The 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series continued today down in Austin, Texas for the Focused Health 250 at COTA. This is an unorthodox start for a NASCAR season with two superspeedway-style races leading directly into the first road course race of the season. That said, we got a better sample size to indicate who is strong and who still has some work to do this season. Rookie Connor Zilisch qualified his number 88 JR Motorsports on the pole with veteran and teammate (for both today and tomorrow) Ross Chastain starting alongside. Was Zilisch able to hold off the charging pack or did someone else put on a clinic? Who struggled? Let’s break it down. Here’s everything that happened in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Circuit of the Americas!
The always reliable Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports posted on his X account the break down for this race. Today’s stage breakdown was as follows:
Teams were given 4 sets of tires. Several drivers had to go to the rear for various pre-race violations.
We knew on Friday that the Chevrolets were fast and they showed their strength throughout this entire stage. Connor Zilisch led every lap of the stage with Ross Chastain and William Byron following in toe. Corey Heim was also fast as was Sam Mayer. Mayer is notoriously strong on road courses and he brought that asset to his new Haas Factory Team number 41.
There was first caution for incident that involved the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year, Carson Hocevar. As you can see in the video clip below, Hocevar in the 14 was tagged from behind by Jeb Burton. This contact sent him off course and into the outside tire barrier. His day ended due to this wreck on Lap-4. Check it out.
There was a multi-car incident following the restart that collected Creed, Sanchez, and Kvapil. The three went spun and obtained only light damage. The caution did not fly.
Following the Hocevar incident, the race went green until there were only 2 laps remaining in the stage. This caution flew due to the number 35 car experiencing an electrical issue and stalling out on the racing surface.
In the closing laps of the stage, several cars were making green-flag pit stops. The most unfortunate one of these drivers was leader Connor Zilisch who was coming down pit road when the caution flew. The 88 crew pitted the car and because he pitted while pit road was technically closed, he was forced to start the second stage in the back.
Out of default, William Byron, who took second away from Ross Chastain, inherited the lead and, by turn, won the stage.
The entire top-10 at the restart was made up of drivers who flipped the stage. Cycling to the lead was Taylor Gray in the JGR number 54 and, when we went back green, he led briefly. He was, however, passed a short time later by Jesse Love. Love captured the lead with a brilliantly aggressive crossover on the two JGR Toyotas. Following him through the hole he created were Riley Herbst and Carson Kvapil.
It took a few laps, but William Byron and Ross Chastain were able to crack back into the top-10. However, once Chastain got to 8th, he stalled out, his number 9 Chevy not driving as well deep in the congestion of traffic. As things startle to settle down up font, the caution flew once again on Lap-10. This time, it was a debris caution. The strangest thing that want on in this opening stint of Stage 2 was that the windshield wiper on William Byron’s car somehow came up. Check it out.
Defending series champion Justin Allgaier dug his hole a little deeper in the second stage. He made contact with several cars which led to cosmetic damage to his number 7 machine. He came down the pit road for repairs as he had a tire rub. Then, he was forced down the pits again after cutting a right rear tire. This led to him battling to stay on the lead lap.
There were no more cautions in this stage. Chastain was able to scratch and claw his way into the battle for the lead. But before he could capitalize, he and several other of the leaders pitted in an attempt to flip the stage. A speeding penalty put him even further behind the 8 ball. This cycled Harrison Burton to the race lead, where he ran out the end of the stage and scored the stage 2 win. Now a full-time driver in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Burton earned 1 Playoff point and 10 stage points, which will help him mightily in the overall point standings.
The race restarted for its final stage with only 20 laps remaining. There was a lot of action out front for the lead with Carson Kvapil leading. However, the 1 of Kvapil got into Connor Zilisch who was back in the mix and the two went wide. Austin Hill pounced on this opportunity and took the lead. Corey Heim followed him through. However, Heim and Zilisch made hard contact, which resulted in Heim going around and losing all that valuable track position. Zilisch also suffered some massive damage from the impact on the right front. He continued on but had a pretty bad tire rub on that side.
Things calmed down after a couple of laps with Hill leading, Carson Kvapil in second, and Zilisch and Byron following. After a number of laps, Kvapil was able to take the lead from Hill. Connor Zilisch followed him through. The race was then on between those two JR Motorsports cars. Zilisch was able to recapture the lead from his teammate with 9 laps to go but Kvapil wasn’t going to take it lying down. He battled back hard. Meanwhile, Zilisch’s tire rub continued to worsen. After giving it all he had, Kvapil faded and Zilisch was able to create a little breathing room between himself and second.
Due to sliding through many of the turns, Kvapil had a right front tire go down. No cation came out and the number 1 was forced to pit under green, virtually ending his day.
With his biggest challenger in Carson Kvapil being taken out, Zilisch essentially cruised to victory. Nobody else really had anything for him save for Ross Chastain and Kvapil, both making mistakes that took them out of contention. This win marked Zilisch’s second career win and first win of 2025. With this victory, Zilisch locked himself into the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Playoffs.
Round 3 of the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series season is officially in the books! What did you think of this one, race fans? Are you glad to see Zilisch put on a clinic? Is he the next big thing in NASCAR? Let us know your thoughts! And be sure to keep it right here at DailyDownforce.com tomorrow for our coverage of the Cup Series race at Circuit of the Americas!
