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Connor Zilisch won the NASCAR Xfinity Series race, doing so this time at the 2.28-mile and 17 turn Charlotte Roval. The 19-year-old phenom started on the pole for the seventh time this year before earning his fifth road course win and 10th overall in the No. 88 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports.
The points leader of Zilisch is sitting solid as the NXS begins their Round of 8 Playoffs at Las Vegas Motor Speedway next weekend.
Late Race Drama
Zilisch had a very commanding lead over the other 29 cars still on the lead lap with four laps remaining. However, the right front tire of Sage Karam’s No. 53 Toyota came apart to bring out the caution.
The No. 88 team elected to remain out while their No. 7 JR Motorsports teammate of Justin Allgaier hit pit road. When the race restarted for a green white checkered finish, Zilisch wasted no time to jump back out front and grab the win.
“Enough people stayed out with me to give me a gap,” Zilisch said of the final restart. “So much fun getting to race in my hometown. JR Motorsports cars were so fast this weekend.
“We were first in practice, started on the pole led a lot of laps and came up with the win. Feels really good to get 10 wins and double digits is pretty awesome for my first year in this series.”
Behind him on that last restart, mechanized mayhem broke out as drivers jockeyed for position making contact as they slugged it out for Playoff points. When it was all over, Sammy Smith and the No. 8 Chevrolet team of JR Motorsports literally nabbed the final and eighth position to advance doing so by one point over Taylor Gray.
Smith Overcame Adversity
On lap 63, Smith was 15 points behind the cut line when he was forced to pit road with a failing right front tire. While getting that changed, the caution came out when Sage Karam’s right front tire came apart to bring out the caution.
Several of the leaders hit pit road for tires, fuel and adjustments. This put Smith in a great position as he moved up into the top five for the final restart. When the checkered flag waved, he was scored in third place.
After a lengthy review by NASCAR scoring, it was deemed Taylor Gray and the No. 54 Toyota team finished 13th. This put Smith in the Round of 8 by one point over Gray.
“It was a hard-fought day, for sure,” a relieved Smith said on pit road. “We brought speed and I’m very proud of our effort. To be able to put ourselves into this position, we knew it was going to take a lot.
“It was a Hail Mary move to pit that worked and get the final team (Playoff) seed. I’m excited to go try and race for a championship here and put ourselves in a position to make the Final Four.”
A visibly disappointed Gray shared his thoughts on the finish and elimination.
“I’m obviously bummed out and it doesn’t look like I’ll get to race for a championship this year,” he said. “We just weren’t good enough. We weren’t good enough today, we didn’t have a good Bristol and we shouldn’t even have to be in this spot, but we are.
“We’ll take our loss and move on to the next four (races) and try to go win us a couple of races.”
Who Moves On
The Round of 8 playoff eligible drivers, in order, are: Zilisch, Justin Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Sam Mayer, Jesse Love, Sammy Smith, Carson Kvapil and Sheldon Creed. Four of those drivers are from the JR Motorsports stable.
Next up for the first of three races is Las Vegas Motor Speedway. That is followed by Talladega Superspeedway and then Martinsville Speedway to determine the Final 4 championship finale at Phoenix Raceway.
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