Zilisch Leads Way in Xfinity Practice; Love Shows Great Speed

Oct 30, 2025; Avondale, Arizona, USA; NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers Connor Zilisch and Jesse Love during Championship 4 media day at Phoenix Raceway. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

If Connor Zilisch is going to ultimately capture the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship in Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race, there's a good chance that he's going to have to duke it out with his best friend Jesse Love for the title.

Zilisch, who has recorded a series-high 10 wins this season, cranked off a lap time of 28.045 seconds (128.365 mph) to lead the way in the 50-minute practice session. The driver of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet has high hopes this weekend, and he admitted in Thursday's Championship 4 Media Day that if he doesn't walk away from Phoenix as champion, the 10-win season would be worthless.

In practice, Zilisch's stranglehold on the speedcharts wasn't massive as Love was the second-fastest Championship 4 contender in single-lap speed, and third-fastest driver overall. Love clocked in just 0.037 seconds off the fast lap time set by Zilisch.

So, Zilisch will have the upper hand, theoretically going into Saturday's qualifying session, but when you look at long-run speed, it's clear that Love, who drives the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, currently holds the designation as the best in the 38-car field.

Love had a 10-lap consecutive average speed of 127.210 mph, which is the best of the 27 cars that completed 10 consecutive laps in the session. Zilisch was second-fastest in 10-lap averages.

While Zilisch and Love were at, or near the top of the charts in both metrics during NASCAR Xfinity Series practice, there was a large desparity in speed shown by the other two drivers in the championship fight.

Defending series champion Justin Allgaier was only able to muster the 14th-fastest single-lap speed in the session, while Carson Kvapil clocked in 15th-fastest. As far as 10-lap consecutive averages go, Allgaier ranked ninth, and Kvapil ranked 11th.

Needless to say, Zilisch and Love seemingly carry a massive advantage as of Friday afternoon at Phoenix Raceway. But a lot can change between Friday afternoon, and the checkered flag in Saturday. night's NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race

The NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race is set for Saturday, November 1, and will be televised by The CW with broadcast coverage set to kick off at 7:30 PM ET. The Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio broadcast of the event.