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XFINITY: Zilisch Battles Back from Adversity at COTA for Second Win

Toby Christie|
Connor Zilisch pulled off his second career NASCAR Xfinity Series win in Saturday's Focused Health 250 at Circuit of the Americas.
Connor Zilisch pulled off his second career NASCAR Xfinity Series win in Saturday's Focused Health 250 at Circuit of the Americas. | James Gilbert/Getty Images

Connor Zilisch, at just 18 years old, is now a two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series winner as the young phenom took the win from the pole in Saturday's Focused Health 250 at Circuit of the Americas. Zilisch would hold off NASCAR Cup Series regular William Byron by a margin of 1.639 seconds for the win.

While the end result was another road course win for Zilisch, his path of getting to the win on Saturday wasn't super clear-cut. The driver had to overcome bad luck, and mistakes of his own from behind the wheel to capture the win.

"Yeah, that was tough," Zilisch said post-race. "That was way harder than I wanted it to be, I did not drive a clean race at all, sorry to everyone I hit, I was mentally fogged halfway through that race and glad we were able to fight back."

Zilisch, who had led 16 of the race's opening 17 laps, attempted to make a pit stop prior to the end of the opening Stage in an effort to set himself up with better track position in Stage 2. However, as Zilisch was rounding the corner to come to pit road, Baltazar Leguizamon's stalled No. 35 Joey Gase Motorsports machine brought out a caution.

The driver of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet would have his car serviced under the caution, which had he crossed the pit road commitment line prior to the illumination of the caution light, it wouldn't have been a penalty.

While it was close, Zilisch did in fact enter pit road under the caution, which would result in a tail-end-of-the-line penalty prior to the start of Stage 2. So much for the track position the youngster had hoped to gain with the pit stop.

After spending the entirety of Stage 2 working his way back into position, it appeared that Zilisch was ready to pounce back to the lead of the race heading into the race's final Stage. Then, Zilisch made an unforced error heading into Turn 1 of the race, which sent him into the side of Carson Kvapil, his JR Motorsports teammate. This opened the door for last week's race winner Austin Hill to take the race lead while Zilisch would slide into the third position.

Zilisch would make another mistake in Turn 15 on the same lap as he would make contact with Corey Heim, while attempting to take the second position. The contact would send Heim spinning from the runner-up spot, and it would cause heavy damage to the right front of Zilisch's No. 88 Chevrolet.

Now, with a fender rubbing on his right front tire, Zilisch attempted to get his head right as he trailed Hill, and Kvapil for the lead.

Kvapil, who had not been known for his road racing prowess prior to Saturday, took the lead from Hill with 14 laps remaining in the race, and Zilisch would follow his teammate through to take the second spot.

For four consecutive laps, Zilisch would stalk Kvapil for the race lead, and after both drivers locked up their wheels numerous times, Zilisch would retake the lead for the final time on the day with 10 laps remaining.

As Zilisch attempted to build a lead, Kvapil would unfortunately cut a right front tire down with five laps to go, ending what had been an impressive run for the driver of the No. 1 Chevrolet. Kvapil would be credited with a 23rd-place finish.

As Kvapil faded out of the picture, Zilisch stayed steady out front, and he cruised to the finish line ahead of Byron, who won last year's NASCAR Cup Series race at COTA.

With the win, Zilisch became the second-youngest driver to ever achieve multiple wins in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Zilisch, who was 18 years, 7 months, and 7 days old on Saturday, trails only Chase Elliott who took his second career Xfinity Series win at the age of 18 years, 4 months, and 14 days.

Zilisch also officially locked his place into the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs with the win, and he'll continue to try to pile on as many Playoff Points as he can for the remainder of the regular season.

The North Carolina native will now try to move past Saturday's race and will attempt to carry momentum along with the lessons he learned on Saturday on his quest to potentially become the youngest winner in NASCAR Cup Series history as he will start 14th in his Cup Series debut on Sunday.

Sam Mayer, another full-time competitor, would come home third in the No. 41 Haas Factory Team Ford Mustang Dark Horse. Prior to moving to the Haas team in the offseason, Mayer had driven for JR Motorsports, the team that Zilisch and Kvapil currently drive for, since the 2021 season.

Hill would miss out on his chance to collect back-to-back wins as he finished fourth in the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. With his latest solid result, Hill expands his regular season point lead to 13 points over his RCR teammate Jesse Love.

Christian Eckes followed behind Hill in fifth. Eckes, the driver of the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet, is one of eight drivers battling against Zilisch for Rookie of the Year honors this season.

Jesse Love, last year's NASCAR Xfinity Series Rookie of the Year, came home in sixth ahead of current rookie contender Taylor Gray, Ross Chastain, William Sawalich (another rookie contender) and Blaine Perkins, who rounded out the top-10 finishers in the race.

Perkins, who drives the No. 31 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet, surprised with his second-career top-10 finish, and his first at a road course.

Next up for the NASCAR Xfinity Series is race four of the 2025 season, which is the GOVX 200 at Phoenix Raceway. That race is set for Saturday, March 8. The event at Phoenix will be televised by The CW, and TV coverage for the event will begin at 5:00 PM ET.

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Toby Christie
TOBY CHRISTIE

Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.

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