Connor Zilisch overcomes adversity to score Xfinity win at COTA: It’s hard to put Connor Zilisch off his game, as the 18-year-old road course prodigy proved once again in winning Saturday’s Focused Health 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Circuit of the Americas.(Read more)(NASCAR)

Overcoming an early race penalty and multiple hard battles, #88-Connor Zilisch won the Focused Health 250 Xfinity Series race at Circuit of The Americas. It his second victory in as many road course starts in the series.
Cup Series regular #17-William Byron finished runner-up, 1.6 seconds behind Zilisch. #41-Sam Mayer overcame a late spin to finish third. #21-Austin Hill and #16-Christian Eckes round out the top five.
#2-Jesse Love, #54-Taylor Gray, #9-Ross Chastain, #18-William Sawalich and #31-Blaine Perkins completed the top 10.
Byron won the opening stage under caution while #25-Harrison Burton won Stage 2 by staying out for points while the majority of the field flipped their strategy for the start of Stage 3.
There were 14 lead changes among nine drivers and four cautions for 14 yellow flag laps.
The average speed of the race was: 70.095 mph.
See race details at: Race Results, Driver Points, Owner Points, Cumulative Report, Penalty Report.

COTA Paint Schemes

Race Fast Facts – Circuit of The Americas:
Connor Zilisch # won the Focused Health 250, his second victory in seven Xfinity Series races. He becomes the second-youngest multi-time winner in series history (Chase Elliott, 18 years, 4 months, 14 days; Zilisch, 18 years, 7 months, 7 days).
This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in 2025.
This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in one race at Circuit of The Americas.
William Byron(i) (second) posted his second top-10 finish in two races at Circuit of The Americas. It is his first top-10 finish in 2025.
Sam Mayer (third) posted his fourth top-10 finish in four races at Circuit of The Americas.
Connor Zilisch (first) was the highest finishing rookie.
Austin Hill leads the point standings by 13 points over Jesse Love.

Xfinity Series Playoff Standings after COTA (Race 3 of 33):
1)#21-Austin Hill 1 win (9 playoff points, regular season championship leader)
2)#2-Jesse Love 1 win (5 playoff points)
3)#88-Connor Zilisch 1 win (5 playoff points)
4)#00-Sheldon Creed 108, +40
5)#41-Sam Mayer 94, +26
6)#7-Justin Allgaier 90, +22
7)#8-Sammy Smith 87, +19
8)#27-Jeb Burton 86, +17
9)#54-Taylor Gray 75, +7
10)#16-Christian Eckes 74, +6
11)#25-Harrison Burton 73, +5
12)#1-Carson Kvapil 68, +0
Currently below elimination line
13)#18-William Sawalich 68, -0
14)#39-Ryan Sieg 68, -0
15)#51-Jeremy Clements 64, -4
16)#11-Josh Williams 64, -4
See the Drivers Points Standings and Owners Points Standings.

Race Updates
Lap 65: #88-Zilisch wins at COTA. #17-Byron, #41-Mayer, #21-Hill, #16-Eckes, #2-Love, #54-Gray, #9-Chastain, #18-Sawalich and #31-Perkins is the top 10.
Lap 63: #88-Zilisch has a 3.4-second lead over #17-Byron with two laps remaining.
Lap 60: #1-Kvapil has a flat right-front tire from second position and needs to pit.
Lap 57: #1-Kvapil trades paint with #88-Zilisch in Turn 6A, continuously applying pressure for the race lead.
Lap 55: #1-Kvapil locks up his front tires entering Turn 20, allowing #88-Zilisch to get by for the race lead.
Lap 55: #25-Burton is slow on the track, limping around the track trying to get back to the pits.
Lap 53: #88-Zilisch locks up his tires in Turn 20, allowing #1-Kvapil to increase the gap. Zilisch’s right-front fender is rubbing against the tire.
Lap 51: #21-Hill misses a corner, allowing #1-Kvapil and #88-Zilisch sneak by for the front two spots.
Lap 48: #24-Heim is on pit road for repairs after the contact with #88-Zilisch.
Lap 47: #21-Hill has stretched his lead to two seconds over #1-Kvapil. #88-Zilisch gets around #17-Byron for third position.
Lap 45: #88-Zilisch makes wheel-to-wheel contact with #24-Heim on the exit of Turn 15 and spins Heim out. Zilisch has significant damage to the right-front fender and drops to fourth.
Lap 45: #88-Zilisch made an aggressive move to get to the inside of #1-Kvapil and washed up the track. #21-Hill sneaks by for the lead, with #24-Heim moving into second.
Lap 42: The cars that opted for stage points pit under caution for service.
Lap 40: #25-Burton wins Stage 2, his first stage victory of the season. #10-Dye, #8-Smith, #27-Burton, #39-Sieg, #44-Poole, #07-Labbe, #11-Williams, #53-Karam and #28-Sieg earn stage points.
Lap 37: #9-Chastain pits from the lead. #19-Herbst, #17-Byron, #24-Heim and #21-Hill pit. #25-Burton is the new race leader. #00-Creed, #19-Herbst and #9-Chastain were all caught for speeding on pit road.
Lap 36: #19-Herbst, #1-Kvapil and #9-Chastain are battling for the race lead. Kvapil dips into the pits. #00-Custer, #2-Love, #88-Zilisch, #54-Gray, #20-Jones, #91-Bilicki, #31-Perkins, #32-Green, #16-Eckes, #18-Sawalich, #71-Ellis, #48-Sanchez and #26-Thompson all pit.
Lap 35: #41-Mayer pits to flip the final stage.
Lap 35: #7-Allgaier has a flat right-rear tire and needed to make an additional stop.
Lap 33: #7-Allgaier pits to fix the left-front fender after it was rubbing on the tire.
Lap 32: #41-Mayer spun off the front bumper of #8-Smith in Turn 1 on the restart. #7-Allgaier has a tire rub after contact with #88-Zilisch. #19-Herbst passes #2-Love for the race lead.
Lap 28: The caution flew for a banner dropping on to the track in Turn 6A after #51-Clements spun into the tire barriers.
Lap 27: #26-Thompson spun off the exit of in Turn 1. #17-Bryon and #9-Chastain have cracked the top 10.
Lap 25: #2-Love makes a crossover move in Turn 1 to take the lead from #54-Gray. #19-Herbst sneaks by for second. #88-Zilisch gained five spots in the opening lap of the restart and is 27th.
Lap 24: #54-Gray leads #2-Love by a nose at the start/finish line after the restart.
Lap 22: #88-Zilisch pits to top off with fuel.
Lap 21: Cars that didn’t pit in the opening stage are on pit road. #54-Gray is the new race leader.
Lap 20: #17-Byron wins the opening stage under caution. #9-Chastain, #24-Heim, #41-Mayer, #7-Allgaier, #21-Hill, #16-Eckes, #8-Smith, #42-Alfredo and #07-Labbe score stage points.
Lap 17: #54-Gray, #2-Love, #20-Jones, #39-Sieg, #26-Thompson, #25-Burton, #00-Creed, #27-Burton, #18-Sawalich, #48-Sanchez and #71-Ellis all pit. #35-Leguizamon is stalled on the frontstretch. #88-Zilisch came to pit road on a closed pit road and will have to restart at the rear of the field.
Lap 16: Drivers have begun flipping the stage with #19-Herbst and #1-Kvapil on pit road. #17-Byron passes #9-Chastain for second position.
Lap 14: #88-Zilisch has extended his led to nearly four seconds over #9-CHastain, who is getting pressure from #17-Byron and #24-Heim.
Lap 13: #8-Smith and #16-Eckes are trading paint for ninth position, allowing #54-Gray to get by both.
Lap 11: The field has started to string out. #88-Zilisch leads by 1.3 seconds over #9-Chastain.
Lap 7: #21-Hill got into #00-Creed, causing Creed, #1-Kvapil and #48-Sanchez to spin off course in Turn 20.
Lap 7: #88-Zilisch and #9-Chastain are trading the lead back and forth on the restart. #24-Heim takes fourth position from #7-Allgaier.
Lap 4: #27-Burton got into the rear of #14-Hocevar entering Turn 6A and sent Hocevar into the tire barriers.
Lap 2: #71-Ellis spins at the back of the field in Turn 20 after contact with another car.
Lap 1: #88-Zilisch scoots away with the lead by eight-tenths of a second. The opening lap was clean with no incidents.

Cars to the rear: #2-Jesse Love, #5-Kris Wright, #25-Harrison Burton, #28-Kyle Sieg, #32-Austin Green, #35-Baltazar Leguizamon, #39-Ryan Sieg, #50-Preston Pardus, #71-Ryan Ellis and #91-Josh Bilicki.

Pit-Stall Selections

At lightning speed, #88-Connor Zilisch won the pole for Saturday’s Focused Health 250 Xfinity Series race at Circuit of The Americas (88.832 mph). It is his second pole in as many road course starts.
#9-Ross Chastain will start second (88.664 mph) and was the only driver within nine-tenths of a second from Zilisch’s pace. #17-William Byron turned in the third quickest speed (87.951 mph), with #7-Justin Allgaier (87.814 mph) and #1-Carson Kvapil (87.729 mph) rounding out the top five.
#24-Corey Heim will start sixth, with #54-Taylor Gray, #41-Sam Mayer, #19-Riley Herbst and #16-Christian Eckes completing the top 10.
Did Not Qualify: #4-Parker Retzlaff, #45-Brad Perez, #70-Thomas Annunziata
See the complete COTA Starting Lineup

Qualifying Fast Facts — Circuit of The Americas
Connor Zilisch # won the Pole Award for the Focused Health 250 with a lap of 97.262 seconds, 88.832 mph.
This is his second pole in seven NASCAR Xfinity Series races.
This is his first pole and second top-10 start in 2025.
This is his first NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Circuit of The Americas. He won the pole for both
NASCAR starts at COTA (CRAFTSMAN Trucks last year).
Ross Chastain(i) (second) posted his first top-10 start of 2025 and his third in three races at Circuit of The Americas.
William Byron(i) (third) posted his second top-10 start at Circuit of The Americas. It is his first in one race this season

Qualifying Order

Practice for the Focused Health 250 Xfinity Series race at Circuit of The Americas is complete. The top five, slowest, news and notes:
#88-Connor Zilisch 88.308 mph
#2-Jesse Love 87.812 mph
#21-Austin Hill 87.596 mph
#7-Justin Allgaier 87.286 mph
#48-Nick Sanchez 87.200 mph
Slowest: #51-Jeremy Clements 82.623 mph
Most laps run: #26-Dean Thompson, 19
Notes: #00-Sheldon Creed and #39-Ryan Sieg spun. Sieg and #25-Harrison Burton broke an axle. Both #5-Kris Wright and #35-Baltazar Leguizamon stalled on the track to bring out the red flag.
See full COTA Practice Results.

Crew Rosters

NASCR National Series News and Notes – Circuit of The Americas:

• Circuit of The Americas is the first of seven NASCAR Xfinity Series races on road courses in 2025 (21% of all races on the schedule are on road courses.
• Jeremy Clements is making his 500th NASCAR Xfinity Series start this weekend; he becomes the fourth driver to reach 500 starts in the series.
• Justin Allgaier and Brandon Jones are making their 300th consecutive start this weekend.
• Sam Mayer won four times on road courses, the rest of the field this weekend combined won five (Allgaier-3, Clements-1, Zilisch-1)
• None of the former NASCAR Xfinity Series COTA winners are entered this weekend: Kyle Busch (2021), A.J. Allmendinger (2022 and 2023), Kyle Larson (2024).
• Austin Hill, who finished second, is the only driver in the field that finished in the top-five in this race last year.

Goodyear Tire Notes

There are 41 drivers/teams on the entry list for the Focused Health 250 Xfinity Series race at Circuit of The Americas. Three cars will miss the race.
Notables: #07-Alex Labbe, #9-Ross Chastain, #14-Carson Hocevar, #17-William Byron, #19-Riley Herbst, #24-Corey Heim, #32-Austin Green, #35-Baltazar Leguizamon, #45-Brad Perez, #50-Preston Pardus, #53-TBA, #70-Thomas Annunziata, #91-Josh Bilicki.
See the full COTA Entry List.

2025 practice and qualifying procedures

COTA At-Track Schedule

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Race rules and information:

• Inspection Penalty Protocol
• Pit Road Penalties
• Pit Road Speeds
• Points Explanation
• Qualifying Procedures