Chandler Smith followed suit in second along with Custer, Jones and Mayer while Creed, Hill, Allgaier, Herbst and Kligerman were scored in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Allmendinger, Love, van Gisbergen and Sammy Smith were mired in 13th, 16th, 23rd and 28th, respectively.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Almirola peeled off the racetrack to pit for service. Following the pit stops, Custer exited first with the lead, followed by Hill, Mayer, Creed, Chandler Smith and Jones while Almirola lost six spots amid a slow pit service and ended up exiting pit road in seventh place. Amid the pit stops, Allmendinger was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation while JJ Yeley was also penalized for a safety violation. Jones then pitted again from sixth to tighten loose lug nuts

    The second stage period started on Lap 53 as Custer and Hill occupied the front row. Custer gained a strong start from the outside lane to transition back to the inside lane in front of Hill entering the first two turns. As the field behind fanned out, Custer proceeded to lead the following lap while Mayer and Chandler Smith overtook Hill for second and third, respectively. As Smith and Hill dueled for third, Riley Herbst and Sheldon Creed battled for fifth in front of Almirola while Daniel Dye nearly spun after he made contact with Anthony Alfredo. Amid the early battles, Custer proceeded to lead by half a second just past the Lap 55 mark.

    By Lap 60, Custer retained the lead by a second over Chandler Smith as Mayer, Herbst and Hill remained in the top five ahead of Creed, Allgaier, Almirola, Kligerman and Zilisch. Behind, Love and Allmendinger were mired back in 18th and 20th, respectively, while van Gisbergen and Sammy Smith were back in 25th and 28th, respectively. In addition, Jones was in 15th behind Matt DiBenedetto, Parker Retzlaff, Ryan Sieg and Corey Heim.

    Three laps later, the caution returned due to Brad Perez falling off the pace below the backstretch’s apron and coming to a stop in Turn 3. During the caution period, select names including Love, van Gisbergen and Sammy Smith, who cycled back onto the lead lap, pitted while the rest, led by Custer, remained on the track.

    The beginning of the next restart period on Lap 69 did not last long as Playoff contender Justin Allgaier got hit by Sheldon Creed entering the backstretch, sending Allgaier sliding and making head-on contact with the inside wall. During the incident, Custer, who received a strong shove from Chandler Smith during the previous restart’s start, maintained the lead over Mayer, Chandler Smith, Almirola and Hill.

    At the beginning of the next restart period on Lap 75, Mayer and Custer dueled for the lead through the frontstretch. Then as Chandler Smith tried to make a move beneath Custer, Almirola launched a three-wide battle for the runner-up spot through the first two turns as Mayer surged ahead with the lead entering the backstretch. As Mayer led the field through the backstretch, more trouble struck for Allgaier, who blew a tire, hit the outside wall and retired from further competition. Amid his wreck that took an early hit in his Playoff bid, the race remained under green flag conditions as Mayer proceeded to lead the next four laps while Almirola overtook Custer for the runner-up spot.

    At the Lap 80 mark, Mayer retained the lead by half a second over Almirola as Custer, Chandler Smith and Zilisch were racing in the top five. Mayer would slightly extend his advantage to eight-tenths of a second over Almirola by Lap 85.

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 90, Mayer fended off Almirola to capture his second Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Almirola retained second while trailing Mayer at the start/finish line by three-tenths of a second while Custer, Chandler Smith and Zilisch were in the top five. “Behind, Hill made contact with Herbst entering the frontstretch and sent Herbst spinning through the frontstretch’s grass while Hill proceeded to finish sixth ahead of Creed, Jones, DiBenedetto and Ryan Sieg. Amid his spin, Herbst ended up in 16th place and joined Love, Kligerman, Allmendinger, van Gisbergen and Sammy Smith as Playoff contenders who did not record and stage points after the second stage period.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field, led by Mayer, pitted. Following the pit stops, Chandler Smith exited pit road first ahead of Custer, Almirola and Creed while Mayer dropped four spots. Not long after, Almirola pitted for a second time to have the lug nuts tightened.

    With 103 laps remaining, the final stage commenced under green as Chandler Smith and Custer occupied the front row. At the start, Smith received a strong push from teammate Creed from the outside lane to rocket ahead and maintain the lead from Custer through the first two turns. With the field fanning out and jostling for late spots, Smith proceeded to lead at the event’s scheduled halfway distance on Lap 100.

    With 90 laps remaining, Chandler Smith was leading by a second over Custer with Zilisch, Creed and Hill scored in the top five on the track. Behind, Jones, Ryan Sieg, Mayer, Allmendinger and Corey Heim were racing in the top 10 as Almirola was mired in 11th place ahead of Heim, Josh Williams, Love, Kligerman, Herbst and Retzlaff. Meanwhile, van Gisbergen was back in 21st and Sammy Smith was mired in the 29th.

    Ten laps later, Chandler Smith continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over Custer while Zilisch, Creed and Hill remained in the top five. Smith would proceed to lead by four-tenths of a second over Custer with 70 laps remaining. By then, Corey Heim pitted under green after he got loose through the first two turns and smacked the outside wall in front of Kligerman eight laps earlier. Almirola hit the outside wall entering the backstretch after marching his way back into the top 10 and pitted to change a flat right-rear tire nearly five laps earlier.

    Then with 64 laps remaining, Custer, who spent the last several laps closing in and stalking Chandler Smith, used the inside lane from Turns 3 and 4 to muscle ahead of Smith and assume the lead. By then, Ryan Sieg pitted from the top 10 under green. As Herbst and Kligerman battled for ninth place behind Allmendinger, Custer maintained the lead by eight-tenths of a second over Chandler Smith as Hill pitted from the top five with 60 laps remaining.

    With 59 laps remaining, Playoff contenders Mayer, Allmendinger and Herbst pitted along with Patrick Emerling and Zilisch before Kligerman, Parker Retzlaff, Chandler Smith and Creed pitted during the following lap. The leader Custer then pitted with 57 laps remaining before the caution flew due to a tire rolling out of Parker Retzlaff’s pit box and onto the frontstretch’s grass. By then, 15 competitors were scored on the lead lap, including Custer as he had exited pit road and returned to the track without being lapped, as Jones had cycled into the lead followed by Josh Williams. During the caution period, some of the drivers, led by Jones, pitted while the rest, led by Custer and including Chandler Smith, Hill and Creed, remained on the track.

    With the race restarting under green with 49 laps remaining, Custer rocketed ahead from the outside lane and he maintained the lead from Hill and Chandler Smith while Almirola rocketed his way back up into the top five. As the field fanned out towards the top-10 mark, Custer proceeded to lead the following lap as Smith was up to second place ahead of Hill. Behind, Almirola barely slid in front of Zilisch entering the frontstretch to snatch fourth place before the latter fought back. While Zilisch and Almirola proceeded to battle for fourth place, Chandler Smith started to close in on Custer for the lead.

    Then with 45 laps remaining, a heated side-by-side battle for the lead ignited between Custer and Chandler Smith that started with both dueling for the lead through the backstretch as they remained dead even through the frontstretch. Chandler Smith would prevail and return to the lead for the following lap while Custer followed suit in second.

    Down to the final 30 laps of the event, Chandler Smith retained the lead by seven-tenths of a second over Custer as Almirola, Zilisch and Jones were scored in the top five. Behind, Hill dropped to sixth ahead of Creed, Love, Williams and Alfredo while Mayer, Herbst, van Gisbergen, DiBenedetto and Ryan Sieg were mired in the top 15 ahead of Allmendinger and Kligerman as Sammy Smith was back in 22nd place.

    Five laps later, Chandler Smith’s advantage decreased to two-tenths of a second over Custer while Almirola, who was faster compared to the top-two competitors, trailed the lead from third place by two seconds. As Custer cut the deficit to a tenth of a second, he could not execute the final move to overtake Chandler Smith as the latter continued to lead while third-place Almirola cut his deficit to a second as he trailed both Chandler Smith and Custer by a second with 20 laps remaining.

    Then with 18 laps remaining, Custer launched a side-by-side battle with Chandler Smith through the frontstretch, but he still could not execute the pass on Smith for the lead entering Turns 1 and 2. With Custer still trailing Chandler Smith for the lead, their early side-by-side battle allowed Almirola to close in to within eight-tenths of a second for the following lap. Custer then drove his car towards the outside wall through Turns 1 and 2 to regain ground on Smith with 16 laps remaining, but he remained behind Smith as Almirola trailed by a second in third place during the following lap.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Custer, who nearly got squeezed into the outside wall by Chandler Smith, used the outside lane amid a huge run gained towards the outside wall from Turns 3 and 4 to duel with Chandler Smith through the frontstretch. This time, he was able to rocket past Smith and assume the lead. As Custer rocketed away with the lead, Almirola, who had caught both Custer and Smith on the track, overtook Smith for the runner-up spot exiting the backstretch as he set his sights on Custer, who maintained a reasonable advantage, for the lead.

    With five laps remaining, Custer, who was trying to weave his way through lapped traffic, maintained the lead by two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Almirola while Chandler Smith trailed in third place by three seconds. A lap later, however, Almirola gained a run beneath Custer through the frontstretch and he proceeded to snatch the lead entering the first two turns with three laps remaining as Custer was unable to respond with a crossover move.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Almirola remained in the lead by nearly half a second over Custer. With Custer unable to regain ground to mount a final lap charge and reclaim the lead, Almirola was able to smoothly cycle his way around the Kansas circuit for a final time before he returned to the frontstretch and claimed the checkered flag by six-tenths of a second over Custer.

    With the victory, Almirola, who will contest in the remaining six Playoff events in Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 Toyota entry, notched his sixth career win in the Xfinity Series, his second of the season amid eight starts and his first at Kansas, a venue where he was involved in a harrowing accident during a 2017 Cup Series event that left him with a compression fracture to his T5 vertebra. The Kansas victory was the 10th of the season for both Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota, eight of which have been achieved from the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing entry as the entry earned an automatic pass into the Playoff’s Round of 8 for the owners’ championship battle.

    “[I had to be] Really patient,” Almirola, who described his final overtake on Cole Custer, said on CW Network. “I, obviously, wasn’t patient earlier in the race. I’m wore out. That was a hard day at the office, especially for a guy who’s been sitting on the couch. I knew we had such a great He Gets Us Toyota GR Supra. I was able to get by everybody on the long run and I just pushed too hard there when we had the issue on pit road and I got into the fence and cut the right-rear tire down. I knew I had to put my head down and got to work after that. We got lucky to get the caution when we did and then, we were out of tires, so the fact that [the race] went green there to the end and then, that’s where we were strong. We were really strong on the long run. It just worked out.”

    Meanwhile, as Almirola proceeded to celebrate in Victory Lane, Cole Custer and Chandler Smith, both of whom ended up second and third in the final running order, engaged in a brief post-race conversation on pit road. Custer, who was displeased with being raced hard and nearly getting squeezed into the outside wall by Smith, approached Smith, vocally expressed his displeasure and gestured a wave at Smith before walking away and not hearing Smith’s stance.

    “[Chandler Smith] killed us,” Custer, who leads the Playoff standings by points said, said. “He definitely burned our stuff up [while I was] trying to get by him. It really made me mad when he put us in the fence on that restart. He’s gonna pay the consequences and I’m gonna race him like he races me. I think we could have gone back-to-back [in wins] pretty easily if things fall the right way, but we’ll move on to Talladega. I’m sure points-wise, we’re pretty good, so just got to keep chugging along.”

    “I definitely understand [Custer’s] position,” Smith, who sits in second place behind Custer in the Playoff standings, said. “Last week, I was racing behind somebody for 80 laps and couldn’t find a way around him because we were running the same lane. Obviously, our car was really dominant on the short run. [I] Was able to build up a little bit of a gap and had to come up with a game plan of when [Custer] gets to me, what do I got to do because last time, I just kept running my lane and he just blew my doors off. This is for the race win, this is for advancing into the next round [of the Playoffs] and this is also the guy I’m racing for the championship. I’ve got to be a little more aggressive in a sense of just taking his air away, kind of Cup racing, Truck racing style. Just trying to do the best for my team. [Custer]’s got a very, very valid statement, I understand, but I also wouldn’t change what I did because I was giving myself the best shot to win.”

    Custer and Chandler Smith were not the only pair of Playoff contenders to exchange words on pit road following the 2024 Xfinity Series Playoff opener. In addition, Austin Hill and Riley Herbst, both of whom finished seventh and 10th on the track, exchanged words, where Hill apologized for turning Herbst at the conclusion of the second stage period, while AJ Allmendinger and Sammy Smith, both of whom ended up 17th and 22nd on the track, exchanged words as Smith expressed his displeasure for nearly getting turned and having his car damaged by Allmendinger in the opening laps.

    Meanwhile, Connor Zilisch came home in fourth place for his second consecutive top-five result in just his second Xfinity career start while Sheldon Creed finished fifth. Pole-sitter Brandon Jones settled in sixth place in front of Hill while Playoff rookies Shane van Gisbergen and Jesse Love rallied to finish eighth and ninth in front of Herbst.

    There were 14 lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 33 laps. In addition, 16 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Aric Almirola, 16 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    2. Cole Custer, 48 laps led

    3. Chandler Smith, 114 laps led

    4. Connor Zilisch

    5. Sheldon Creed

    6. Brandon Jones, four laps led

    7. Austin Hill

    8. Shane van Gisbergen

    9. Jesse Love

    10. Riley Herbst

    11. Josh Williams

    12. Parker Kligerman

    13. Sam Mayer, 18 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    14. Matt DiBenedetto

    15. Anthony Alfredo

    16. Ryan Sieg

    17. AJ Allmendinger, one lap down

    18. Brennan Poole, one lap down

    19. Ryan Ellis, one lap down

    20. JJ Yeley, one lap down

    21. Parker Retzlaff, one lap down

    22. Sammy Smith, one lap down

    23. Jeb Burton, two laps down

    24. Kyle Sieg, two laps down

    25. Leland Honeyman, two laps down

    26. Kyle Weatherman, three laps down

    27. Jeremy Clements, three laps down

    28. Blaine Perkins, three laps down

    29. Ryan Vargas, four laps down

    30. Patrick Emerling, four laps down

    31. Corey Heim, five laps down

    32. Joey Gase, six laps down

    33. Logan Bearden, 10 laps down

    34. Daniel Dye, 11 laps down

    35. Dawson Cram – OUT, Fuel Pressure

    36. Justin Allgaier – OUT, Accident

    37. Brad Perez – OUT, Oil Pump

    38. Taylor Gray – OUT, Engine

    *Bold indicates Playoff competitors

    Playoff standings

    1. Cole Custer +41

    2. Chandler Smith +36

    3. Austin Hill +26

    4. Sam Mayer +13

    5. Sheldon Creed +10

    6. Shane van Gisbergen +8

    7. Jesse Love +3

    8. Riley Herbst +1

    9. Justin Allgaier -1

    10. AJ Allmendinger -13

    11. Parker Kligerman -15

    12. Sammy Smith -23

    The second Round of 12 event in the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs is set to occur at Talladega Superspeedway for the United Rentals 250. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, October 5, and air at 4 p.m. ET on the CW Network.

  • Layne Riggs doubles down with second consecutive Truck victory at Bristol

    Layne Riggs doubles down with second consecutive Truck victory at Bristol

    Three weeks after winning the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoff opener as a non-Playoff contender, rookie Layne Riggs spoiled the Playoffs for a second consecutive race by grabbing a late dominant victory in the UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Thursday, September 19.

    Riggs, a second-generation racer from Bahama, North Carolina, led the final 80 of 200-scheduled laps in an event where he qualified 18th and methodically carved his way up the leaderboard, where he would finish in the top 10 at the conclusion of the first stage period before he moved up into the top-five by the end of the second stage period.

    Then at the start of the final restart period with 80 laps remaining, Riggs overtook Playoff contender Corey Heim to lead for the first time. Despite having his momentum stalled twice due to a pair of late-race caution periods, starting with 44 laps remaining before occurring again with 19 laps remaining, Riggs, who prevailed during the proceeding restarts, capitalized on the final one with 13 laps remaining to muscle his Ford away from a bevy of Playoff contenders and cruise to his second Truck Series career victory in back-to-back races and of his career at Thunder Valley.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Thursday, Connor Zilisch scored his second pole position in three Truck Series starts after he posted a pole-winning lap at 125.207 mph in 15.325 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Corey Heim, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 124.186 mph in 15.451 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Kaden Honeycutt and Playoff contender Ty Majeski dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. As a result of Majeski’s penalty, his truck chief Tyler Shullick was ejected for the event and the driver was revoked a pit selection for next weekend’s event at Kansas Speedway.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Connor Zilisch gained an early advantage from the outside lane and proceeded to fend off Corey Heim through the first two turns. As the field jostled for early spots through the backstretch before navigating back to Turns 3 and 4, Zilisch led the first lap in his No. 7 Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet Silverado RST.

    Over the proceeding four laps, Zilisch maintained a steady advantage over Heim and William Sawalich while Playoff contenders Rajah Caruth, Christian Eckes and Nick Sanchez followed suit in the top six ahead of Stewart Friesen and Tanner Gray. Behind, Playoff contender Daniel Dye started to battle Tanner Gray for eighth place as Chase Purdy overtook Ty Dillon for 10th place.

    Through the first 10-scheduled laps, Zilisch was leading by half a second over Heim as Sawalich, Caruth, Eckes and Sanchez continued to follow suit in the top six. Meanwhile, Friesen, Dye, Tanner Gray and Purdy also followed suit in the top 10 while Matt Crafton, Playoff contender Tyler Ankrum, Ty Dillon, Dean Thompson, Layne Riggs, Playoff contender Grant Enfinger, Stefan Parsons, Jake Garcia, Playoff contender Taylor Gray and Connor Mosack all occupied the top-20 spots. Behind, Playoff contender Ben Rhodes was mired in 23rd place and teammate Ty Majeski was back in 32nd place behind Bret Holmes and Matt Mills.

    Fifteen laps later, Zilisch stabilized his advantage to two-tenths of a second over Heim while third-place Sawalich and fourth-place Caruth both trailed by a second. With Eckes and Sanchez continuing to follow suit in fifth and sixth, respectively, ahead of Friesen, Dye, Purdy and Matt Crafton, Majeski was still mired in 28th place and in jeopardy of being lapped by Zilisch while the remaining Playoff contenders that included Ankrum, Enfinger, Taylor Gray and Ben Rhodes were racing within the top-21 mark.

    Another 10 laps later, Zilisch retained the lead by a tenth of a second over Heim, who started to close in to Zilisch’s rear bumper as the latter was getting mired in lapped traffic. Behind, Caruth overtook Sawalich for third place while Eckes, who was radioing brake issues to his truck, was trying to fend off Sanchez for fifth place.

    On Lap 42, Heim made his move beneath Zilisch through the backstretch before he assumed the lead for the first time through Turns 3 and 4. As Heim started to muscle away with a steady advantage by the Lap 45 mark, Caruth started to challenge Zilisch for the runner-up spot while Sawalich, Sanchez and Eckes trailed by more than a second in the top-six mark.

    By Lap 50, Caruth managed to fend his way through lapped traffic to overtake teammate Zilisch for the runner-up spot. While Eckes and Friesen pinned the lapped competitor of Keith McGee in a three-wide battle for sixth place ahead of Riggs, Caruth would then overtake Heim for the lead from the outside lane and through the frontstretch on Lap 52.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 55, Caruth, who came into the event four points below the top-eight cutline in the Playoff standings, fended off Heim amid a bevy of lapped traffic to notch his first Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Heim settled in second ahead of Eckes, Zilisch and Sanchez while Friesen, Sawalich, Riggs, Purdy and Daniel Dye were scored in the top 10. Meanwhile, Playoff contenders Taylor Gray, Majeski, Ankrum, Rhodes and Enfinger were mired in 17th, 20th, 21st, 22nd and 24th, respectively, while 30 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    Under the stage break, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Caruth pitted for a first round of pit service while Timmy Hill remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Heim exited pit road first ahead of Caruth, Eckes, Zilisch and Sanchez while Sawalich, Riggs, Tanner Gray, Friesen and Dye followed suit in the top 10, respectively.

    The second stage period started on Lap 65 as Timmy Hill and Heim occupied the front row. At the start, Heim used the four fresh tires on the inside lane to rocket his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro away from Hill with the lead entering the backstretch. With Heim pulling away, Caruth and Eckes overtook Hill for second and third, respectively, as the field behind scrambled for positions. With Zilisch making his way up to fourth place and a series of on-track battles ensuing, Heim proceeded to lead just past the Lap 70 mark.

    At the Lap 75 mark, Heim was leading by nearly half a second over Caruth while third-place Eckes trailed by nearly a second. Behind, Zilisch and Riggs were in the top five ahead of Sanchez, Friesen, Sawalich, Crafton and Timmy Hill as Dean Thompson, Purdy, Daniel Dye, Tanner Gray and Majeski trailed in the top 15 ahead of Taylor Gray, Enfinger, Conner Jones, Mosack and newcomer Corey Day. With Playoff contenders Rhodes and Ankrum mired within the top-30 mark, Heim maintained the lead by half a second by Lap 80.

    Just past the Lap 90 mark, Heim’s advantage stabilized to four-tenths of a second over Caruth, with both approaching lapped traffic, as Eckes trailed in third place by a second. As Zilisch and Riggs continued to trail in the top five ahead of Sanchez on the track, Caruth started to issue his challenge on Heim for the lead from the inside lane and he would emerge ahead to lead the Lap 100 mark before Heim fought back from the outside lane. Eckes then joined the battle a few laps later and he would overtake Caruth for the runner-up spot while Heim maintained the lead. Heim would then lap Rhodes, who was mired in 29th place, another lap later.

    Then on the final lap of the second stage period, the caution flew due to Zilisch spinning in Turn 4 from the top five after he got a bump from Sanchez’s No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado RST exiting the backstretch. The incident involving Zilisch, who lost a lap while trying to straighten his truck, was enough for the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 110 to officially conclude under caution as Heim, who came into the event 41 points above the cutline, claimed his seventh Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Eckes, Caruth, Riggs and Sanchez followed suit in the top five while Friesen, Sawalich, Crafton, Thompson and Purdy were scored in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Dye, Taylor Gray, Majeski, Enfinger, Ankrum and Rhodes were mired in 11th, 12th, 13th, 16th, 24th and 30th, respectively, while 27 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    During the stage break, select names led by Nick Sanchez pitted for service while the rest led by Heim, including a majority of the front-runners, remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, newcomer Corey Day was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.

    With 80 laps remaining, the final stage commenced under green as Heim and Eckes occupied the front row. At the start, Heim gained a strong launch from the outside lane to retain the lead through the first two turns. Then as Heim transitioned to the inside lane in front of Eckes, Riggs, who restarted behind Heim, remained on the outside lane to challenge and overtake Heim for the lead through the frontstretch. With Riggs leading the following lap by a hair, he then cleared Heim while remaining on the outside lane and proceeded to lead the next lap mark. With Riggs continuing to lead with 75 laps remaining, Heim and Eckes followed suit in second and third, respectively, while Friesen and Caruth battled for fourth place in front of Sawalich and Crafton.

    With 65 laps remaining, Riggs stretched his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Heim as Eckes, Caruth and Friesen followed suit in the top five. As non-Playoff contenders Sawalich, Crafton, Purdy and Thompson followed suit in the top nine, Playoff contenders Sanchez, Majeski, Taylor Gray, Daniel Dye, Ankrum and Enfinger followed suit from 10th to 15th, while Rhodes was mired in 30th and trapped a lap down.

    Fifteen laps later, Riggs stabilized his steady advantage to half a second over Heim as both Caruth and Eckes trailed by a second in third and fourth, respectively. With Friesen retaining fifth place ahead of Sawalich, Crafton and a hard-charging Sanchez, Playoff contenders Majeski, Taylor Gray, Dye, Ankrum and Enfinger were all mired in the top 15 as Rhodes, who was lapped for a second time, was back in 30th place.

    Six laps later, the caution flew when Playoff contender Daniel Dye, who was running in 14th place and had a flat tire to his No. 43 Champion Container Chevrolet Silverado RST, slipped sideways entering the frontstretch and was hit by Kaden Honeycutt as the latter sustained significant damage to his No. 45 Moore’s Venture Foods Chevrolet Silverado RST. With Honeycutt being taken out of contention, Dye would drop out of the lead lap category as his truck was being repaired.

    During the caution period, select names including Bayley Currey, Ty Dillon, Enfinger, Tanner Gray, Stefan Parsons, Matt Mills, Lawless Alan and Rhodes pitted while the rest led by Riggs remained on the track.

    The start of the following restart period with 29 laps remaining featured Riggs and Heim dueling for the lead through the first two turns until Heim got loose underneath Riggs entering the backstretch. Heim’s slip allowed Riggs to muscle his No. 38 Love’s Travel Stops Ford F-150 ahead with two clear lanes to his advantage as he led the following lap. Riggs would proceed to lead with 25 laps remaining while Playoff contenders Heim, Eckes and Caruth followed suit in the top four ahead of Crafton, Friesen, Sanchez, Sawalich, Purdy and Taylor Gray.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Riggs extended his advantage to nine-tenths of a second over Heim as Eckes, Caruth and Crafton trailed in the top five by within two seconds. Another lap later, however, Riggs’ momentum was stalled due to the caution returning as Jack Wood, who was running within the top-20 mark, spun his No. 91 Mongoose Chevrolet Silverado RST due to contact from Ben Rhodes that started when they exited the backstretch before the incident concluded with Wood sliding to a halt below the apron in Turn 4. By then, Dye lost more laps after he pitted under green earlier.

    With the race restarted under green with 13 laps remaining, Riggs and Heim again dueled for the lead as Caruth tried to make the battle fanned out to three lanes entering the first two turns. Amid the battle, Riggs used the outside lane to muscle ahead with the lead through the backstretch as Heim, Caruth and Eckes battled for second place in front of the field. With Heim, Caruth and Eckes fiercely battling for the runner-up spot, Riggs continued to lead with 10 laps remaining.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Riggs extended his advantage to over a second over a three-truck battle involving Heim, Caruth and Eckes as Sanchez was up to fifth place ahead of Crafton, Purdy, Majeski, Friesen, Ankrum and Sawalich.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Riggs remained as the leader by a second over Heim and Caruth while Eckes was losing ground and trailing by two seconds in fourth place. With a comfortable advantage and no challengers closing in from behind, Riggs was able to smoothly cruise his way around the Bristol circuit for a final time before he cycled back to the frontstretch and zipped back across the finish line for his second consecutive checkered flag of the 2024 Truck Series season.

    With the victory, Riggs, who celebrated his first career win at the Milwaukee Mile three races ago in late August, became the first competitor to back up a first career victory with a second in back-to-back Truck Series starts since Chase Briscoe made the last accomplishment between winning his first career race at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November 2017 and winning in his one-race series’ return at Eldora Speedway in July 2018. Riggs also became the 26th competitor overall to win a Truck race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

    Riggs’ victory was the fourth of the season and in recent weeks for the Ford nameplate and the 10th overall for Front Row Motorsports in the Truck Series. While this season marks the first time a competitor won the first two Truck races of the Playoffs since Sheldon Creed made the previous accomplishment in 2021, Riggs became the first non-Playoff competitor to commence the Playoffs with back-to-back victories.

    “Oh my gosh,” Riggs said on FS1. “We have just learned so much with the cars and trucks. My team, Dylan [Cappello], my crew chief, he’s badass. He works so hard at night. We as a team, we’re a young team. I think the average age [of the No. 38 team] is like in the 20s. It’s so amazing. To be running fifth, 10th and all of sudden, go back to back [with victories] in the Playoffs. Man, I wish I was in the Playoffs so bad. I think we’d be a real threat to win this championship.”

    Behind Riggs, Corey Heim edged a hard-charging Rajah Caruth to claim his third runner-up result of the 2024 season. The result was enough for Heim to clinch a spot by points into the Playoff’s Round of 8 as he continues his pursuit for his first series’ championship.

    “[I] Didn’t quite have it when the grooves started to move around there,” Heim said. “Every time we got a heat cycle on the tires, it seemed like it got tighter and tighter. Just didn’t quite have it, but solid points day in the Playoffs. That’s what you need. I’ll keep moving forward with TRICON Garage, Safelite, Toyota Racing. Huge thanks to all those guys and looking forward to my favorite place next week [at Kansas].”

    In addition to Heim, Christian Eckes and Nick Sanchez have also secured their spots into the Round of 8 by finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.

    “It’s a great turnaround for us because I felt like we were maybe a 10th to 12th-place race car in practice,” Eckes said. “Kudos to [crew chief] Charles [Denike] and the [No. 19] guys for getting [the truck] tuned up to run top five. We weren’t race-winning capable, but still a decent run. Just proud of everybody. It’s cool to be locked in the next [Playoff] round, but I got to go take care of business at Kansas first.”

    “[I’m] Happy to recover to fifth,” Sanchez added. “Obviously, I show up to win, so [I] need to be a little better than fifth on my end on some things, but yeah, good night. We locked in the Rev Racing Gainbridge Chevrolet [into the Round of 8]. We go to Kansas and just focus on winning.”

    Matt Crafton, Chase Purdy, Ty Majeski, Stewart Friesen and Tyler Ankrum finished in the top 10 on the track while the remaining Playoff contenders that included Taylor Gray, Grant Enfinger and Ben Rhodes ended up 12th, 17th and 30th, respectively.

    As a result, Daniel Dye and Ben Rhodes are the two Playoff contenders who enter next weekend’s Round of 10 finale below the cutline in the Playoff standings while Enfinger holds sole possession of the eighth and final transfer spot above the cutline by seven points.

    There were eight lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 39 laps. In addition, 23 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Layne Riggs, 80 laps led

    2. Corey Heim, 65 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    3. Rajah Caruth, nine laps led, Stage 1 winner

    4. Christian Eckes

    5. Nick Sanchez

    6. Matt Crafton

    7. Chase Purdy

    8. Ty Majeski

    9. Stewart Friesen

    10. Tyler Ankrum

    11. William Sawalich

    12. Taylor Gray

    13. Bret Holmes

    14. Dean Thompson

    15. Bayley Currey

    16. Stefan Parsons

    17. Grant Enfinger

    18. Corey Day

    19. Connor Zilisch, 41 laps led

    20. Connor Mosack

    21. Jake Garcia

    22. Timmy Hill, five laps led

    23. Tanner Gray

    24. Lawless Alan, one lap down

    25. Matt Mills, one lap down

    26. Jack Wood, one lap down

    27. Ben Rhodes, two laps down

    28. Justin Mondeik, two laps down

    29. Spencer Boyd, two laps down

    30. Ty Dillon, two laps down

    31. Mason Maggio, four laps down

    32. Daniel Dye, six laps down

    33. Keith McGee, six laps down

    34. Tyler Tomassi, eight laps down

    35. Kaden Honeycutt – OUT, Accident

    36. Conner Jones – OUT, Overheating

    *Bold indicates Playoff competitors

    Playoff standings

    1. Christian Eckes – Advanced

    2. Corey Heim – Advanced

    3. Nick Sanchez – Advanced

    4. Ty Majeski +58

    5. Rajah Caruth +35

    6. Tyler Ankrum +25

    7. Taylor Gray +23

    8. Grant Enfinger +7

    9. Daniel Dye -7

    10. Ben Rhodes -12

    The Round of 10 in the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs is set to conclude at Kansas Speedway for the Kubota Tractor 200, where the first of two elimination processes will occur. The event is scheduled to occur next Friday, September 27, and air at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Connor Zilisch muscles through two overtime attempts and late fuel drama to win in Xfinity debut at The Glen

    Connor Zilisch muscles through two overtime attempts and late fuel drama to win in Xfinity debut at The Glen

    On a day when Connor Zilisch made his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at Watkins Glen International, he added another pair of first-time accomplishments to his impressive racing resume, with his first career pole and first career win.

    The 18-year-old Zilisch from Charlotte, North Carolina, led three times for a race-high 45 of 90 over-scheduled laps in an event where he commenced his Xfinity Series debut by notching his first pole position and claiming the first stage victory after leading all of the stage’s laps. Despite enduring a slow pit stop while pitting during the first stage break period, Zilisch methodically raced his way back up the leaderboard and settled in third place when the second stage period concluded.

    The start of the final stage period with 38 laps remaining was where Zilisch’s opportunity to contend for the victory appeared to evaporate after he along with the leader Ty Gibbs and Sam Mayer were sent to the rear of the field due to driving through the Inner Loop’s off-course turn and not serving a “stop-and-go” penalty just as a caution flew for Justin Allgaier getting stuck in the Turn 6 gravel trap. However, since the following restart period with 33 laps remaining, Zilisch methodically carved his way back up the leaderboard with a fast car again. As fuel shortages became a highlighted topic in the closing laps, the Charlotte native, who had more fuel in his fuel tank compared to most of the front-runners who pitted, cycled back to the lead with 15 laps remaining. He would then maintain a healthy lead and conserve as much fuel in his fuel tank until a late-caution period with six laps remaining for Matt DiBenedetto stalling his car on the course briefly stalled his progress.

    Then through another caution period during an attempted two-lap shootout and two overtime shootouts, Zilisch had enough fuel and muscle within his No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro entry to fend off the field amid a series of on-track chaos and coast to the finish line during the event’s race-ending caution for a multi-car wreck to win the Mission 200 at The Glen on Saturday, September 14, for his first career victory and become the seventh competitor overall to win in an Xfinity debut.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup on Saturday, newcomer Connor Zilisch notched his first Xfinity pole position in his series debut with a pole-winning speed at 124.176 mph in 71.028 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Ty Gibbs, who posted the second-fastest qualifying speed at 123.927 mph in 71.171 seconds.

    Before the event, Ed Jones started at the rear of the field due to an engine change to his Sam Hunt Racing Toyota entry. The following names that include Jeb Burton, Ross Chastain, rookie Shane van Gisbergen, Joey Logano and Josh Williams also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Connor Zilisch and Ty Gibbs dueled for the lead through the frontstretch until Zilisch, who was among select front-runners who briefly went off the course entering Turn 1, managed to fend off Gibbs to retain the lead. He would proceed to lead the next set of turns that included the Esses before he navigated his way through the backstretch and both the Inner and Outer Loops. Following the final set of turns that included a left-hand turn following a brief straightaway and a right-hand turn through Turn 7 back to the frontstretch, Zilisch proceeded to lead the first lap in front of Gibbs, Justin Allgaier, AJ Allmendinger and Chandler Smith.

    Over the next four laps, Zilisch retained the lead ahead of a hard-charging Ty Gibbs, who trailed the leader by a second by the fifth lap mark, while third-place Allgaier followed suit by two seconds. With fourth-place Allmendinger trailing by five seconds, Chandler Smith retained fifth place ahead of William Byron while Sam Mayer, Aric Almirola, Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill were running in the top 10. Behind, rookie Jesse Love, Cole Custer, Riley Herbst, Ryan Sieg and Brandon Jones followed suit in the top 15 ahead of Sammy Smith, Parker Kligerman, Jeremy Clements, Parker Retzlaff and Mike Skeen while Shane van Gisbergen was up to 23rd place in front of Ross Chastain and Joey Logano.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Zilisch extended his lead to three seconds over runner-up Gibbs while Allgaier and Allmendinger remained in third and fourth, respectively. Behind, Byron was up into fifth place ahead of Mayer while Chandler Smith dropped to seventh ahead of Almirola, Creed and Hill. Meanwhile, van Gisbergen cracked the top-20 mark as he was running in 19th place behind Jeremy Clements while Love, Herbst, Custer, Brandon Jones and Ryan Sieg were mired in the top 15 ahead of Sammy Smith and Kligerman.

    Five laps later, Zilisch continued to extend his advantage as he was now leading by over Gibbs while Allgaier, Allmendinger and Byron continued to run in the top five. Earlier, Herbst performed a stop-and-go on the course for missing the Inner Loop, which dropped him from 12th to 14th. In addition, Kligerman, who was reporting a gearing issue to his No. 48 Borchetta Bourbon Chevrolet Camaro entry, had dropped to 24th place from outside the top-15 mark. Amid the on-track battles, van Gisbergen carved his way up into the top-15 mark while Mayer, Chandler Smith, Almirola, Creed and Hill continued to run in the top 10.

    Before the Lap 17 mark, select front-runners including Gibbs, Allmendinger, Byron, Mayer, Hill, Brandon Jones, van Gisbergen and Austin Green pitted their respective entries while Zilisch kept his pole-winning No. 88 Carolina Carports Chevrolet Camaro entry on the track with the lead.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 20, Zilisch captured his first Xfinity stage career victory. Teammate Allgaier trailed by in second place by more than 10 seconds followed by a trio of Joe Gibbs Racing competitors that included Almirola, Chandler Smith and Creed while Custer, Love, Herbst, Ryan Sieg and Clements were scored in the top 10. By then, 36 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap, with van Gisbergen remaining on the lead lap and in front of the leader Zilisch in 36th place.

    Under the stage break, Chandler Smith made an unscheduled pit stop from third place due to his No. 81 Smith General Contracting Toyota Supra entry overheating on water temperature due to a piece of debris lodged in his front grille. Once pit road became accessible for the field, a majority of the field led by Zilisch pitted for service while the rest led by Ty Gibbs remained on the track.  Following the pit stops, Allgaier exited pit road first while teammate Zilisch was the sixth competitor to exit the pits following a slow pit service. Amid the pit stops, Alon Day and Thomas Annunziata were penalized for speeding on pit road. Not long after, Sammy Smith made a second pit stop to have a right-rear shock repaired.

    The second stage period started on Lap 24 as Gibbs and Allmendinger occupied the front row. At the start, Gibbs and Allmendinger dueled for the top spot through the frontstretch and the first turn until Allmendinger managed to rocket his No. 16 Celsius Chevrolet Camaro entry ahead with the lead through the Esses. As the field behind jostled for spots through the backstretch and both the Inner and Outer Loops, Allmendinger retained the lead through the final set of turns that led back to the frontstretch as he led the following lap while Mayer and Byron battled for third place. Byron would manage to overtake Mayer for third place entering the first turn while Allmendinger retained a narrow lead over Gibbs. Meanwhile, Zilisch was back in 11th place as Allgaier, Brandon Jones, van Gisbergen, Creed, Custer and Herbst were scored in the top 10.

    At the Lap 30 mark, Byron, who dueled and overtook Allmendinger through the frontstretch a lap prior, was leading by a second over Allmendinger while Gibbs and Allgaier also followed suit by a second. Meanwhile, Mayer had dropped to fifth place after he went off the course just past the Outer Loop while van Gisbergen, Jones, Zilisch, Creed and Custer trailed in the top 10 ahead of Herbst, Almirola, Ryan Sieg, Hill and Clements. By then, Logano and Chastain were mired in 18th and 19th, respectively, while Kligerman was back in 21st place in front of Parker Retzlaff and Chandler Smith. In addition, Sammy Smith was trapped a lap down in 36th place.

    Five laps later, Byron stretched his advantage to more than two seconds over Gibbs while Allmendinger and Mayer trailed by four seconds. Behind, Zilisch navigated his way back into the top five after he overtook teammate Allgaier a lap earlier, while van Gisbergen, Jones, Creed and Custer were racing within the top 10 ahead of Herbst, Hill, Ryan Sieg, Clements and Love.

    Another lap later, select names including Allmendinger, van Gisbergen, Jones, Creed, Chandler Smith and Josh Bilicki pitted their respective entries under green. By then, Logano had also pitted under green as Byron kept his No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro entry on the track with the lead.

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 40, Byron claimed his first Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Gibbs trailed in second place by more than three seconds while Zilisch, Mayer, Allgaier, Custer, Herbst, Hill, Ryan Sieg and Clements were scored in the top 10. By then, 34 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    During the stage break, Almirola made an unscheduled pit stop to address losing both his third and fourth gears on his No. 20 Go Bowling Toyota Supra entry. Once pit road became accessible for the field, some, led by Allgaier, pitted while the rest, led by Byron and including Gibbs and Zilisch, remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Jeremy Clements was penalized for speeding on pit road. Not long after, Joey Gase filled in for Thomas Annunziata, who was taken to the care center due to feeling dehydrated. Allmendinger made a second pit stop to have a left-front tire changed.

    With 38 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Byron and Gibbs occupied the front row. At the start, both dueled for the lead through the frontstretch until Byron got loose from Zilisch and went wide in Turn 1. This allowed Gibbs to move in front of the field as the field fanned out entering the Esses. Then after the field navigated through the backstretch and both the Inner and Outer Loops, trouble occurred as both Allgaier and Mike Skeen were sent sliding off the course in Turn 6, with Allgaier getting his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro entry stuck in the gravel trap. Amid the incident, the race remained under green flag conditions before the caution flew a lap later. By then, Gibbs was the leader ahead of Mayer, Zilisch and Custer while Byron had dropped to fifth place.

    Shortly after, however, the top three competitors including Gibbs, Mayer and Zilisch were penalized and sent to the rear of the field due to driving through the Inner Loop and not stopping for a stop-and-go penalty for missing the corner. The trio of penalties allowed Cole Custer to cycle into the lead as he was followed by Byron, van Gisbergen, and Austin Green.

    During the caution period, some including Hill, Creed, Brandon Jones, Love, Jeb Burton, Josh Williams, Allmendinger, Josh Bilicki and Almirola pitted their respective entries while the rest led by Gibbs remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Hill was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    The start of the next restart period with 33 laps remaining featured Custer retaining the lead following a strong start through the frontstretch and the first turn while van Gisbergen challenged Byron for the runner-up spot. With Herbst up to fourth place in front of Chandler Smith, Custer retained the lead through the backstretch and both the Inner and Outer Loop, with the field behind fanning out. As van Gisbergen was being intimidated by Herbst and Chandler Smith for third place, Byron retained second ahead of the trio battle while Custer led the following lap.

    Then with 30 laps remaining, Byron gained a strong run beneath Custer through the frontstretch to reassume the lead. With Byron leading, Custer was being challenged by van Gisbergen for the runner-up spot through the Esses and backstretch while Herbst and Chandler Smith remained within close pursuit in the top five. Meanwhile, Kligerman was up to sixth place while Ed Jones, Logano, Austin Green and Ross Chastain were scored in the top 10.

    A lap later, Byron surrendered the lead to pit under green, which allowed van Gisbergen, who overtook Custer for the runner-up spot a lap earlier, to cycle his No. 97 WeatherTech Chevrolet Camaro entry into the lead for the first time. Custer, Chastain, Austin Green, Mike Skeen, Kyle Sieg and Chandler Smith would all pit during the following two laps as Herbst, Kligerman, Ed Jones and Logano moved up into the top five. With Love and Creed following suit in sixth and seventh, respectively, Zilisch was up to eighth place ahead of Allmendinger and Brandon Jones while Gibbs and Mayer were mired in 14th and 15th, respectively. As more names including Logano and Brennan Poole pitted their respective entries, van Gisbergen retained the lead by three seconds over Herbst and Kligerman with 25 laps remaining.

    With 20 laps remaining, van Gisbergen continued to lead by four seconds over Herbst while Kligerman, Zilisch and Creed trailed in the top five ahead of Allmendinger, Gibbs, Brandon Jones, Mayer and Love. By then, Ed Jones, who was dealing with a cool suit malfunction, pitted under green from fourth place two laps earlier, though he would then encounter a mechanical issue while trying to exit his pit stall. In addition, Retzlaff pitted his Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet entry.

    A few laps later, Herbst surrendered the runner-up spot to pit his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang entry for both tires and enough fuel to the event’s scheduled distance. Kligerman, who briefly inherited the runner-up spot, would also pit, which allowed Zilisch to move into the runner-up spot. Zilisch, who was also trying to stretch his fuel tank to the event’s scheduled distance, would then return atop the leaderboard with 15 laps remaining as van Gisbergen pitted for fuel under green, though the latter would be penalized for speeding on pit road. With Zilisch leading, Creed, Gibbs, Allmendinger, Brandon Jones and Mayer followed suit in the top six. By then, Byron returned to pit road to address a vibration concern.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Zilisch continued to lead by more than five seconds over Creed while Ty Gibbs followed suit by within six-tenths of a second to teammate Creed. Behind, fourth-place Allmendinger trailed the lead by 13 seconds while JR Motorsports’ Brandon Jones and Mayer trailed in the top six by less than 20 seconds on the track.

    Two laps later, teammates Gibbs and Creed dueled for the runner-up spot, with the former prevailing with the spot while Zilisch retained the lead by more than six seconds as he was also trying to stretch his fuel tank to the distance. A lap later, Creed surrendered his top-three spot on the track to pit for a quick splash of fuel, which allowed Allmendinger, Brandon Jones and Mayer to move up the leaderboard in the top five.

    Then with six laps remaining, the caution flew due to Matt DiBenedetto coming to a stop in the Inner Loop after he endured a mechanical issue through the backstretch. The caution all but erased Zilisch’s steady advantage of six seconds over Gibbs as Allmendinger, Brandon Jones and Mayer were scored in the top five.

    During the caution period, some including Love, Custer, Hill, Josh Bilicki, Ryan Sieg, Ryan Ellis and Anthony Alfredo pitted while the rest led by Zilisch remained on the track.

    With the race restarting with two laps remaining, Allmendinger tried to throw a three-wide move beneath both Zilisch and Gibbs for the lead exiting the frontstretch and in Turn 1, but Zilisch managed to retain the lead as multiple competitors were sent spinning and colliding into one another, among which included Ed Jones, Josh Williams, Logano, Byron, Mike Skeen, Sammy Smith, Hill and Alfredo.

    Amid the incidents, the race remained under green flag conditions as Zilisch retained the lead through the Esses and the backstretch. Then caution returned for the incidents, that left carnage and leaked fluid left from Turn 1, with Alfredo and Hill sustaining the most damage to their respective entries. With the caution being flown, the race was sent into overtime. It was also sent into a red flag period to have the carnage and the spilled fluid cleared, with Alfredo hitting the guardrails while trying to nurse his damaged No. 5 Ferguson Chevrolet Camaro entry that was leaking fluid back to the infield.

    Twenty-two minutes later, the red flag was lifted and the field led by Zilisch proceeded under a cautious pace. During the caution period, select names led by Sammy Smith and including those involved during the previous caution period pitted while the rest led by Zilisch remained on the track.

    The start of the first overtime attempt featured Zilisch fending off Mayer through the frontstretch, the first turn and the Esses with the lead. By then, Gibbs ran out of fuel and dropped out of contention during the restart as the field scattered through the opening turns. Zilisch, who was continuing to try and stretch his fuel tank to the distance, would proceed to lead through the backstretch and both the Inner and Outer Loops just before teammate Brandon Jones was sent for a spin from the middle of the field through the Inner Loop. Jones was then hit hard by Mike Skeen as the caution returned and the event was sent into a second overtime attempt.

    Following an extensive caution period, the start of the second overtime attempt featured teammates Zilisch and Mayer dueling for the lead exiting the frontstretch before the former muscled ahead through the first turn, where Custer spun. Mayer, Allmendinger and van Gisbergen then went three wide through the Esses and backstretch in a battle for the runner-up spot. Shortly after, Mayer was seen slowly losing pace with the front-runners as he was shaking the car back and forth to keep it under power while Allmendinger and van Gisbergen continued to fiercely duel for the runner-up spot as Chandler Smith, Sheldon Creed and Kligerman joined the battle.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Zilisch remained as the leader by three seconds over Creed, who overtook Allmendinger, van Gisbergen and Chandler Smith for the runner-up spot through the frontstretch as Mayer spun entering Turn 7. Before this, Allgaier spun in the Inner Loop. Amid the chaos, the race remained under green flag conditions.

    Then with numerous bumps and on-track chaos continuing to ensue around the course, the event concluded under caution as a multi-car wreck erupted on the backstretch that started when Ryan Sieg, who was running inside the top 10, got Herbst loose as Herbst spun back in front of Sieg and both were sent wrecking hard against the guardrails while clipping Austin Green in the process as more names, including Ed Jones, Clements and Brennan Poole, would also get collected.

    With the caution being displayed, Zilisch, who was exiting the Outer Loop at the moment the event was deemed official, had enough fuel in his dry tank to coast his No. 88 Carolina Carports Chevrolet Camaro entry through the final two turns under reduced pace and back to the frontstretch for his first checkered flag in his debut in the Xfinity circuit.

    With the victory, Connor Zilisch, who inked a sponsorship deal with Red Bull a day ago and is set to become a full-time Xfinity Series competitor for JR Motorsports in 2025, became the 179th competitor overall to win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series division as he joined Jesse Love and Shane van Gisbergen as competitors to notch a first-time Xfinity victory in 2024. He also joined an exclusive list that includes Dale Earnhardt, Ricky Rudd, Joe Ruttman, Terry Labonte, Kurt Busch and recently Ty Gibbs as competitors to win in an Xfinity Series debut. As added bonuses, he also became the second-youngest winner in the Xfinity Series division at age 18 years, one month and 23 days while becoming the first competitor to record a first-time Xfinity victory at The Glen since Austin Cindric made the last accomplishment in 2019.

    Zilisch’s Xfinity victory at The Glen marked his second trip to Victory Lane of the weekend after he won Friday’s ARCA Menards Series event at The Glen, with the Charlotte native etching the fifth victory of the season for JR Motorsports, the first victory for JR Motorsports’ No. 88 Chevrolet entry in two seasons and the first ever for crew chief Andrew Overstreet.

    “Man, I don’t even have words,” Zilisch, who fought tears of emotions on the frontstretch, said on USA Network. “I worked so hard for this one. I’ve been working for this one for months. It’s so special. I don’t even have words right now. I don’t know how I saved enough [fuel]. I sputtered up the hill with two [laps] to go. I didn’t think I was gonna make it back to the line. I was saving the last two laps. I’m gonna enjoy this one for a while. That’s special. One-on-one [in the Xfinity Series], not bad.”

    “Coming into today, I just wanted to run all the laps,” Zilisch added. “I ran all the laps and I came home with a win too. I can’t complain about that. I just can’t thank everyone who’s helped me get to this point. It’s special [to] come out here and win my first race. Hopefully, the first of many.”

    With Zilisch winning the race, Sheldon Creed settled in second place for the 12th time in his career while AJ Allmendinger came home in third place. The top three results were enough for both Allmendinger and Creed to secure their spots into the 2024 Xfinity Series Playoffs by points.

    “[I was] Just trying to keep the nose on [the car] there,” Creed said. “[The race was] Actually really fun. I felt like that was the battle for the win probably if [Zilisch] ran out [of fuel]. I thought I put myself in really good position. To end up second again, I could be mad, but I’m actually happy for kind of how our day was going. We were a top-10 car, but I just didn’t know how good we were to run in the top three there. Another top five for our team. Just good momentum for the Playoffs and I can’t wait for Bristol next week. I’m having a lot of fun right now, so that’s what’s important.

    Chandler Smith settled in fourth place while Shane van Gisbergen ended up in fifth place. Ross Chastain, Parker Kligerman, Jesse Love, Joey Logano and Josh Bilicki completed the top 10 in the final running order.

    There were 10 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 19 laps. In addition, 21 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    Following the 25th event of the 2024 Xfinity Series season, Justin Allgaier continues to lead the regular-season standings by 43 points over Cole Custer, 62 over Chandler Smith and 99 over Austin Hill.

    With next weekend’s Xfinity Series event at Bristol Motor Speedway marking the final regular-season event of the 2024 season, the following names that include Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer, Chandler Smith, Austin Hill, AJ Allmendinger, Sheldon Creed, rookie Jesse Love, Riley Herbst, rookie Shane van Gisbergen and Sam Mayer have clinched spots into the 2024 Xfinity Series Playoffs either by regular-season victories or by points.

    Currently, Parker Kligerman holds one of two vacant spots in the Playoffs by 85 points. Lastly, Sammy Smith, who fell back to 19th place in the final running order at The Glen, holds the 12th and final transfer spot into the Playoffs by 43 points over Ryan Sieg, who ended up in 22nd place after he was unable to complete the final lap amid his multi-car wreck.

    Results.

    1. Connor Zilisch, 45 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    2. Sheldon Creed

    3. AJ Allmendinger, five laps led

    4. Chandler Smith

    5. Shane van Gisbergen, 14 laps led

    6. Ross Chastain

    7. Parker Kligerman

    8. Jesse Love

    9. Joey Logano

    10. Josh Bilicki

    11. Austin Green

    12. William Byron, 16 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    13. Riley Herbst

    14. Parker Retzlaff

    15. Ryan Ellis

    16. Leland Honeyman

    17. Justin Allgaier

    18. Jeremy Clements

    19. Sammy Smith

    20. Sam Mayer, one lap led

    21. Cole Custer, six laps led

    22. Ryan Sieg, one lap down

    23. Brennan Poole, one lap down

    24. Ed Jones, one lap down

    25. Ty Gibbs, one lap down, three laps led

    26. Aric Almirola, two laps down

    27. RC Enerson, five laps down

    28. Brandon Jones – OUT, Accident

    29. Thomas Annunziata, six laps down

    30. Mike Skeen – OUT, Accident

    31. Jeb Burton – OUT, Oil Leak

    32. Josh Williams – OUT, Accident

    33. Austin Hill – OUT, Accident

    34. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, Accident

    35. Matt DiBenedetto – OUT, Rear Gear

    36. Alon Day – OUT, Brakes

    37. Kyle Sieg – OUT, Axle

    38. Kyle Weatherman – OUT, Rear End

    Next on the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is Bristol Motor Speedway for the Food City 300, which will serve as this year’s regular-season finale and determine the 12-car Playoff field. The event is scheduled to occur next Friday, September 20, and air at 7:30 p.m. ET on the CW Network.

  • Connor Zilisch scheduled for Xfinity debut at Watkins Glen ahead of full-time campaign in 2025

    Connor Zilisch scheduled for Xfinity debut at Watkins Glen ahead of full-time campaign in 2025

    A month after being revealed as a full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series competitor for the 2025 season through his future team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s podcast, Connor Zilisch will campaign in his first of select starts in the series and behind the wheel of the No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro entry for JR Motorsports in the upcoming Xfinity Series’ Mission 200 at The Glen (Watkins Glen International) on Saturday, September 14.

    The 18-year-old Zilisch from Charlotte, North Carolina, prepares to make his first on-track presence in the Xfinity circuit and to add to his impressive racing resume that started by competing in go-karts before he became the first American to win the CIK-FIA Karting Academy Trophy in 2020. He would then achieve the Mazda MX-5 Cup Scholarship and the Rookie-of-the-Year title over the next two seasons before he transcended his way up to Late Model competition during the 2022 season.

    This past January, Zilisch inked a multi-year development contract with Trackhouse Racing that would feature the Charlotte native making select starts across the CARS Tour, ARCA, Trans Am, IMSA and NASCAR Craftsman Truck and Xfinity Series divisions. After winning this year’s 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring, both in the LMP2 class, Zilisch notched an impressive fourth-place run in his Truck Series debut with Spire Motorsports at Circuit of the Americas in March during a weekend where he notched his first series career pole and rallied from both overshooting the first turn on the opening lap and spinning on the track while trying to navigate his way back to the front.

    In addition to his part-time Truck campaign with Spire and upcoming Xfinity starts with JR Motorsports, Zilisch is also competing on a full-time basis in the ARCA Menards Series East division for Pinnacle Racin Group, Currently, he leads the championship standings by 17 points through seven of eight-scheduled events and in a season where he has won four races and finished no lower than fourth. Through five ARCA Menards Series events, Zilisch has also notched four victories, where he has won at Dover Motor Speedway, Iowa Speedway, Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park and Michigan International Speedway.

    Now, the future is set to grow even brighter for Zilisch when he was named a full-time Xfinity Series competitor for JR Motorsports for the 2025 season on August 7, where he will commence his pursuit for his first Xfinity title at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2025.  

    “With so much support from Chevrolet and chances to race in Trucks, ARCA and Trans Am with the support of Silver Hare Racing, I was able to sign with Trackhouse and they went to work to secure an incredible opportunity for me,” Zilisch said in a press release. “I am so grateful and can’t wait to show them that their trust in me is warranted. It is mind-blowing to think that I will be driving for JR Motorsports and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who is one of my heroes. I’m ready to put in the work.”

    The 2025 season will mark the first time since 2016 that JR Motorsports’ No. 88 Chevrolet entry will campaign on a full-time basis in the Xfinity Series and the first time the entry will be piloted by a single competitor throughout an entire Xfinity schedule since Cole Whitt competed in 2012. With JR Motorsports accumulating 85 Xfinity victories to date, the organization’s No. 88 entry last went to Victory Lane ironically at Watkins Glen with Kyle Larson in 2022 as Zilisch strives to add his name to an elite class of competitors who have piloted the No. 88 Chevrolet to Victory Lane, among which includes Earnhardt Jr.

    Competing at The Glen in the Xfinity circuit generates an opportunity for Zilisch to achieve redemption a year after he fell short of winning the ARCA event at the venue, where he assumed the lead during a one-lap shootout before he was overtaken by Jesse Love entering the final corner.

    “Connor is such an impressive driver at this young age,” Earnhardt Jr. added. “We’re excited for him to get behind the wheel full-time next season. He is on a path to sure success with support from Chevrolet, Silver Hare Racing, Trackhouse, and now JR Motorsports.”

    JR Motorsports’ No. 88 Chevrolet entry has made 10 starts through the first 24 events of the 2024 Xfinity Series season. Thus far, Bubba Pollard, Carson Kvapil and Connor Mosack have taken turns piloting the entry in select events, with Kvapil recording the team’s current best on-track result of second place at Dover Motor Speedway this past April. In addition to Zilisch, Kvapil and Mosack are also scheduled to make additional select starts in the entry for the remainder of the season. Earnhardt Jr. is also scheduled to make his lone Xfinity start of the season next Friday, August 20, at Bristol Motor Speedway a year after he made two starts in the No. 88 entry.

    Following Zilisch’s Xfinity debut at Watkins Glen, he will then compete in JR Motorsports’ No. 88 Chevrolet at Kansas Speedway in late September before he returns to race at Homestead-Miami Speedway in late October and the season-finale event at Phoenix Raceway during the second week of November. Zilisch, who made his second Truck career start at Richmond Raceway last August, is also set to make four additional Truck starts over the final six events on the schedule, beginning next week at Bristol Motor Speedway as he will also race at Talladega Superspeedway, Homestead and Martinsville Speedway between October and November.

    Connor Zilisch’s NASCAR Xfinity Series debut with JR Motorsports is scheduled to occur this upcoming Saturday, September 14, at Watkins Glen International for the Mission 200 at The Glen as the event’s broadcast time will air at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Majeski rallies to win regular-season finale at Richmond for second consecutive Truck victory of 2024

    Majeski rallies to win regular-season finale at Richmond for second consecutive Truck victory of 2024

    Three weeks after breaking through with his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory of the 2024 season at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, Ty Majeski capped off the regular-season stretch by doubling down with a second consecutive victory in recent weeks in the Clean Harbors 250 at Richmond Raceway on Saturday, August 10.

    The 29-year-old Majeski from Seymour, Wisconsin, led three times for 70 of 250-scheduled laps in an event where he started alongside pole-sitter Christian Eckes on the front row and rallied from having brief issues launching at the start to assume the lead for the first time on Lap 13. Then after opting to remain on track on old tires during the event’s first caution period on Lap 51, Majeski endured a handful of challenges that hindered his performance that began as he struggled to keep pace on his worn tires during the following restart on Lap 63 and lost a bevy of spots. Just as he pitted for fresh tires during the first stage break period, he was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.

    Restarting at the tail end of the field for the start of the second stage period, Majeski would spend a majority of the event methodically charging his way back to the front as the event endured a series of caution periods and pit strategies amongst the field. Having marched his way back into the top 10 within the closing stages, Majeski used fresh tires and capitalized on a late-race skirmish involving Grant Enfinger and William Sawalich to return atop the leaderboard during a late-race restart with 20 laps remaining. Amid an additional caution period and late-race restart with eight laps remaining, Majeski fended off Enfinger amid contact to remain out in front of the field and cruise to his second consecutive Truck Series victory of the 2024 season while also entering the Playoffs with early momentum.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Christian Eckes secured the pole position with a pole-winning lap at 118.655 mph in 22.755 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Ty Majeski as he clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 118.033 mph in 22.875 seconds.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Christian Eckes rocketed his No. 19 Instacoat Premium Products Chevrolet Silverado RST ahead with the lead from the inside lane. In the process, Grant Enfinger followed suit in second while Ty Majeski, who struggled to launch from the outside lane, was trying to retain third place from William Sawalich. Amid the early jostles of spots around the track, where a three-wide action occurred between Sawalich, Layne Riggs and Taylor Gray for fourth place through the backstretch, Eckes proceeded to lead the first lap from Enfinger as Majeski, Taylor Gray, Riggs and Sawalich followed suit in the top six.

    During the second lap, Majeski, who regained pace amid his rocky start, navigated his way past Enfinger for the runner-up spot as Taylor Gray was trying to fend off Layne Riggs, William Sawalich, Nick Sanchez and Ben Rhodes for fourth place. While Gray continued to occupy his spot as both Majeski and Enfinger railed in second and third, respectively, Eckes retained the lead by eight-tenths of a second by the fifth lap mark.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Eckes was leading by three-tenths of a second over Majeski followed by Enfinger, Taylor Gray and Riggs while Rhodes, Sawalich, Corey Heim, Nick Sanchez and Daniel Dye were scored in the top 10 on the track. Behind, Kaden Honeycutt occupied 11th place ahead of teammate Bayley Currey, Tyler Ankrum, Jake Garcia and Stewart Friesen while Rajah Caruth, Ty Dillon, Matt Crafton, newcomer Connor Hall and Connor Zilisch trailed in the top 20 ahead of Matt Mills, Timmy Hill, Dean Thompson, Lawless Alan, Tanner Gray and Chase Purdy.

    A few laps later, Majeski dueled with Eckes in a side-by-side battle for the lead and the former would continue to battle Eckes before he pulled his No. 98 Soda Sense Ford F-150 ahead from the outside lane on Lap 13. By Lap 17, Majeski stretched his advantage to a second over Eckes and he would stabilize his advantage to a second while third-place Enfinger trailed Eckes by four-tenths of a second. Behind, Taylor Gray and Riggs remained in the top five.

    At the Lap 25 mark, Majeski retained the lead by more than a second over Eckes while Enfinger, Taylor Gray and Riggs continued to trail in the top five on the track. Rhodes, Heim, Sawalich, Dye and Sanchez followed suit in the top 10 as Honeycutt, Currey, Ankrum, Friesen and Crafton followed suit in the top 15.

    Ten laps later, Majeski, who was starting to lap the competitors running towards the bottom of the leaderboard, stretched his advantage to more than three seconds over Eckes as Enfinger, Taylor Gray and Riggs remained in the top five. Meanwhile, Taylor Gray, Rhodes and Dye, all three of whom were currently scored inside the top-10 cutline in their efforts to make the 2024 Playoffs, were running in the top nine on the track while Friesen and Crafton, both of whom came into Richmond trailing the cutline by 16 and 43 points, respectively, were mired within the top 15. In addition, Tanner Gray, who came into the event five points above the cutline with the final transfer spot, was scored nine points below the cutline as he was mired in 23rd place in front of teammate Dean Thompson.

    By Lap 50, Majeski lost a second to his advantage, but he was still leading by more than two seconds over Eckes as top-five competitors Taylor Gray, Enfinger and Riggs trailed the lead by four seconds. Five laps later, Taylor Gray would overtake Eckes for the runner-up spot. By then, Taylor’s older brother, Tanner, was lapped by Majeski as he was mired in 22nd place.

    Six laps later, the event’s first caution period flew when Matt Mills lost a right-front tire and went dead straight into the Turn 4 outside wall from 15th place. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by runner-up Taylor Gray pitted for four fresh tires and fuel while the rest led by the leader Majeski and including Ankrum and Connor Zilisch remained on the track.

    When the event restarted under green on Lap 63, the field fanned out to multiple lanes through the frontstretch as Eckes used the outside lane and four fresh tires to blast by Ankrum through the first two turns before he then quickly dispatched Majeski for the lead through the backstretch. By the following lap and amid a series of on-track shuffles, Eckes was leading ahead of Taylor Gray and Enfinger while Majeski plummeted to seventh place on his old tires as Rhodes, Riggs and Dye all overtook him. Majeski would then drop to 18th place just past the Lap 65 mark as Ankrum and Zilisch also plummeted in the leaderboard on their old tires while Eckes retained the lead by less than half a second over Taylor Gray.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 70, Eckes captured his eighth Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Taylor Gray settled in second ahead of Enfinger, Rhodes and Riggs while Dye, Matt Crafton, Heim, Sanchez and Rajah Caruth were scored in the top 10.

    Amid the battles towards the front, Tanner Gray, who restarted in 22nd place and was trying to emerge as the first competitor a lap down at the first stage’s conclusion, had dropped to 28th place and was the seventh competitor scored a lap down as 22nd-place competitor Bret Holmes received the free pass. As a result, he was left with a 22-point disadvantage to Dye in the battle for the cutline. Meanwhile, Eckes’ first stage victory was enough for him to clinch the regular-season championship while runner-up Taylor Gray garnered enough stage points to clinch his spot into the Playoffs based on points.

    Under the first stage break, some led by Majeski and including Zilisch and Ankrum pitted while the rest led by Eckes remained on the track. During the pit stops, Majeski was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation and was sent to the rear of the field before the second stage’s start.

    The second stage period started on Lap 79 as Eckes and Taylor Gray occupied the front row. At the start, Eckes muscled away from the field and the inside lane to retain the lead while Gray and Enfinger battled for the runner-up spot in front of Riggs, Rhodes, Dye and Heim. Amid a series of battles around the track, Heim overtook Dye for sixth place and Crafton trailed in eighth place. In the process, Eckes’ advantage stabilized to more than half a second over Enfinger while third-place Taylor Gray trailed by a second as he was ahead of Riggs and Rhodes. With Friesen mired in 13th place, Purdy and Tanner Gray were back in 26th and 27th, respectively.

    By Lap 90, Eckes was leading by nine-tenths of a second over Enfinger as Taylor Gray, Riggs and Rhodes trailed by four seconds in the top five. Heim, Dye, Crafton, Ty Dillon and Sanchez would follow suit in the top 10 as Conner Jones, Zilisch, Ankrum, Caruth and Honeycutt were mired in the top 15. Meanwhile, Majeski was trying to rally his way into the top 20 amid his tire violation while Friesen and Tanner Gray were running 16th and 24th, respectively.

    At the Lap 100 mark, Eckes’ advantage decreased to three-tenths of a second over Enfinger while Taylor Gray, Riggs and Rhodes continued to run in the top five ahead of Heim, Dye, Ty Dillon, Crafton and Conner Jones. Over the next five laps, Eckes, who was slowly catching lapped traffic, kept leading by above half a second over Enfinger as Taylor Gray kept the two leaders close within his front windshield.

    Then on Lap 115, Enfinger overtook Eckes and moved his No. 9 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet Silverado RST into the lead through the frontstretch. Enfinger continued to lead by three-tenths of a second by the following lap as Taylor Gray, who tracked the two leaders, passed Eckes for the runner-up spot during the ensuing lap. As Enfinger retained the lead by three-tenths of a second towards the Lap 120 mark, Riggs and Rhodes followed suit in the top five while Ankrum was up to sixth place ahead of Heim, Dye, Ty Dillon and Zilisch.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 125, Enfinger continued to lead by a narrow margin over Taylor Gray before Gray used a bold move beneath Enfinger, who was trapped behind Jake Garcia, entering Turn 1 to grab the lead. Gray stretched his advantage to half a second on the following lap as Eckes trailed by a second in third place while Riggs and Ankrum were in the top five.

    Then on Lap 127, the caution flew when Matt Crafton, who was running in the top 15, spun in Turn 4 after he slipped underneath Kaden Honeycutt, where Crafton’s No. 88 Menards Ford F-150 spun from the middle to the bottom of the track and made light contact with the inside wall as Crafton continued. During the caution period, a majority of the lead lap field led by Taylor Gray pitted for service while the rest led by Ty Dillon, who pitted during the first stage’s break period, remained on the track. Friesen and Currey would also remain on the track while Enfinger beat Taylor Gray off of pit road first as he lined up in fourth place on the track.

    The start of the following restart period on Lap 135 featured the field getting jumbled up and fanning out through the frontstretch as Friesen jumped ahead with a brief advantage over Dillon on the inside lane. With the field fanning out to four lanes, Enfinger used the four fresh tires to bolt his way to the front from the outside lane as he carved his way back into the lead just past the first two turns.

    Eckes followed suit along with Dye, Riggs, Heim and others while Friesen, Dillon and Currey plummeted down the leaderboard on their old tires. Amid the scrambling for spots, Enfinger stretched his advantage to more than half a second with the second stage’s conclusion approaching.

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 140, Enfinger, who clinched his spot into the Playoffs based on points, claimed his first Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Eckes followed suit in second along with teammate Dye, Riggs and Heim while Rhodes, Caruth, Ankrum, Taylor Gray and Conner Jones were scored in the top 10. By then, Dye had a 28-point advantage over 23rd-place Tanner Gray for the final transfer spot into the Playoffs, though Gray was awarded the free pass for being the first competitor scored a lap down, while Friesen, Crafton, Riggs, Purdy, Dean Thompson and Jake Garcia all trailed the cutline by 39+ points.

    During the stage break, some including Friesen, Currey, Jake Garcia, Kaden Honeycutt, Nick Sanchez, Tanner Gray, Ty Dillon, Crafton and Stefan Parsons pitted while the rest led by Enfinger remained on the track.

    With 101 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Enfinger and Eckes occupied the front row. At the start and with the field fanning out, Enfinger and Eckes dueled for the lead in front of Riggs while Heim made contact with Dye while trying to force his way beneath him and have a shot at a top five. Shortly after, the caution quickly returned for a multi-truck wreck that erupted between Turns 3 and 4 when Purdy bumped and sent Ty Dillon running into the rear of Dean Thompson, which resulted in Thompson spinning up the track and in front of oncoming traffic as Sawalich, Stefan Parsons, Keith McGee, rookie Thad Moffitt, Bayley Currey, Mason Massey and Crafton all sustained damage to their respective entries.

    As the event restarted under green with 85 laps remaining, Enfinger rocketed away with the lead as the field fanned out approaching the first two turns. Through the backstretch, Enfinger led Rhodes, who navigated past Eckes for the spot, as Ankurm and Riggs battled for fourth place in front of Heim and Caruth. The caution, however, returned for the following lap after Lawless Alan spun in Turn 3 amid contact with Crafton and Bayley Currey.

    Following an extensive caution period, the race restarted under green with 73 laps remaining. At the start, Enfinger and Rhodes dueled for the lead as Ankrum, Heim and Caruth all made three-wide moves of their own approaching the first turn. Enfinger would then clear Rhodes and muscle ahead to retain the lead as Eckes would navigate his way into the runner-up spot over Rhodes during the following lap. Amid the late-race battles, Enfinger retained the lead by half a second over Eckes, Rhodes, Riggs and Ankrum while Majeski was up to seventh place behind Heim. The caution, however, would return with 69 laps remaining due to Conner Jones falling off the pace and nearly coming to a stop just past the frontstretch as the Virginia native missed the pit road entrance. During the caution period, some including Heim, Caruth, Sawalich, Purdy, Sanchez and Tanner Gray pitted for fresh tires while the rest led by Enfinger remained on the track.

    With the event restarting under green with 63 laps remaining, Enfinger fended off Rhodes to retain the lead from the outside lane as Heim used the four fresh tires to storm his way back to the front while running on the outside lane. With Tanner Gray also using his fresh tires to try to move up the leaderboard despite being mired in 16th place, Enfinger retained the lead by nearly a second over Rhodes with 60 laps remaining as Heim was making his way into the top five. Heim would then overtake Ankrum for fourth place and he would gain ground on Eckes while Majeski, Riggs, Friesen, Ty Dillon and Dye were mired in the top 10.

    Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Enfinger was leading by less than two seconds over a hard-charging Heim while Rhodes, Eckes, Majeski, Ankrum, Riggs, Friesen, Dillon and Crafton were scored in the top 10. Meanwhile, Dye, who slipped to 12th place, was 12 points above the cutline with the final transfer spot over Tanner Gray, who was still mired in 16th place and trying to overtake Friesen for the spot. In the process, Taylor Gray was back in 17th place while Sanchez was mired in 22nd place behind Purdy, Garcia and Stefan Parsons.

    Ten laps later, Enfinger stabilized his advantage to eight-tenths of a second over runner-up Heim while Majeski trailed the lead by four seconds as he navigated his way up to third place. With teammate Rhodes and Eckes trailing in the top five, Riggs was down in sixth place while Sawalich, Ankrum, Crafton and Caruth were in the top 10. By then, Dye was down in 13th place behind Dillon and Zilisch while Tanner Gray was in 15th place behind Friesen.

    Another eight laps later, Heim drew his truck alongside Enfinger as both dueled for the lead before Enfinger muscled ahead to retain the lead and pull away from Heim by two-tenths of a second during the following lap. Heim would then challenge Enfinger a second time for the lead with 30 laps remaining before he prevailed and had the top spot to his control for the following lap. With Heim leading Enfinger, Majeski trailed in third place by two seconds while Riggs and Sawalich were in the top five.

    Then following another caution with 26 laps remaining due to Kaden Honeycutt spinning in Turn 4 after he got hit by Stefan Parsons, the entire lead lap field led by Heim pitted for service, with most pitting for a final set of fresh tires. Following the pit stops, Sawalich exited pit road first with only two fresh tires while Enfinger, Heim, Majeski and Eckes, all of whom opted for four fresh tires, exited in the top five. Amid the pit stops, Dye, who pitted from the top 10, exited pit road outside the top 20, which left him with only a one-point advantage over Tanner Gray as Gray was scored in 12th place.

    During the following restart with 20 laps remaining, Enfinger tried to bolt away from Sawalich as the field fanned out approaching the first turn. Sawalich, however, slipped up the track and made contact with Enfinger through the first two turns. This allowed Majeski to overtake both for the lead as Enfinger was left to battle Riggs for the runner-up spot in front of Eckes and Heim. As Sawalich began to drop in the leaderboard, Enfinger and Riggs continued to battle hard for the runner-up spot during the proceeding laps. Eckes would join the battle between Enfinger and Riggs while Heim was being overtaken by Ankrum, Taylor Gray, and Dillon. Behind, Dye was up to 11th place on fresh tires while Tanner Gray down to 21st place on older tires to Dye.

    With 15 laps remaining, Majeski was leading by more than a second over Enfinger and Riggs. The following lap, however, the caution returned after Holmes hit and send Zilisch into the outside wall in Turn 2, with Zilisch backing his No. 7 Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet Silverado RST into the wall and retiring due to the damage. During caution, few including Tanner Gray, pitted while the rest led by Majeski remained on the track.

    Down to the final eight laps of the event, the race restarted under green as Enfinger jumped ahead from Majeski. Then while trying to clear and block Majeski, Majeski kept his foot in the gas and nearly turned Enfinger, which got Enfinger loose and stalled his momentum as Majeski, who then got hit and nearly turned by Enfinger entering Turn 3, powered back into the lead. The contact allowed Eckes to challenge Enfinger for the runner-up spot as Riggs and Taylor Gray tried to join the battle. Over the next two laps, a four-wide battle for the runner-up spot ensued between Enfinger, Eckes, Riggs and Taylor Gray, with neither giving an inch. Meanwhile, Majeski managed to pull away and he would retain the lead by half a second over Enfinger with five laps remaining as Eckes, Taylor Gray and Riggs remained in close pursuit within the top five.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Majeski remained the leader by nine-tenths of a second over Eckes as Enfinger, Riggs and Taylor Gray trailed closely behind. Having no competition lurking close enough to his rear bumper, Majeski cycled his Ford around Richmond smoothly for a final time before he returned to the frontstretch victorious for his second checkered flag of the 2024 Truck Series season.

    With the victory, Majeski notched his fifth career win in the Craftsman Truck Series division and his first at Richmond Raceway. The victory was also the second of the 2024 season for both ThorSport Racing and the Ford nameplate as Majeski, who qualified for his third consecutive Playoffs, will commence his pursuit for his first Truck Series championship over a seven-race Playoff stretch that begins at the Milwaukee Mile two weeks from now.

    “[The win] feels good,” Majeski said on FS1. “We’ve had great ThorSport trucks here at Richmond the last two years. Found different ways to lose’em. We tried to do it again tonight. Another mistake, we really need to clean that stuff up before Playoff time, but so proud of these guys sticking behind me. [I] Wouldn’t be able to it without [owners] Duke and Ronda Thorson. They gave me a huge opportunity a few years ago and I’m having the time of my life racing for this team. Proud of these ThorSport Racing guys. We work so hard at the shop. We’re proud to do this from Sandusky, Ohio and we’re gonna try and bring another trophy back home.”

    Behind Majeski, Christian Eckes, the 2024 Truck Series Regular Season Champion, settled in second place followed by Taylor Gray and Grant Enfinger, all of whom are among 10 competitors who have made the Playoffs. Meanwhile, rookie Layne Riggs finished in fifth place but was among several who did not make the Playoffs.

    Tyler Ankrum and Ben Rhodes finished sixth and seventh as both are in the Playoffs along with Daniel Dye, who rallied from an up-and-down season to clinch the 10th and final berth to the Playoffs by 12 points over 12th-place finisher Tanner Gray. Ty Dillon and Connor Hall finished in the top 10 on the track.

    Notably, Corey Heim, Rajah Caruth and Nick Sanchez, all of whom ended up 16th, 17th and 30th on the track, will compete in the Playoffs for this year’s championship while top names including Stewart Friesen, Chase Purdy, Ty Dillon and Matt Crafton did not make the Playoffs, with the latter having his streak of making the Playoffs for eight consecutive seasons and since the Playoff’s inception 2016 came to an end.

    There were 12 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 69 laps. In addition, 21 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Ty Majeski, 70 laps led

    2. Christian Eckes, 64 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    3. Taylor Gray, five laps led

    4. Grant Enfinger, 98 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    5. Layne Riggs

    6. Tyler Ankrum

    7. Ben Rhodes

    8. Daniel Dye

    9. Ty Dillon, four laps led

    10. Connor Hall

    11. Stefan Parsons

    12. Tanner Gray

    13. Jake Garcia

    14. Kaden Honeycutt

    15. Matt Crafton

    16. Corey Heim, six laps led

    17. Rajah Caruth

    18. Lawless Alan

    19. Timmy Hill

    20. Chase Purdy

    21. Bret Holmes

    22. William Sawalich, one lap down, three laps led

    23. Bayley Currey, one lap down

    24. Spencer Boyd, one lap down

    25. Stewart Friesen, two laps down

    26. Mason Massey, three laps down

    27. Justin Carroll, three laps down

    28. Mason Maggio, four laps down

    29. Connor Zilisch – OUT, Accident

    30. Nick Sanchez – OUT, Clutch

    31. Conner Jones – OUT, Electrical

    32. Dean Thompson – OUT, Accident

    33. Thad Moffitt – OUT, Accident

    34. Keith McGee – OUT, Accident

    35. Matt Mills – OUT, Accident

    36. Jerry Bohlman – OUT, Too Slow

    The 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs is set to commence at the Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wisconsin, for the LiUNA! 175. The event is scheduled to occur on August 25 and air at 4 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Connor Zilisch set for part-time NASCAR national series campaign in mid-2024, beginning with Truck return at Richmond

    Connor Zilisch set for part-time NASCAR national series campaign in mid-2024, beginning with Truck return at Richmond

    More than four months after generating an impressive NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut at Circuit of the Americas, Connor Zilisch returns to the series with a five-race plan throughout the final eight-scheduled events of the 2024 season that commences this upcoming weekend at Richmond Raceway.

    The Charlotte, North Carolina, native, who celebrated his 18th birthday two weeks ago, will pilot the No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado RST entry for Spire Motorsports for his second career start in the Truck Series and his first at Richmond as he continues to make his early presence within NASCAR’s top three national touring series well-known across the NASCAR community for years to come.

    Zilisch, who became the first American to win the CIK-FIA Karting Academy Trophy in 2020 before claiming both a Mazda MX-5 Cup Scholarship and Rookie-of-the-Year title over the next two seasons, commenced the 2024 season by being signed by Trackhouse Racing as a development competitor on a multi-year basis in early January. The development program from Trackhouse enabled Zilisch to make starts in the NASCAR Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series divisions along with ARCA, CARS Tour, Trans-Am and IMSA regions. He would proceed to emerge victorious at the Rolex 24 at Daytona in late January, which made him the second-youngest winner of the event at 17 years and 191 days old, before winning at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in March, both in the LMP2 class with Era Motorsport.

    In March, Zilisch, who currently competes full-time in the ARCA Menards Series East with Pinnacle Racing Group, was announced as the driver of Spire’s No. 7 entry at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, for his Truck debut. He was also signed to compete at Talladega Superspeedway and at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the latter event of which is set to occur in a separate entry, in October.

    During his first NASCAR national touring series weekend at Austin, Zilisch stole the show by winning his first pole position with a pole-winning lap at 93.012 mph in 131.983 seconds and becoming the first competitor to win a pole in a Truck debut since Nick Sanchez made the last accomplishment during the 2023 opener at Daytona International Speedway. Despite losing the lead during the opening lap after locking up his front tires and sliding off the track in the first turn amid a three-wide battle, Zilisch, who then endured a roller-coaster event that included spinning shortly after the start of the second stage and being penalized multiple times for short-cutting the course, was able to methodically carve his way back towards the front and survive an overtime restart to finish in fourth place. Ironically, the day did not end for Zilisch, who then traveled to Pensacola, Florida, to compete in the 2024 ARCA Menards Series East season opener at Five Flags Speedway, where he recorded another fourth-place run.

    A month after his Truck debut in Austin, Spire and Silver Hare Racing joined forces to add three Truck events to Zilisch’s schedule, including this upcoming weekend’s event at Richmond. He will also compete at Bristol Motor Speedway in September before making his sixth and final Truck start of the 2024 season at Martinsville Speedway in October.

    Zilisch’s early presence across NASCAR’s top three national touring series does not conclude with the Truck Series in 2024 as the Charlotte native is also set to make his Xfinity Series debut at Watkins Glen International in September, where he will pilot the No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports. He will then return for three additional Xfinity events of this season including Kansas Speedway in September, Homestead-Miami Speedway in October and the season-finale event at Phoenix Raceway in November.

    As he transitions back to the Truck Series spotlight, Zilisch carries another objective besides gaining more on-track experience within NASCAR’s top series. He also strives to keep the Spire Motorsports No. 7 Chevrolet team in contention for this year’s owners championship in this weekend’s event at Richmond which serves as the series’ regular-season finale.

    Currently, Spire’s No. 7 entry is ranked fifth in the owner standings on the strength of two victories, both being recorded by two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch at Atlanta Motor Speedway in February and at Texas Motor Speedway in April. In addition, the entry secured two stage victories, five top-five results and nine top-10 results through 15 scheduled events, all while being piloted by Zilisch, Busch, Corey LaJoie, Sammy Smith, Connor Mosack, Andres Perez de Lara and Clint Bowyer. As for Spire’s two full-time Truck competitors that include Rajah Caruth (No. 71) and Chase Purdy (No. 77), Caruth is locked into the Playoffs and set to contend for the driver’s championship after he won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March while Purdy is 44 points below the top-10 cutline to qualify for his first Playoff appearance.

    With Spire’s No. 7 entry being 53 points above the top-10 cutline and looking to contend for the owners’ title over the eight-race Playoff stretch, Zilisch is one of three competitors left to keep the entry in contention for the organization’s first title in NASCAR. With Zilisch scheduled to compete in three of seven Playoff events, Sammy Smith will drive the No. 7 entry at the Milwaukee Mile for the Playoff opener in late August while Connor Mosack will compete at Kansas Speedway in September and at Homestead-Miami Speedway in October. A driver for the season-finale event at Phoenix Raceway in November is yet to be determined.

    Amid his early starts in NASCAR, Zilisch is currently in contention to claim the 2024 ARCA Menards Series East title as he has recorded four victories and finished no lower than fourth through six of eight scheduled events. With two races remaining, he leads the ARCA East standings by 23 points over the reigning champion William Sawalich in a season where he is also three-for-three in the ARCA Menards Series division, with his victories occurring at Dover Motor Speedway, Iowa Speedway and Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.

    While his racing plans for the 2025 season are not yet determined, there is unfinished business and plenty of potential surprises for Zilisch to add his early accomplished racing resume with a steady transcendence of his career to only grow bigger and brighter for years to come.

    Connor Zilisch’s second NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career start is scheduled to occur at Richmond Raceway for the Clean Harbors 250 on Saturday, August 10, with the event’s air commencement time to occur at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Connor Zilisch muscles through overtime for thrilling ARCA victory at Lucas Oil IRP

    Connor Zilisch muscles through overtime for thrilling ARCA victory at Lucas Oil IRP

    Connor Zilisch executed the final two restarts to his advantage to grab a thrilling ARCA Menards Series victory in the Circle City 200 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on Friday, July 19.

    The 17-year-old Zilisch from Charlotte, North Carolina, led twice for a race-high 89 of 205 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started in fourth place and ran upfront in the early stages before he assumed the lead for the first time on Lap 44. Despite leading through the halfway mark on Lap 100, Zilisch lost the lead to William Sawalich amid a restart with 92 laps remaining.

    After spending a majority of the mid-race portion trialing Sawalich, Zilisch then executed a restart with 21 laps remaining to force his way past Sawalich as he nearly slid up into Sawalich entering the first turn. After fending off another attack from Sawalich, Zilisch appeared to have the race within his grasp until an incident involving Amber Balcaen sent the field into an overtime attempt. Despite having Sawalich lined up alongside him for the overtime attempt, Zilisch was not to be denied as he motored away from the field amid a strong launch and cruised to both his fourth ARCA Menards Series East victory and his third consecutive ARCA Menards Series victory overall.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, William Sawalich secured the pole position with his best lap occurring at 110.715 mph in 22.306 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Lavar Scott, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 109.921 mph in 22.467 seconds.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, William Sawalich and Lavar Scott battled dead even against one another for the lead through the first two turns. Then just past the backstretch, Scott tried to muscle ahead of Sawalich entering Turn 3 from the inside lane, but Sawalich pulled a crossover move on Scott entering the frontstretch and he managed to lead the first lap by a hair.

    Sawalich and Scott would duel and cross over one another for the top spot for the following lap before Scott managed to motor ahead of Sawalich and have both lanes to his control by the third lap. He would proceed to lead just past the fifth lap mark while Sawalich, Connor Zilisch, Andres Perez, Lawless Alan and Giovanni Ruggiero trailed in the top six.

    Following the event’s first caution period on the ninth lap due to Jackson McLerran spinning his No. 96 Firemark Property Mgrnt/Arylco Toyota in Turn 2, the race restarted under green on Lap 14. At the start, Scott and Sawalich dueled for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch before Scott used the outside lane to muscle ahead and retain the lead for the following lap.

    As Scott proceeded to lead just past the Lap 15 mark, Alan prevailed in an early side-by-side battle with Ruggiero for fifth place as they trailed another side-by-side battle for third place between Zilisch and Perez. Amid the early battles around the circuit, Scott would then be challenged by Sawalich for the lead on Lap 18. Despite Sawalich’s attempt to gain a run underneath Scott through the turns, Scott would manage to muscle ahead as he retained the lead by Lap 20.

    At the Lap 30 mark, Scott, who was being mired in lapped traffic, continued to lead by nearly half a second over Sawalich, who was being intimidated by Zilisch for the spot, while Perez and Ruggiero trailed by as far as six seconds in the top five. Meanwhile, Alan, Greg van Alst, Toni Breidinger, Kris Wright and Christian Rose were running in the top 10 ahead of Dean Thompson, Marco Andretti, Amber Balcaen, Isaac Johnson and Zachary Tinkle while Andrew Patterson, Presley Sorah, D.L. Wilson, Michael Maples and Cody Dennison were mired in the top 20 ahead of Tyler Tomassi, Becca Monopoli, Jayson Alexander, Alex Clubb and Braynton Laster.

    Ten laps later, Scott, who was continuing to weave his way through lapped traffic, stabilized his advantage to two-tenths of a second over Zilisch, who nearly pulled a slide job on Scott for the lead amid lapped traffic, while Sawalich trailed in third place by half a second. Behind, Perez and Rugiero remained in the top five while Alan, Van Alst, Breidinger, Kris Wright and Christian Rose occupied the top 10 on the track.

    With the event reaching a second caution period on Lap 50 mark due to Presley Sorah wrecking against the outside wall in Turn 3 and just past the backstretch, the start of the next restart period on Lap 57 featured Zilisch, who assumed the lead for the first time on Lap 42, muscling ahead and retaining the lead from the outside lane. Behind, Perez charged his way up to second place while Scott, Alan and Sawalich battled amongst one another for third place. Sawalich would prevail in the three-car battle for third place over Scott and Alan as Zilisch continued to lead on Lap 60.

    By Lap 75, Zilisch stretched his advantage to two seconds over Sawalich while third-place Perez trailed by more than five seconds. Behind, Scott and Ruggiero trailed by as far as nearly eight seconds in the top five while Alan, Breidinger, Van Alst, Thompson and Marco Andretti were in the top 10.

    Ten laps later, Zilisch stabilized his advantage to two seconds over Sawalich while third-place Scott trailed by nine seconds. Perez and Ruggiero continued to run in the top five as Alan followed suit in sixth place ahead of Breidinger, Andretti, Thompson and Wright, with the leaders navigating their way through lapped traffic.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 100, a designed caution flew for a mid-race break. At the time of caution, Zilisch was leading by more than a second over Sawalich, who chopped half of his deficit in trailing Zilisch for the top spot, as third-place Scott trailed the lead by 12 seconds. Perez, Ruggiero, Alan, Breidinger, Andretti, Thompson and Wright were scored in the top 10.

    During the mid-race break period, which included the race being red-flagged, the entire field led by Zilisch pitted for a non-competitive service, which kept Zilisch in the lead when the field returned to the track under a cautious pace.

    With 93 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Zilisch and Sawalich dueled for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch until Sawalich used the inside lane to muscle ahead of Zilisch. Zilisch then tried to pull a crossover move underneath Sawalich, but the latter would clear the former and retain the lead for the following lap. With Sawalich leading Zilisch with 90 laps remaining, Perez and Scott battled for third place while Alan was up into fifth place ahead of Ruggiero and Breidinger.

    Down to the final 75 laps of the event, the caution returned due to Becca Monopoli, who was lapped by the leaders, slipping sideways before she snapped back across the track and hit the backstretch’s outside wall head-on while being dodged by Jackson McLerran. Amid the hard accident, she emerged uninjured. By then, Sawalich had slightly stretched his advantage to eight-tenths of a second over Zilisch.

    The start of the next restart period with 67 laps remaining featured Sawalich rocketing away from the lead through the frontstretch and the first two turns while Perez also rocketed his way into the runner-up spot. As Zilisch retained third place in front of Perez and Ruggiero, Alan and Breidinger battled for sixth place while both were also trying to pressure Ruggiero for a top-five spot while Andretti and Wright tried to close in from eighth and ninth, respectively. Amid the late on-track battles, Sawalich had extended his lead to more than a second as he continued to lead with 60 laps remaining.

    With 50 laps remaining, Sawalich stabilized his advantage to more than a over Zilisch while third-place Scott trailed by four seconds. Behind, Perez retained fourth place ahead of Ruggiero as Breidinger, who was up to sixth place, was trying to pressure teammate Ruggiero for more.

    Ten laps later, Sawalich retained his advantage of more than a second over Zilisch, with both competitors logging in fast lapped times. Behind, Scott trailed by more than seven seconds in third place while Perez and Ruggiero remained in the top five ahead of Breidinger, Andretti, Wright, Alan and Thompson.

    Another four laps later, the caution flew due to Jackson McLerran spinning in Turn 2 for a second time. In the process of McLerran’s spin, Breidinger, who was trying to navigate her way past teammate Ruggiero for a top-five spot, had slammed on the brakes, smoked her front tires and made light contact with the outside wall to avoid hitting McLerran. Despite hitting the wall, Breidinger remained on the track and retained sixth place.

    With the event restarting under green with 29 laps remaining, Sawalich and Zilisch dueled for the lead for nearly a lap until Zilisch nearly slid up the track in Turn 3, which allowed Sawalich to rocket ahead and retain the lead for the following lap. The caution, however, quickly returned as both Alan and Breidinger wrecked up against the outside wall in Turn 2, where the latter was then hit by McLerran as her strong run within the top six came to an end. The incident was enough for the event to be placed in a red flag period as the on-track safety crew cleared the carnage scene.

    When the red flag lifted and the race resumed under green with 21 laps remaining, Zilisch wasted no time forcing his way into the lead from the inside lane over Sawalich. Despite running wide through the first two turns, which allowed Sawalich to cross over and duel with Zilisch through the backstretch and prior to hitting Turns 3 and 4, Zilisch managed to muscle ahead from the outside lane and hold the lead with 20 laps remaining. Zilisch then started to place a reasonable gap between himself and Sawalich over the proceeding laps while Perez, Scott and Ruggiero followed suit in the top five.

    Down to the final 15 laps of the event, Zilisch extended his advantage to a second over Sawalich. Zilisch would stretch his advantage to nearly two seconds over Sawalich with 10 laps remaining while Perez, Scott and Ruggiero trailed by as far as five seconds.

    With five laps remaining, Zilisch retained his lead to more than a second over Sawalich as he also navigated his way through lapped traffic. In the process, Perez trailed in third place by nearly five seconds as Scott, Ruggerio and Wright followed suit in the top six.

    Then just as Zilisch was approaching the frontstretch to take the white flag and start the final lap of the event, the caution flew due to Amber Balcaen spinning as she was battling Zachary Tinkle while entering the frontstretch. Balcaen’s incident sent the event into overtime and spoiled Zilisch’s advantage of nearly two seconds over Sawalich.

    The start of the first and only overtime attempt featured Zilisch gaining a strong start from the inside lane as he rocketed his No. 28 Silver Hare Development Chevrolet away with the lead as Perez overtook Sawalich’s No. 18 Starkey/Sound Gear Toyota for the runner-up spot. As the rest of the field, including Perez and Sawalich, battled, Zilisch muscled away from the field.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Zilisch remained as the leader by four-tenths of a second over Perez, who was trying to fend off Sawalich for the runner-up spot. Having a comfortable advantage for a final circuit, Zilisch navigated his way back to the frontstretch victorious as he claimed the checkered flag by nine-tenths of a second over Perez.

    With the victory, Zilisch, a development competitor for Trackhouse Racing, is three-for-three in the ARCA Menards Series as he is coming off wins between Flat Rock Speedway and Iowa Speedway. To go along with his first victory at Lucas Oil IRP along with the fourth ARCA East victory of his career and of the 2024 season, Zilisch also racked up his third ARCA Menards Series career victory in the process as this event marked a combined event between the ARCA and ARCA East divisions.

    With two ARCA Menards Series East races remaining on this year’s schedule, Zilisch continues to lead the series standings by 23 points over Sawalich.

    Photo by Adam Lovelace for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “This Silver Hare Racing, Pinnacle Racing Group Chevrolet was so fast,” Zilisch said on FS1. “I kind of messed up two restarts in a row. Luckily, I got a third shot at it and I could just hear Josh Wise and Scott Speed in the back of my head, telling me what to do. We’ve prepped for this race for weeks now. It just feels good to have that prep pay off and get my team a win in this critical situation. We’re racing for a championship. These wins matter a lot.”

    “I just wanted leverage,” Zilisch, who stood by his decision to restart on the inside lane that led him to victory, added. “When I’m on the bottom [lane], I have more control than when I’m on the top. As long as I beat [Sawalich] to the start/finish line and got a good run, I could kind of slide myself and get clear off of [Turn] 2. It’s all about leverage in these games and obviously, me and [Sawalich] had a little bit of history. I just didn’t want to take a chance on it. I’m glad it paid off.”

    Andres Perez, the current points leader in the ARCA Menards Series division and who is still searching for his first ARCA career victory, managed to fend off William Sawalich to claim the runner-up spot as Lavar Scott and Giovanni Ruggiero finished in the top five. The runner-up result, which marks Perez’s best result in the series, allowed him to retain the lead in the ARCA standings by 46 points over Greg Van Alst and 45 over Lavar Scott.

    Kris Wright, Marco Andretti, Greg Van Alst, Dean Thompson and Isaac Johnson completed the top 10 in the final running order.

    There were four lead changes for three leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 44 laps. In addition, nine of 31 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Connor Zilisch, 89 laps led

    2. Andres Perez

    3. William Sawalich, 72 laps led

    4. Lavar Scott, 44 laps led

    5. Giovanni Ruggiero

    6. Kris Wright

    7. Marco Andretti

    8. Greg Van Alst

    9. Dean Thompson

    10. Isaac Johnson, one lap down

    11. Zachary Tinkle, three laps down

    12. Andrew Patterson, three laps down

    13. Amber Balcaen, four laps down

    14. Cody Dennison, five laps down

    15. Michael Maples, six laps down

    16. D.L. Wilson, six laps down

    17. Tyler Tomassi, seven laps down

    18. Jayson Alexander, eight laps down

    19. Braynton Laster, 11 laps down

    20. Rita Goulet, 13 laps down

    21. Alex Clubb, 16 laps down

    22. Christian Rose – OUT, Accident

    23. Lawless Alan – OUT, Accident

    24. Toni Breidinger – OUT, Accident

    25. Jackson McLerran – OUT, Accident

    26. Casey Carden – OUT, Mechanical

    27. Becca Monopoli – OUT, Accident

    28. Nate Moeller – OUT, Mechanical

    29. Presley Sorah – OUT, Accident

    30. Dale Shearer – OUT, Mechanical

    31. Brad Smith – OUT, Mechanical

    Next on the 2024 ARCA Menards Series schedule is the Salem ARCA 200 at Salem Speedway in Salem, Indiana. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, July 27, with a start time at 8 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Connor Zilisch claims pole at COTA in Truck Series debut

    Connor Zilisch claims pole at COTA in Truck Series debut

    Connor Zilisch won the Pole Award Friday afternoon at Circuit of the Americas in his NASCAR Truck Series debut. He topped the speed chart in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet with a fast lap at 93.012 mph in 131.983 seconds and he also set a track record average lap speed of 92.941 mph.

    “It’s truly a testament to all the people around me,” Zilisch said after qualifying. “This Spire Motorsports team, (crew chief) Brian Pattie, everybody back at the shop, killer, killer job. This thing was basically driving itself. I don’t even want to take any of the credit for it. It’s awesome to come here in my first race and be on the pole. Thank you to everybody who supported me along the way. It’s super cool to have Austin Hatcher Foundation on the truck.”

    He concluded by saying, “It’s an honor to be on the pole in my first race but we still have a lot of work to do tomorrow.”

    The pole is one of several highlights this year for the seventeen-year-old beginning with the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway in January where he won a LMP2 class victory in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. He also scored a class win in the 12 Hours of Sebring one week ago.

    Corey Heim will start beside Zilisch on the front row after posting a qualifying lap of 92.512 mph in the No. 11 TRICON Garage entry. Heim’s teammate, Taylor Gray, will start third in the No. 17 Chevrolet followed by Nick Sanchez in the No. 2 Rev Racing Chevrolet. Ross Chastain will round out the top five in the No. 45 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet.

    Jack Hawksworth, Tanner Gray, Layne Riggs, Ty Majeski and Christian Eckes completed the top-10 fastest drivers in the qualifying session.

    The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series XPEL 225 will be broadcast on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1 with radio coverage provided by MRN and SiriusXM Radio.