NASCAR
Connor Zilisch Claims Fourth-Straight Xfinity Win at Gateway
MADISON, Ill. – Calling Connor Zilisch a perfect 10 at Gateway would almost be fitting. The electric rookie took home another dominant victory after starting from pole, only missing out on one stage win. Fastest lap, most laps led, and now with nine wins this season, Zilisch was rewarded with the regular season title after Gateway. The teenager now enters his first NASCAR Playoffs appearance riding a historic high with seemingly no end in sight coming on the heels of a tenth career win.
To the surprise of few, Connor Zilisch converted a pole into a Stage 1 win. The biggest mover in this first run was his teammate Justin Allgaier, who rallied to fourth after starting 14th. Stage 2 saw Allgaier grab this win, with Zilisch finishing a close third.
Speeding on pit road between stages would set Allgaier all the way back to start Stage 3. The No. 7 would also run into further issues on later restarts. This likewise allowed Zilisch to run away unchallenged up front.
The Playoff bubble battle between the Burton cousins came to a crashing end with 50 laps left. Jeb Burton cut a tire in turn two and made huge contact with the outside wall. Barring any new winner, this unofficially locked Harrison Burton into the 2025 postseason. Jeb Burton was thankfully uninjured from this massive wreck.
The final stage was very fragmented with many quick cautions breaking up the action. This included one stackup incident that saw double-digit cars involved. Each and every restart went perfectly for Zilisch, until the last one. After aggressively spinning his tires, Aric Almirola and others had a shot at the JR Motorsports No. 88, but Zilisch stormed back by them with ease. With a race-high 121 laps led, Zilisch earned career win number 10 to cap off a historic summer stretch.
“That one was stressful,” Zilisch said. “Man that’s awesome. Four in a row, I think that’s seven of the last eight for our WeatherTech Chevrolet team. Thank you to WeatherTech, it’s Cooper McNeil’s birthday tomorrow and my mom’s today, so happy birthday Mom, I love you. That’s awesome, four in a row. Lot of fans here, it’s awesome to come here to St. Louis and bring the Xfinity Series back here. Thank you guys for showing out tonight. So awesome, we’re going to celebrate this and the regular season championship.”
“This is going to be tough to keep up, honestly. It’s rare that you can go on a run like this. Every week I show up thinking ‘man, this is going to be the weekend that we just go run eighth and aren’t great.’ But every weekend we show up and we’re a winning racecar, my pit crew executes, my team executes, everybody does their job and we end up doing burnouts on the frontstretch. It’s awesome to be able to do this and win this many races. This is the most wins JRM’s ever won in a year as well. So really cool to do that for them as well.”
As Zilisch said, 2025 now marks the winningest season ever for JR Motorsports. The Chevrolet powerhouse now has 16 victories and counting through 26 races. Zilisch is now also the third man ever to four-straight Xfinity wins, joining Sam Ard and Noah Gragson. Lastly, Zilisch’s unreal top-five streak remains unbroken at 14 races, dating all the way back to Charlotte in May. This stretch is one shy of Sam Ard’s record run of consistency from 1983-1984. JRM has now also earned a victory at every active Xfinity Series racetrack, following Zilisch conquering Gateway.
Finishing second to Zilisch for a second-straight week was fellow rookie William Sawalich. Christian Eckes rounded out an all-rookie podium, as both drivers faced win-or-go-home Playoff scenarios. Brandon Jones and Jesse Love rounded out the top-five. The rest of the top-10 were: Aric Almirola, Daniel Hemric, Parker Retzlaff, Corey Day, and Daniel Dye.
Taylor Gray (17th), Harrison Burton (22nd), and Sheldon Creed (30th) were the final three drivers to clinch a 2025 Playoff berth from Gateway.
The reseeded Xfinity Series Playoffs vault the regular season champion even further atop the standings. Zilisch now holds a 59-point advantage over the cut line entering the Round of 12. If his winning ways continue, this gap may only grow with more Playoff points. Take a look at the rest of the grid below for the 12 contenders.
The Xfinity Series Playoffs begin under the lights from Bristol Motor Speedway. The Food City 300 may see Zilisch make even more history with an unprecedented and unparalleled fifth-straight triumph at The Last Great Colosseum. The postseason kicks off Friday night at 7:30 p.m. ET on The CW, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Connor clearly could not be stopped in the regular season. Will his unreal domination continue in the Playoffs?
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Sean Gardner/Getty Images
