After last night’s Truck race at the Nashville Superspeedway, it was time for the stars of tomorrow in the NASCAR Xfinity Series to take center stage and rock Music City. They got a fresh start last week at Charlotte following a three-week spring break. Charlotte saw the return of Connor Zilisch following an injury sustained in a horrific crash at Talladega. He came back strong, finishing second to spoiler Cup Series driver, William Byron. He was looking to continue that momentum tonight, looking to score his first oval win.
Other storylines to follow was how the Joe Gibbs Racing drivers would perform tonight. After a string of lackluster runs in their “All-Star” number 19 car, Aric Almirola was back in the ride, looking to collect some trophies. Meanwhile, Taylor Gray and Brandon Jones were looking to continue the momentum they had built up prior to the break. And polesitter William Sawalich wanted to, once and for all, silent the doubters.
We had all these things to look at and more. So, with no further ado, let’s break it down. Here are the 3 biggest takeaways from the Tennessee Lottery 250 from Nashville Superspeedway.
By far, the most dominant driver in this race was Justin Allgaier. He swept the stages for the sixteenth time in his career and led a large bulk of the laps. The only driver who came remotely close to him was his rookie teammate, driver of the number 88, Connor Zilisch. The two duked it out in the closing laps but Allgaier had a superb final restart. With this win, Allgaier scored max points at 61 and 7 playoff points.
Fun facts: this was Allgaier’s second win at Nashville. It was also Chevrolet’s 12th win of 2025 in only 14 starts. That’s unbelieveable!
It has been a slow start to the year for Joe Gibbs Racing driver, William Sawalich thus far in 2025. Aside from a pair of 9th-place finishes earlier in the season, the number 18 Toyota has been running well below his teammates, including Brandon Jones and Taylor Gray. In 13 stars so far this year, he has earned only 5 top 15 finishes with the rest of them ranging between 24th and 38th on a regular basis. How slow they’ve been this year has been somewhat of a surprise as he dominated and ARCA Menards Series last year, taking the championship.
But the competition of the NASCAR Xfinity Series is a lot stiffer than that of the ARCA Series. In ARCA, there are really only two, maybe sometimes three, competitive cars that can compete week in and week out. Xfinity for Sawalich has been a true test of his talent and so far, he’s been lackluster. It’s clear that he still has a lot of room to grow. All that said, he did show some legitimate speed this weekend in Nashville. He managed to put his number 18 Toyota on the pole and maintained the lead, fighting off defending series champion Justin Allgaier, for most of the first stage.
Initially, it looked like he was going to go on to win his first Xfinity Series stage. However, with 8 laps to go, the caution flew as Kyle Sieg and Parker Retzlaff got together. Playing strategy, Sawalich and Allgaier among some other leaders came down pit road, hoping to flip the stage. On the restart, Sawalich spun his tires and fell to the bottom half of the top 15, where he finished the stage. Unfortunately, he didn’t earn any stage points. But, he did show some significant speed for the first time this year, which is a positive step forward.
Unfortunately, as he was trying to race back into the top 10, Sawalich attempted to side draft Sammy Smith coming out of turn 2. However, he simply ran out of room. This led to the JGR rookie overcorrecting and spinning his number 18 Toyota down toward the inside wall. Fortunately, he didn’t make contact with the wall and was able to continue.
Considering how great he was the last two seasons in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, it has been a tough go for Xfinity Series rookie, Christian Eckes in the number 16 Kaulig Chevrolet. While there have been a couple of bright spots this year (a season-best finish of 5th at COTA and a series of top 10 finishes at Phoenix, Darlington, and Bristol, respectively) most of this season for Eckes has been plagued with mechanical failures or him just simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Despite finishing 9th last week at Charlotte and feeling momentum building after the race, Eckes was once again caught up in someone else’s mess tonight in Music City.
He had been running week all day. He was solidly in the top 10, finishing the first two stages in 16th and 9th. When the race restarted to begin the final stage, it caused a stackup. Sheldon Creed stalled in the restart lane, which caused Connor Zilisch to get into the back of him and check up. It was a chain reaction from there which saw Eckes plow into the rear end of Harrison Burton. The damage was significant and fuild instantly started leaking from the front end of that number 16 Chevy.
In 14 starts, Eckes now has 5 DNFs this year alone. It seems as though he just can’t catch a break. He was credited with a 36th-place finish.
For Justin Allgaier, the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series Season has been comparable to that of Corey Heim down in the truck series. After finally breaking through last year to win his first Xfinity Series title, Allgaier has, by far and away, shown to be the class of the field. And it’s not even been particularly that close. Though he only has 2 wins so far this season, he has 8 top 5 finishes. In fact, many of those top 5s could have been wins if Lady Luck had fallen his way a little better.
Tonight, in Music City, it was the same old thing. For the sixteenth time in his career, Justin Allgaier swept both of the opening stages and posted the Xfinity Fastest Lap of the Race, which awards an additional point. And, unlike most of the races this year, which saw him sweep the stages, Allgaier was able to complete the deal. Allgaier scored his second win of the season, the 28th of his career.
That does it for the Xfinity boys in Music City. What a dominating performance by Allgaier! Swept the stages and scored his 28th career win, third on the year. Max points day, too! And how about Connor Zilisch! Two back-to-back runner-up finishes after being shelved due to a back injury. He’s clearly knocking on the door of that first oval win!
What did you think of this race, Daily Downforce readers? Are you impressed by Allgaier’s performance? What about Zilisch’s rebound? Maybe watching Kyle Larson win in that car at Texas lit a fire under him. Let us know what you think! And be sure to tune back in here tomorrow for our coverage of the Cup Race out in Music City!
