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Connor Zilisch Wins Third Consecutive Race; Earns 100th Victory For JR Motorsports

by Hunter Thomas July 26, 2025 1 comment

INDIANAPOLIS – Connor Zilisch won his third consecutive NASCAR Xfinity Series race and captured JR Motorsports’ 100^th victory after taking the checkered flag in the Pennzoil 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Zilisch has been unstoppable and on Saturday, he continued the winning momentum for the No. 88 WeatherTech Chevrolet team. While this week, he didn’t dominate the race, but he did lead 19 laps, and with just two laps to go, he passed Taylor Gray to solidify the lead and victory. The impressive effort marks JR Motorsports’ 12^th series win of the 2025 season.

“Dude, this is awesome,” Zilisch said. “Those bricks look really kissable, and I’m ready to kiss them. Man, this is awesome. One-hundred wins for JR. Congrats to Dale (Earnhardt), Kelly (Earnhardt Miller), L.W. (Miller), everybody who has raced for JRM, everybody who works at JRM. I’m the smallest part of this team, and man, I’m so glad to be a part of it. It has been such an awesome journey with JRM, and it’s so cool to get them 100.”

Zilisch’s JR Motorsports teammate, Sam Mayer finished second in the No. 41 Audibel Ford. He started on the pole and led 32 laps, but in the end, Zilisch was just faster in the final laps.

“This one hurts a lot, but really proud of these guys,” Mayer said. “They put the work in the last couple of weeks, and we’ve been getting better and better every time we’ve showed up to the racetrack, and this place, we brought a heater for sure. I was really looking forward to it. I think we had really good pace – we were right there.”

Gray finished third and NASCAR Cup Series regular, Kyle Larson finished fourth. Ryan Sieg rounded out the top-five. Completing the top-10 was William Sawalich, Sammy Smith, Daniel Dye, Jesse Love and Dean Thompson.

Mayer won Stage 1 and Justin Allgaier won Stage 2.

There were 10 lead changes among six drivers. Allgaier led a race high of 37 laps. He was taken out of contention after Larson lost control, slid up the track and put him in the wall exiting Turn 2. Allgaier finished a very disappointing 36^th.

The caution flew on six occasions for 29 laps. The final caution of the day on Lap 92 was a hard one and has sparked controversary. In Turn 3, Aric Almirola moved Austin Hill up the track while battling for position late in the race. It appeared Hill then turned Almirola, crashing both cars. Hill finished 34^th, and Almirola finished 35^th.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series will visit Iowa Speedway on Saturday, Aug. 2 for the Hyvee Perks 250. The race will broadcast on the CW at 4:30 p.m. ET.

Photo Credit: Mitchell White/TheFourthTurn.com